Uncomplicate Your Business

The rumors are true - the world of entrepreneurship and small business is rapidly changing. And what may have worked in 2016 or even 2020 is no longer as effective. Join the mentors of The CEO Collective for this discussion about what we are currently seeing in the world of small business, including:The 'popular' tactics are constantly changing, but we see entrepreneurs getting exhausted trying to constantly keep up. That's why we focus on proven best practices for small businesses!How perfectionism rears it's ugly head especially during more stressful times when we start to doubt ourselves and our core business strategy.Why the mentality of 'set it and forget it' does not work long term when those tactics stop working. Passive income, funnels, and automate everything leaves out the HUMANITY of business.Business grows at the speed of relationships - we all believe that building those relationships are key to the long term success for small businesses.Remember that business is cyc

If you're already crossing that big $100K milestone and looking at $250K, $500K, and beyond, you need different information and advice than the businesses that are brand new, but the more you grow, the less public information you're going to find. If you're ready to break through to your business's next level of success, join me for today's masterclass, The 90-Day CEO Operating System. This system is designed to help you put the infrastructure in place to sustainably scale your business without sacrificing your life, your health, or your family. Find the slides for this masterclass at http://www.theceocollective.com/training. Apply Now for The CEO Collective at https://theceocollective.com/apply.

For the last 15 years, I’ve seen so many people come and go. I’ve seen so many people start out with dreams and ambitions, only to burn themselves out and take years to recover from the impact.But you know in your heart and soul that you’re meant to be an entrepreneur. And I want you to have long-term success, instead of sacrificing it with a short-term view. It’s why I wanted to create this “Truth About Scaling” podcast series.So now, that brings me to the final installment. In this episode, I break down some final key things to consider and implement when you’re ready to shift into high-growth business mode.On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:5:58 - Are you ignoring or passing off parts of your business that you don’t understand? I discuss why that’s a mistake.11:39 - You need to understand these indicators to know whether or not your marketing is working in your business.14:05 - What’s another area where women entrepreneurs play small because they’re not considering it at all?17:23 - Keep it simple,

Business franchises are everywhere! You see several in the form of fast food chains whenever and wherever you get off the interstate. And while I’ve talked about scaling your business on the show before, I haven’t gone deep into more traditional ways to do it like this. Today, I’ve invited The Scout Guide co-founders Susie Matheson and Christy Ford onto the podcast. They’ve built an enterprise that showcases small businesses nationwide for people in their own cities, with the help of over 70 local entrepreneurs. In this episode, you’ll hear some incredible takeaways as they talk about their journey, which you can learn from even if you’re not interested in turning your business into a franchise. On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO: 1:22 - I give a short introduction to The Scout Guide. It actually started near my town of Richmond, VA. 8:29 - How did Susie and Christy come up with the idea for The Scout Guide? Listen as they describe exactly what it is they do. 11:20 - A lot of people think of tradition

Social media and online marketing and content creation strategies are wonderful and I use them. But... business grows at the speed of relationships. If you’ve heard it’s impossible to scale a referral-based business or that you shouldn’t rely on referrals for your business, then tune in as me and my Operations Director Amber Kinney expose these myths. Amber can certainly vouch for this promotional strategy as she’s built her business entirely on referrals. So we have a conversation about how referrals are here to stay, can serve as one of the best things you do for your business, and cover five key strategies to think about so your business can become referrable. On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO: 6:23 - Amber briefly discusses a little bit about her business. 9:29 - Is it sustainable to only have a referral-based business? Amber shares her thoughts on the matter. 12:21 - Growing too fast has its consequences. Amber reveals two must-have components for a referrable AND scalable business.

One of the biggest things you need to plan for your business in the coming new year is marketing; how are you going to get more visibility? I’m a bit biased because I love using podcast interviews as a marketing tool. But how do you get started with pitching yourself for podcast interviews, especially if you don’t have a team to help you? Luckily, Danielle Weibe, the founder of the Business Babes Collective, knows how and is here to share it with us as my special guest today! She’s doing something that’s so accessible for many people. In this episode, she talks about how she’s able to consistently land more interviews, opportunities, and visibility for her business by pitching really, really smartly. On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO: 8:21 - What is the Business Babes Collective, and how did Danielle get started in business? 14:50 - Danielle and I talk about why it takes an abundance mentality and a strategic approach to make collaborations work effectively. 19:34 - How does Danielle define collabora

We women entrepreneurs keep underpricing ourselves when offering the same service or product as our male counterparts. On average, we price up to 20% less. When I first heard that, I was blown away! Pricing is one of the quickest and most powerful ways to adjust your business trajectory and make it more sustainable. I’ve seen it in my business and those of my clients. So in this episode, I discuss why properly pricing your offers is the first step to designing a successfully sustainable business. On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO: 3:36 - What is the feast or famine zone, and does your business fall into it? Discover the two biggest reasons why businesses in this zone struggle to compete.  8:40 - I demonstrate how underpricing can easily lead to overworking by using the example of a wedding photographer. 12:18 - Taking the wedding photographer example further, this simple step is an easy way to improve your profitability and ease burnout. 14:42 - What if you want to double your rates? You need to take

Celebrity entrepreneurs don’t do any favors with all their hustle talk, and despite everything you hear about escaping burnout and hustle culture, too many women entrepreneurs still can’t escape. They desperately need the cash flow in their business right now. So if you’re struggling to get your business working on all cylinders, keep listening. Today’s episode kicks off a new series to help you break free from entrepreneurial poverty of time, energy, and money so you can attain the sustainable success you desire.On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:3:06 - People prescribe this antidote too often to the burnout problem. It’s creating a FOMO culture for an increasing number of women.4:55 - I discuss the entrepreneurial poverty of time and what it looks like for women business owners. 9:42 - Energy poverty is HUGE right now. How does this impact you as a female entrepreneur?13:07 - While lack of money is easy to point to, it doesn’t just have an effect on you financially. 14:16 - I see so many women in th

A couple of years ago, I received an invitation to a thank you party via email. That incredibly heartfelt invitation gave me the best feeling and became the catalyst for a friendship and business contact. In this Thanksgiving Day episode, the woman behind that email, Shannon Siriano Greenwood, is back on the show. She and I talk about how gratitude can have a huge impact on and should be the driving force behind your business. On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO: 4:23 – I read the entire email from Shannon that caused me, a super introvert, to dress up and attend a restaurant downtown. 8:54 – Shannon discusses how she and I met. She calls it our own little love story. 14:53 – When did Shannon realize that bringing people together was her strength? She discusses why the realization didn’t come quickly. 20:25 – Shannon reveals a huge component of making connections and building relationships. It looks different from most people’s image of networking. 22:48 – What’s even better than a typical referral? Al

Angie Trueblood came to me years ago when she wanted to go all in on her idea. She’d learned how to pitch herself to podcasts as an interview guest and had the idea to do the same for other entrepreneurs. As someone in the podcast space who was in the target market for her services, she was the first person I saw talking about something like this in 2019. So, of course, I had to have her on the show (and immediately hire her after)! Now, Angie’s back to give an update on what’s happening in her business now and how it’s changed since she’s become part of The CEO Collective. In this episode, she talks about the service side of her business and why she’s making the choice to do the opposite of what so many other service-based entrepreneurs are doing. On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO: 6:20 - What was business like for Angie in the summer of 2019 (before life as we knew it shifted drastically)? 12:02 - Angie reveals how the rinse and repeat process of the 90-Day planner impacted her business that year.

Certain subjects are polarizing, and I’m not just talking about the usual topics like politics or religion. The last time I had MegAnne Ford on the show we discussed the dark side of visibility she experienced through her coaching business…her parenting coach business. As you can imagine, parents have particular thoughts about raising their (and sometimes others’) kids. And someone took umbrage to what MegAnne had to say that they bullied and essentially stalked her! She’s come out on the other side of it, though, and years later she’s still here and visible as ever. In this episode, she talks about how she’s developed a community around her coaching and continued to grow her business since then. If you’ve had to deal with a bully, suffered vulnerability hangovers, or fear putting yourself out there due to the potential backlash over a disagreement, then you’ll want to listen in! On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO: 5:17 – I first met MegAnne a few months after she started her business. She talks about

We all love hearing success stories. If you’ve listened to this podcast since August of 2021, you may remember Sarah Young and her accounting business. Back then, she was about a year into her experience with The CEO Collective. Now a year later, she’s back! And she’s here to let us know what happened after she shared her success story on the show. Today kicks off a series I’m doing with clients who’ve taken part in my flagship program. In this episode, Sarah talks about what’s changed in the last year, the incredible wins she’s enjoyed in her business, and how she plans to move forward with even more success. As you listen, you’ll come away with some major takeaways and lessons to implement in your own business! On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO: 5:24 - Sarah recaps how she started her business and changed it over a period of a couple of years. 11:53 - What’s happened in Sarah’s business since she last guested on the show? And how has it affected her husband? 16:54 - Sarah talks about the support sh

Forgetting to consistently market and prioritize making sales? What about letting your schedule get so out of control that you don’t give yourself any time off for months on end? Or chasing every next shiny object instead of focusing on what works in your business? What you suffer from, dear entrepreneur, is a lack of plan implementation. In the final part of this year’s Best Year Ever challenge, you’ll discover how to take all the insight from the previous episodes and turn them into an actionable 12-month profit plan for 2023. On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO: 6:32 - How does my 5-part framework (attract, engage, nurture, invite, and delight) form the foundation for your 12-month plan? 11:20 - Here’s where I start when I’m mapping out my 12-month big picture profit plan. 15:12 - Discover how to plan out what you’re going to sell and when you’re going to sell it. 20:31 - What’s one easily forgettable thing you need to keep in mind throughout this process? I reveal what it is. 24:49 - To wrap up, I

You tell yourself, “This year, I’m gonna do it!” You write down your business goal. You put it where you can see it constantly. You’re determined to reach that pinnacle you’ve set for yourself this time! A few months later... you’ve forgotten about it or given up on it. We tend to only set goals once a year, and that’s one of the reasons why goal setting often doesn’t work for most people. On day 4 of this series, I take a different approach to goal setting to help you establish business milestones you’ll actually follow through on in 2023. On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO: 3:16 - Many of us have such a love/hate relationship with goal setting. Why does it fail so often? 5:18 - As you brainstorm all of your potential goals for the new year, refrain from doing this. I also offer a huge tip to ensure you don’t miss out on key things. 7:07 - I go through the process of making sure you have the business systems you need set up before taking on additional projects. 10:45 - I talk about how I apply my fiv

Are you constantly running your business in emergency mode? You might be running your company by default instead of by design, constantly putting out fires and working crazy long hours. But panic as a business strategy isn’t a wise recipe for success. So in this episode, I talk about how to design a business that works for you and runs like clockwork in 2023. On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO: 3:39 - I give a quick recap of the Best Year Ever series thus far. 5:45 - What does personal and professional success mean to you? Here are some things to keep in mind. 9:23 - Who are the dream clients you want to focus on attracting and attaining in 2023? 10:25 - Time to shift into money mode! But you don’t want to pull a revenue goal out of thin air here. 14:29 - The final thing you want to look at as you go through this process of (re)creating your business by design. Mentioned in Is Your Business by Default or by Design? Best Year Ever Challenge Get Paid Calculator Profit First by Mike Michalowicz Racheal

With our hustle and bustle culture, we’re always in danger of burning ourselves out. The last couple of years, however, have made it even worse. It always feels like there’s something going wrong in the world--pandemics, war breakouts, etc.--that can have an effect on our business, causing us to worry about its future. No matter what’s happening in the world, though, you can still build your dream business. This Best Year Ever series can help you get clarity about what you want to experience right now. In this episode, I dive into the second challenge and it’s a powerful one! On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO: 3:40 - Today’s the day you jump into your time machine! What do I mean? 5:25 - I reveal the best place to start as you go through today’s exercises. This is all about getting intentional. 6:59 - I give an example of how you can go through this exercise (with a little insight from my own life). 8:53 - Keep it simple. Sometimes you can dream so big that you overwhelm yourself and get frustrated.

With the holidays just around the corner, it’s not just time to look ahead in your business. This is also a good time to reflect on your progress over the last year. So many entrepreneurs don’t reach their goals because they keep running up on the same obstacles over and over. If that’s you, let’s not do that again. Instead, let’s start planning your best year ever! In this episode, I kick off my annual five-part series where I walk you through the same strategic planning process I’ve used for over 20 years and shared with thousands of women entrepreneurs to help create a solid action plan for 2023. On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO: 2:31 - Do this before you listen to the episode. It’ll help you follow along as I dive into the first BYE challenge. 6:19 - Doing this helps you determine the best course of action as you shift your business. It’s a move professional athletes understand well. 8:30 - Do you need assistance answering the questions for this challenge? Using these tools can help. 9:38 - Here

As we head towards the end of 2022, we look forward to setting aims for the incoming new year. But sometimes, goal setting can be a pain in the neck! Everybody’s trying to tell you that you should do this or that: create a seven-figure business (or several), gain millions of social media followers, etc. It can leave you feeling frustrated and like you’re shooting yourself in the foot! But what if there was another way? My friend Tara McMullin has a unique view on goal setting. In this episode, we discuss her latest book What Works and why it’s so radically different from what most people think about when it comes to goal setting. So if you’re like me and have a love/hate relationship with setting goals, then you’ll love this conversation!  On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO: 6:54 - What led Tara to radically shifting her relationship with goal setting? 9:57 - The struggle over goal setting really boils down to this belief, and social media and news just reinforce it. 13:35 - How are goals like “cultur

Are you running a business that works for you? Or does your business have you running in circles? So many entrepreneurs think that reaching a certain income level will make things easier and finally give them the life they want. Too many of them wonder if it’s really worth it and just want to burn their business to cinders in frustration and start fresh. Hold up before you burn it down or drastically change anything because you hope someone else’s approach will finally strike gold! We’re winding down the year 2022 and gearing up to help entrepreneurs have their best year in 2023 with the next launch of the Best Year Ever Challenge. So to prepare for it, in this episode I discuss five things to strategically think about to align your business so that it truly works for you as an individual, instead of you for it based on what others tell you to do. On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO: 5:19 - What’s your definition of success? I reveal the first area of alignment to think about when deciding what success

So many people use the threat of an incoming recession to fear-bait you. They promise that they have the answer (in the form of a product, a free email course, etc.) on how to recession-proof your business. But they’re all about increasing their sales, not giving you useful information. A digital course, high-ticket program, or 37-step email funnel won’t save your business from suffering the effects of an economic downturn. I’ll tell you what will, though--without you having to join my list or purchase anything from me first! In this episode, I reveal the three areas you need to pay attention to so that your business will be prepared to weather the storm of a recession. On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO: 4:38 - Take a look at money management in your business. Here’s why you need to be ahead of the curve on this. 9:02 - How can you prepare for the worst case scenario (clients dropping out like flies and sending you into a sudden cash crunch)? 12:37 - When it comes to investing in your business, it’s