So, we just wrapped up the recording for our most popular webinar ever, Day Job to Dream Job. The discussion sparked some further conversations between us and some of our students about the whole ‘you can earn a full-time income without putting in full-time hours.’ We have the belief that you can do this from day one, and that it doesn't have to just be a financial milestone you reward yourself with. But the time and space freedom you get when you work for yourself looks different when you're just getting started versus when you are two years in, six years in, and even further in than that. So, today, we want to break down what we mean by that and dive into what we truly think is needed for the brain to rewire that thought process. We also give a sneak peek of what it looks like when you chase after free time, and how you choose to fill that free time. Because there are some of us who simply fill the free time we work so hard for with just more work!

Today on the podcast we have Melanie Fountain. She is a Pinterest coach and strategist. She started her business in January 2019 as a virtual assistant and quickly found a passion and talent in growing her clients’ businesses through Pinterest marketing. We are going to help you learn how to do that today! If you are creating content in any shape or form then you need to know what is working for Pinterest in 2021.

We are doing an update for all the best Pinterest strategies that you can manage in your content, so you can create new routines while you are creating that amazing content. We talk about all the new stuff including video pins and story pins, how to grow your followers on Pinterest, and why that might start to matter now when it hasn't over the last couple of years. Our conversation also covers everything else you can do to make sure that you are taking advantage of the amazing platform that is Pinterest!

If you have been listening to us for a minute, you will have heard us alluding to the fact that we are headed toward a growth phase of our business and our lives. We were having a conversation the other day about why we are ready for this now versus when we weren't, what's different, and what we think we need to shift in order to do it. One of the things that came up is that we realized that we had perfected delegating tasks in our business that stabilize it, make it do the thing that it's meant to be doing, and not let it slip back and fall.

On the flip side, what we haven't done and what we don't know how to do yet is delegate, hire for, plan and help other people grow the business. So, we talked about this the other day, when just a couple of years ago, if one of us was out of the office, there would be a direct impact on our sales because there would be less posting on social media and less content creation, which means we would have to plan and account for that. We grew out of that phase, so now one of us can head off for a week, and it does not impact our sales at all! This is fantastic, but the next phase for us is about more than just being able to go on vacation and see the business grow; it's about not having to be one of the two brains that contribute to the growth.

Today on the show we are joined by the wonderful and inspiring Kathleen Cutler! Kathleen has worked behind the scenes on multiple million dollar online stores with her main area of focus being jewelers. She has coached over a hundred different jewelers to help them achieve their business goals and get their products selling online, but Kathleen’s expertise extends so much further than just jewelry! She wants to help everyone selling products or even services online to extend the experience of the customer and drive sales through the type connections that you would usually associate with a physical retail space.

Welcome to another Profit Report episode of the Strategy Hour Podcast! Today, we’re talking about April 2021 and, needless to say, some money got spent, some money got made. We didn’t launch anything new in April, so this report makes a direct correlation with the fact that we have tried to build a profitable and sustainable business that brings in income, regardless of whether or not we are launching something new every month. We were still, however, working on some big projects, so we were certainly knee-deep behind the scenes! Sometimes, when that happens, we will see a dip in profitability, not necessarily in revenue, and that was the case for us in April. In this episode, we share some of the projects we have been working on, such as some exciting shop website updates and a very niche copywriting assignment, and we also discuss the benefits of choosing when not to invest, especially when it comes at the cost of truly trusting yourself!

Tuning in, you’ll hear about some of the lessons we have learned over the past month, the past year, and the past 18 to 24 months, including the value of exposing yourself to other cultures, perspectives, ideas, and even industries. We also reflect on some of the mistakes we have made in order to help you avoid making the same mistakes in the future, so make sure not to miss this episode!

Today, on the podcast, we welcome Emily Walker. She helps brilliant entrepreneurs turn their big ideas into powerful and profitable courses so they can improve thousands of other people’s lives while building more spaciousness into their own. Having worked with a diverse range of clientele all over the globe, from groundbreaking courses and bestselling authors to seven-figure mindset queens, Emily knows that, sure, you can just dive in and start teaching online, but taking that knowledge and tweaking it into something actionable is not always easy.

If you have ever wanted to create a course, a program, a workshop, a masterclass, a tiny offer, a big offer, it doesn’t matter; this episode is going to give you a lot of great things to think about before you get started! Emily shares her perspective on creating content by doing equal parts what feels fun and good to you while also serving your audience, your clients, or your future students. It’s a blend of both worlds, and Abigail and Emylee certainly walked away from this conversation with a lot of ideas and questions to ask themselves as they refresh some of their own programs, and we know you will too!

We run ads for everything under the sun, and we have for a long time. Something we did very early on was make a conscious decision to not look at the comments on ads because sometimes there are just troll-type comments, and we don’t need to leave our headspace there. Funnily enough, Abagail’s husband is our ad comment moderator, so it is very rare for us to see a negative comment. But, for some reason, the other day, Emylee was scrolling one of our new Creative Template Shop ads, which is so beautiful and cute. The ad contains our slogan which we have been using for over a year. Emylee was compelled to look at the comment, which was along the lines of, “Oh, so that’s all that marketing is, is beautiful graphics? That's not all that marketing is, so it’s weird that you say that.” The specifics of the comment aren’t that important, but we do want to have a conversation not only about what marketing is, but what marketing means to two visual artists, and why we have our Creative Template Shop slogan, which was very intentional. We believe that it’s something that really makes our business stand out from anything else that we see out there.

Today on the show, we have Monica Schrock, who is cautiously optimistic and is an introverted copywriter who works as a marketing consultant. She has a mean coffee habit and a serious nerd streak. She revels at the intersection between intention and strategy, hoping to make the world a better place one word at a time. Monica has spent the last 14 years navigating the extroverted field of marketing, helping 200 clients craft their brand message and increase their sales from double to over ten times. We are talking about all the tips and tricks she has learned on that journey on the show today.

So, if you resonate as a fellow introverted entrepreneur, who started their business to maybe escape ever having to talk to anyone again, and then realizing that you have to do that in order to make sales, put your offer out there, and grow your business, this episode is for you. We are talking about how to set boundaries, how to schedule (or not schedule) your week in a way that fits your personality so that you can actually get stuff done without feeling guilty and feel like you’re putting marketing and sales messaging out there that doesn’t make you feel icky.

Today we are going to talk about doing #allthethings, or rather, not doing them. We know a lot of you have so many things on your plate and are really struggling with what to let go of. You are feeling married to every department that you are the head of, and not really seeing or understanding how you could give up any of those things. So with that in mind, we want to holler at you in the way that we do best and permit you and help you let go of some stuff if you have been trudging along in your workspace, your day, and your business.

We used to be the people who didn’t only not want to pay to give up things but also were super intimidated and concerned with delegation. It has been something we have had to work hard to do because we used to be aware of everything that happens in our business and we were at the point where if we didn’t let go of some of it, we were going to slow down the business. So we have had some life experience in this department and hope you can take away some of the lessons we have learned and apply them in your own life and business after this episode!

Today on the show, we are excited to welcome Abbey Ashley, Founder of The Virtual Savvy. Abbey has helped aspiring virtual assistants launch and grow their own at-home businesses from scratch. She started her own virtual assistant business as a new mom and was able to double her salary from her full-time corporate job in just 30 days! She has since gone on to grow a seven-figure business with 19 employees and certainly has some key insights to share about how to hire to scale. It's now her passion to help others start their own VA businesses so they too can taste the freedom and flexibility of entrepreneurship.

She is currently building a brand new platform, which you will hear about towards the end of the interview, that is going to make hiring so much easier, especially for creative entrepreneurs, connecting you with virtual assistants that are going to stick around and be the right fit for you and your company. In today’s episode, we’re talking about the hiring process, particularly how to hire for a culture fit over a skill fit. We think that that is one of the most remarkable things that Abbey has unlocked within her own business, and it has definitely been one of the key elements that has factored into her incredibles success.

We discuss how to identify your brand culture, how to speak that into existence within your team, and how to support your team through that journey, as well as how to hire for the perfect fit, of course. Whether you are ready to hire your first VA or dip your toes into hiring employees, this episode is full of practical tips that will be beneficial to you, no matter where you are on that journey. Make sure to tune into this insightful interview with The Virtual Savvy Founder and powerhouse entrepreneur, Abbey Ashley!

If you are in the small business space as a buyer or a seller, you might have noticed a wave of disgruntled online shoppers that don’t necessarily fit the stereotype that wants to speak to the manager! In today’s episode, we want to talk about what we are dubbing the Digital Karen. Since the start of the pandemic, Emylee and Abagail have noticed more and more conversations between makers, shoppers, and sellers who are having a difficult time dealing with the increase in customer service issues that have been popping up in their inboxes and DMs, from unrealistic custom order requests to one-star reviews for reasons that are beyond their control.

There has been a growing need for customer education regarding what is and what isn’t within the control of shop owners and business owners. For a long time, buyers have convoluted the experience of buying from big companies like Amazon or Nordstrom and tied that same level of expectation to shops on Etsy and Shopify, for example. In today’s episode, Emylee and Abagail talk about how sellers can emotionally and mentally deal with the age of the Digital Karen and continue to create a positive customer service experience amidst uncontrollable delays, as well as what buyers and shoppers can do to make the experience better for business owners!

In today’s episode, we welcome Rachel Rodgers, a woman of color, mother of four, and seven-figure business owner – in that order. Rachel started her career working on The Hill with nonprofits, federal judges, and Hillary Clinton. When she realized that changing the world is easier when you have some cash in your bank account, she decided to build a million-dollar business and then teach other women how to do the same. Her new book, We Should All Be Millionaires, from Harper’s Leadership is out now! (as of release, not recording)

For this show, we break down our favorite parts of Rachel’s book, which not only addresses our ingrained mindsets around money issues but also provides activities you can do, from homework assignments to different mindset reframes to help you better your headspace, grow, and move forward, whether you have a business or you just want to be a literal millionaire!

Quarantine gave Abagail every excuse to drop any kind of consistency around movement, and now, a full year later, she is trying to get back at it. She has walked three days in a row, and just yesterday Emylee did her first Peloton bike ride in months. After eight minutes in, she felt like she couldn’t do it, but she kept going. But this isn’t what we are going to be talking about today. We are super excited because it’s been a while since we have done an episode like this, where we share a small tweak we made inside our signature program that was uber effective.

It actually kind of blew us away just how much of a difference it made. It's been almost a year since we made this two-phased change. We want to talk to you about it today because if you are offering services or packages and there are deliverables inside those packages that don’t cost you any money but do cost you time, those are sometimes the easiest things to add into a package to add value. There are also instances where you need to re-evaluate what those deliverables are and whether that thing is actually effective, not only for you but your clients as well.

Today on the show we have Dr. Lindsay Padilla, Founder of Hello Audio, a SaaS product that lets users easily create private audio feeds their customers can listen to anywhere, anytime! She has been building this SaaS product from the ground up. It has been fascinating to watch from the sidelines and we are excited for you guys to dive in. For the first half of this episode, Lindsay gives us a true, honest, behind-the-scenes look at everything it takes both mentally and logistically to build a software. Everything that she wanted to create from the hole she saw in the market of audio and how course creators can deliver amazing content to their students and how Lindsay could make that happen.

She talks about breaking down barriers in a male-dominated space, learning things in the tech space, raising money, deciding to bootstrap or not, and everything in between. And then at the end of the episode, we talk about what Hello Audio actually is and how you as a service-based business owner, online course creator, educator, could use this platform to better your customer experience and to add more value. You get a peek into the stuff that Abagail and Emylee have been thinking about doing in their business and ideas for what you can use in your own one to help you grow and create an amazing experience for the people you already have.

We always knew there would be this moment where, after doing these profit reports, we would eventually hit our goal, and then we would have to have the conversation about what’s next for us. We alluded to it a bit last month, where we had our first loss in over a year, but no part of Abagail was concerned. It sounds bizarre, but we really stuck things out, made some subtle shifts, and March went fantastically. What a concept! We had a loss and didn’t let it linger in our brains for months on end, which, in turn, would have impacted our business for months on end.

Instead, we did a turnaround and saw some amazing stuff happen for us in March. It's funny because it’s not like we did this massive launch or any other big things. We just checked the calendar right before we recorded this to remind ourselves of what happened last month. We planned some stuff; we talked about some stuff; we did a mini-thing, well, someone else did a mini-thing; we invested in some stuff. That's about it! It was lowkey in terms of what was happening behind the scenes. But so much of what we have been doing over the last year has been about building our monthly recurring revenue (MRR).