Women in Business: Inspirational Stories of Women Entrepreneurs

 Tiffany Smiley is the founder of More Than Me- a community of resources, connection, and experts to propel women to live out their purpose and truly understand their infinite worth. Tiffany has spent years motivating and elevating those around her, inspiring them to find their true purpose and their own worth. She’s no stranger to defining moments- those experiments that force you to grow in ways you could never imagine. And through these experiences, she truly came to discover the importance of sharing her story with others so they know, too, they are not alone.  In this episode, Tiffany shares her incredible story about how she overcame the most difficult challenges to be where she is today. Tiffany was determined and fearless ever since she was a little girl. She grew to be someone who loves to help women think about who they were before the world told them who they should be. She encourages them to dive deep, and figure out what to do in their lives when they get knocked down. After leaving her job as a nurse, she started a speaking business and took it to levels she couldn’t have even imagined. She had a vision of creating a space for women where they had personal and professional development, where they could connect with other women and have the services and resources they need. This vision is what birthed her current business, More Than Me. She truly believes our journey is not just about us. She wants the women she works with to thrive not only in their business, but in their personal lives too.   Here’s where you can find more from Tiffany:  Website: morethanme.com Facebook: @Morethanmemvmt Instagram: @Morethanmemvmt To join her community, visit morethanme.com/joinus Email: hello@morethanme.com If you need business guidance: Contact Dr. Cortney here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts    

Today’s guest, Keisha Greaves, knows a thing or several about overcoming obstacles. Keisha is a motivational speaker, the founder of Girls Chronically Rock, and the Massachusetts State Ambassador for the MDA. Keisha started GCR to provide inspired fashion celebrating MD and other chronic illnesses. Keisha has been featured on GMA, The Today Show, ABC News, and several other notable news outlets.  When she was in graduate school, Keshia started noticing symptoms that something was wrong. She would randomly fall on the floor, unable to get up. After many tests, she was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy and it changed her life forever. It took a while to come to terms with her diagnosis, but when she did, she started her blog Living With Limb-Girdle Muscular Dystrophy to share her story and found a lot of support from people who read it.  She was always a lover of fashion and decided to incorporate her knowledge and expertise with her condition in 2017 to create her business Girls Chronically Rock. With her business, she sells inspirational t-shirts, home decor, masks, and more that inspire and motivate people with chronic diseases like herself. Her goal is to create an adaptive clothing collection to make her clothes more accessible to people with disabilities and make it widely available.  Here’s where you can find more from Keisha:  Website: Girlschronicallyrock.com Facebook: @GirlsChronicallyRock Instagram: @GirlsChronically_Rock Podcast: Girls Chronically Rock Podcast If you need business guidance: Contact Dr. Cortney here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts  

Today we are joined by Lisa Pongrass, the Founder and CEO of Canvas & Hyde, a luxury handbag company based in Brooklyn, NY.  She shares the tactical steps she took to learn how to grow her business, build a brand from scratch, and established herself as a luxury designer all while being a newly single mom.  Raised by her dad, Lisa faced some hardships growing up. As an adult, she moved to France with a fashion photographer and fell in love with the elegance of France. She did a lot of work in the fashion industry before she got married, started a family, and then moved to the United States.  Her company Canvas & Hyde was born out of the necessity to start her own business. Her husband wanted to move home to Australia and she wanted to stay in the US. Because she was on a spousal visa, she knew she  couldn’t stay here without her husband or a business. She wrote a 56 page business plan and started Canvas & Hyde. The name of her business came from the blank canvas of her new life and the jackal and hyde duality of human nature.   Lisa is an acclaimed interior designer and fashion stylist in her Australian homeland, Lisa has over 20 years of experience that has propelled her to the forefront of the international stage of fashion and beauty. Lisa currently lives in Brooklyn, just miles away from her showroom. Through Canvas & Hyde, she’s successfully brought American-made quality craftsmanship to life.  Here’s where you can find more from Lisa:  Website: canvasandhyde.com Facebook: @canvasandhyde Instagram: @canvasandhyde If you need business guidance: Contact Dr. Cortney here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts    

If you have ever felt like you are spending way too much time doing things in your business that aren’t in your wheelhouse, it might be time for you to hire out. In this episode, we sat down with Erin Longmoon, the owner of Zephyr Recruiting. Her mission is to eradicate toxic workplace, believing that everyone deserves to love their job while contributing to a greater purpose. She accomplishes this mission by matching great small businesses with the RIGHT FIT employees. Erin has more than two decades helping small businesses, she has owned five businesses herself! The passion to eradicate the toxic workplace comes from a place we can all resonate with.  Growing up, Erin was always very creative. She grew up in a rural area near San Diego and she was used to figuring things out as she went. At the age of 16, her family relocated to New York, where she learned to see new starts as adventures. Her creative and adventurous spirit led her to her passion helping small businesses find the perfect fit for their team. Erin talks with us about how to know if it is the right time to start hiring or outsourcing the things that you don’t enjoy or the non-revenue generating tasks in your business and how to find the right future employee. She explains that to do this, you need a good understanding of who you are as a company because you can’t build a house without a foundation. You want to build a team that not only gets along, but who compliment each other and fulfill the needs of your business in all aspects.  For our listeners, Erin is offering an interactive workbook to help you hone in on who that RIGHT FIT employee is for you. You can get it by going to zephyrrecruiting.com/cultureworkbook. Here’s where you can find more from Erin: Website: Zephyrrecruiting.com Linkedin: Erin Longmoon   Facebook: @zephyrrecruiting If you need business guidance: Contact Dr. Cortney here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts    

Today we are joined by Deborrah Ashley. Deborrah is a marketing strategist, consultant, and LinkedIn trainer who works with clients to develop B2B and B2C LinkedIn strategies to grow and develop not only their businesses, but their personal brands too. Deborrah has a background including two decades in brand management, marketing communications and business development where she used her unique style and launch strategies to generate over 300 million for companies and startups. She has been featured in a variety of media including Oprah Magazine, Black Entertainment Magazine, and the New York Times for her innovative strategies.  Deborrah was born in England and grew up in New York. She graduated early at the young age of 16 and studied public relations at Mansfield University and received her MBA from Temple University. On a trip to London with her family, she loved the hosiery there but found that it wasn’t available in New York. This led her to start her own successful hosiery business, Luxe Legwear. She later started a social media management business on Instagram and then shifted to LinkedIn marketing. Today, she shares with us how she now helps businesses work marketing into their LinkedIn strategies using content, engagement, and visibility strategy to win more business and speaking opportunities. If you are just getting started on LinkedIn or if you haven’t been on LinkedIn in a while, Deborrah has a quiz that you can take to find out if your profile is attracting or deterring clients. By taking her quiz, you’ll be entered her giveaway. Take the quiz here. Deborrah has a new book titled “InSIDER-How To Leverage LinkedIn To Stand Out As The Industry Leader” that you can find by going to bit.ly/INSIDERTHEBOOK Here’s where you can find more from Deborah:  Website: thrivoo.com Hosiery Business: Luxe Legwear Facebook: Deborrah Ashley LinkedIn Account: AskDeborrah Instagram: @Thelinkedinblackbelt If you need business guidance: Contact Dr. Cortney here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts    

In business, many of us have felt out of place or like we don’t know what we are doing at some point or another. This is a totally normal occurrence called imposter syndrome. If you have ever struggled with imposter syndrome, this episode is for you. Today we sat down with Jill McAbe, a Business Coach, High-Performance Expert and Amazon-Best Selling Author of It’s Go Time: The All-In System For Unstoppable Success in Business and Life.  She tells us about her journey and how she went from battling a bad case of imposter syndrome, to finding her purpose in life and making a difference with her business.  After seven grueling years as a celebrated restaurateur, 10+ years as a growth consultant to entrepreneurs, and a car accident that nearly took her life, Jill realized she couldn't spend another minute on a business that wasn't perfect for her in every way. So at 48 she turned her business consulting skills on herself, discovered her purpose and started BOOM-U, an agency that helps talented creatives, coaches, and professionals design and build purposeful, 6 & 7 figure service-based businesses that work on-or-offline.   Jill shares her experience working with many different  business owners and how she helped them go from having imposter syndrome to achieving their dream business goals. Jill shares step by step how to find your life's purpose and how to use it to create an incredible life. Here’s where you can find more from Jill: Get a free copy of Jills book when you come to her website here: jillmcabe.com Instagram: @jillmcabe Facebook: @jillmcabe.author If you need business guidance: Contact Dr. Cortney here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts  

You are juggling a thousand things, and with your never ending to-dos, the last thing you have energy to deal with is your style. Today we chatted with Erin Busbee of Busbee Style. She is a fashion influencer for women over 40 and her mission is to make style simple and empower you to be the best, most stylish version of you. She has experience working with major brands like Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, Express and Ulta Beauty.  Growing up, Erin was a shy girl who was always very hard on herself. She majored in English Literature in college. After graduating, she knew she wanted to go into journalism, so she started working as a reporter at a television station. After her father passed away, she decided life was too short to be unhappy, so she quit her job and moved to New York. The risk paid off when she discovered her love of fashion. Her coworkers and friends would always ask her to dress them and that inspired her to eventually follow her dreams and help women with their personal style. She started her own wardrobe styling business in 2009.  Eventually she had her ah-ha moment when she discovered the world of affiliate marketing and it changed her business for the better and enabled her to scale as an Influencer. Erin shares how she went from learning everything on her own to having a whole team and working on her first product. She explains the importance of outsourcing and setting boundaries in your business so you can make time for your family and prioritizing what is important. Erin truly believes that if you love what you do, it will never feel like work.  Here’s where you can find more from Erin:  Capsule Wardrobe: busbeestyle.com/womeninbusiness Website: busbeestyle.com Instagram: @busbeestyle If you need business guidance: Contact Dr. Cortney here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts  

Today we are joined by Aubree Nichols. A Texas native, her intention is to illuminate the darkness so that others may live in the light. Writing for The Week, Elite Daily and Observer helped her to become a resonant voice in the self-love movement, which she believes is the ultimate love story. Her proprietary workshop, Stoked! helps teams get unstuck and ignites breakthrough thinking. As a brand strategist, her approach is founded in the belief that creativity and effectiveness can co-exist. She earned an Effie for her work on the SAAB “Born From Jets” campaign that increased sales 37% within 1 year. As a researcher, she uncovers insights by asking good questions, listening for the unspoken and talking to respondents as dear friends. After spending 10 years in NYC ad agencies, she knew it wasn’t the right path for her. She got her Masters Degree in Organizational Change and started her own business to help do a lot of internal work within organizations. In this episode, Aubree shares her journey of how she came to really love herself, be authentic, take up space, and speak her truth. She is working on a book titled Enough, about how she stopped searching, starving, and striving and became the woman of her dreams. Aubree truly believes that self love heals all and that is the message she feels she is here to spread.  Here’s where you can find more from Aubree:  Website: aubreenichols.com Instagram: @aubree.nichols If you need business guidance: Contact Dr. Cortney here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts  

Have you ever felt like you could achieve so much but you just struggle to believe in yourself? In today’s episode, we chat with Margaret Cogswell. Margaret and her husband Blake run her business, MCD Business and Marketing.  Margaret Cogswell grew up in Charleston, South Carolina and loved art from a very early age. She wrote her first book at the age of 4. She went to a prestigious art college and majored in interactive design and game development. Her education taught her to never fear learning something new and the value of working together with others to build amazing things. Her first job was as a project manager at a book publishing company where she was quickly promoted to managing book layouts. While she loved what she did, she knew she was capable of more and left in 2013 to start her own design business.  She learned the hard way what it takes to believe in yourself and find success. After a rocky road, she learned to build her confidence in herself and grow her business to six figures. In this episode, Margaret tells us about her incredible journey to turn off her own inner critic and become the woman she needed to be in order to achieve all of her business dreams and even retire her husband while helping other women creatively build their businesses.  Here's where you can find more from Margaret. Website: margaretcogswell.com Facebook: @margaretcogswelldesigns Instagram: @margaretanncogswell If you need business guidance: Contact Dr. Cortney here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts

Mary Grothe is a keynote speaker, CEO, published author, and former #1 B2B MidMarket SaaS Sales Rep for a Fortune 1000 Payroll & HR Company. After selling millions in revenue and breaking multiple records, she formed her own company, Sales BQ. She profitably grows the revenue of companies across the country by focusing on BQ- the behavioral quotient along with proven inbound and outbound strategies.    In this episode, Mary shares how her difficult life circumstances shaped her into the woman she is today. At 22, Mary found a new life for herself as an administrative assistant at a MidMarket B2B sales company where she worked under the #1 sales rep in the country who became her mentor. She realized that sales was her passion and earned a spot on the team where she quickly rose to the top and sold millions. She started training reps to teach others to do the same and fell in love with coaching. After that she went on to be the VP of Sales and Marketing for a smaller company and helped this new business grow into a huge success before she decided to start her own company. As the founder of her own business, she helped 36 business owners in 3 years grow their profit. With her experience, she knew she had the ability to do more. She started Sales BQ and now has clients all across the country. She helps rebuild sales, marketing, and customer success engines with one holistic revenue strategy to help transform their businesses.    Mary shares how she used to be afraid to be her truest self and let others know what she truly believed in. She tells us how she came to find Christ and how her faith came to shape her core principles. Mary’s love of Jesus helped her face her fears and allowed her to live her purpose.    Here’s where you can find more from Mary.    Website: marygrothe.com Business: Sales BQ Publications: marygrothe.com/publications Twitter: @marylgrothe Instagram: @marygrothe LinkedIn: @marygrothe   If you need business guidance: Email here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts

Today’s guest is Darnyelle Jervey Harmon. She has an MBA and is an award winning CEO of Incredible One Enterprises, a business growth consultancy in Newark, Delaware. She is best known for helping six-figure service-based entrepreneurs and small business owners transform their life by connecting mindset, messaging, and marketing to sales and systems so they can scale and leverage their businesses to the seven-figure mark sooner while deepening their connection with God, increasing faith, and becoming better leaders who shake the planet.  In this episode Darnyel shares how, at birth, doctors thought she would not make it because her mother was addicted to drugs while carrying her, but then went on to accomplish extraordinary feats despite her start in life. After graduating, she left her full time corporate job for do-it-yourself entrepreneurship. She went from filing bankruptcy to having her first million dollar year within just four years. She taught herself money management and how to recognize her own self-worth and not seek validation in outside sources. She made it her mission to show people what is possible, how to become the best version of themselves, and how build a business around that.  Darnyelle is a spiritual business growth strategist. She combines spiritual principles with business growth strategy. She helps her clients grow their business faster than they could on their own and helps them create an infrastructure that supports them both financially and spiritually. Her goal: to help entrepreneurs make the most money that God will allow with the least amount of effort.  Here’s Where You Can Find More From Darnyelle: Podcast: Incrediblefactorpodcast.com Website: Incredibleoneenterprises.com    If you need business guidance: Email here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts  

Feel like you have been burning the candle at both ends? This is a common sentiment among female entrepreneurs. We are nurturers by nature, so we often find ourselves putting the needs of others ahead of our own, even when our own tanks are running on empty. Whether it is the lack of boundaries with your team or clients, it can lead to more issues than you may realize. It can even take a toll on your health. In today's episode, Dr. Cortney talks about the importance of taking time for yourself and setting boundaries in your business. You’ll learn some important steps you can take to improve your self care when you are balancing family obligations and business. These tips will help you feel liberated and empowered in your personal life and business life.  If you need business guidance: Email here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts  

Dr. Alisha “Ali” Griffith is an autism parenting strategist, transformational speaker and certified professional coach. As a mom of a child living with autism, speech language pathologist and audiologist, this inspired her to become a #1 best-selling author of Au-mazing Gift: A Journey to Autism Acceptance.     In this episode, Dr. Ali tells us about how she got started as an audiologist and speech pathologist. She worked with kids with different needs and loved what she did. When she received the diagnosis that her son had autism, it rocked her world. This created an even greater passion in her to help others in a similar position. She made it her mission to learn as much as she can and simplify it to help other parents of children with special needs. Dr. Ali shares with us how she deals with overwhelm in her business, the kind of  people that align with her values, and how she copes as a mom of a child with autism. She also shares her number one key to business success: never giving up.     Dr. Ali has helped many to SHIFT their negative self-talk towards positive energy power by believing  in their unique strengths, differences and gifts. In April 2019, she proudly released her podcast The Dr. Ali Griffith Show: Mindset, Meditation and Motivation with over 6000 downloads. As seen on media outlets such as NBC, CBS, CW and more, the show’s topics have included, Unsubscribe from Negativity, From Fear to Freedom and Au Meditation Moments.  Here’s Where You Can Find Dr. Ali: Website: www.draligriffith.com Podcast: The Dr. Ali Griffith Show: Mindset, Meditation, and Motivation Instagram: @Draligriffith Facebook: @Draligriffith Book: Au-Mazing Gift: A Journey To Autism Acceptance   To access your Cash Flow System: https://www.cortneybaker.com/cash If you need business guidance: Email here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts

Dr. Cortney Baker is an award-winning entrepreneur, host of the podcast Women in Business: Inspirational Stories of Women Entrepreneurs, TEDx speaker, and a nationally recognized authority on women’s leadership. She has been featured on FOX News, Forbes, iHeart Radio, and Huffington Post, among other publications. As a leadership expert, mentor and business coach to female entrepreneurs and mother of three, she is passionate about empowering women to close the gender gap through the power of entrepreneurship. Dr. Cortney is the author of the best-selling book The Ten Do’s and Don’ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and her most recent book, Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. Dr. Cortney was named the 2016/2017 Texas Business Woman of the Year, and the Top 100 in Healthcare in America. She’s the founder and CEO of KidsCare Home Health, a multi-million dollar healthcare organization with 11 locations across Texas, Colorado, and Idaho. She holds an Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership from Pepperdine University, where she concentrated her studies on understanding and advancing women to the highest levels of leadership. Dr. Cortney resides in Dallas, Texas, with her husband, daughters, dogs, and rescue kitty. To try Honeybook, click HERE To access your Cash Flow System: www.cortneybaker.com/cash Click To access Marketing in an Economic Downturn Click To access From Side Hustle to CEO Click To access the Scaling Master Class If you need business guidance: Email here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts

Jessica Zimmerman's story started when she tragically lost her sister in a car accident at the young age of 3. It changed her life forever and she knew that tomorrow is not promised. She decided early on that she was going to live life on her own terms and run her own business so she could spend every second of her day with the people she loves.    When she was 28 she bought a wedding rental business. To save money and try and turn a profit, she was doing all of the work herself and working 16 hour days. However, when she realized that her daughter didn’t want to come to her at the end of the day because she wasn’t ever around, she knew that something had to change. One of the main reasons she went into business was so that she could be a present mom. Frustrated, she pivoted her business to floral design only and started living her life the way she really wanted to. After this change, she started making 7 figures while working 6 hours a day. She had so much success, in fact, that she created a course to teach others how to do it called The Business Behind The Blooms.    When Jessica's husband fell very ill, they both went on a journey of self discovery that changed their whole perspective on life. She wrote her book Sleeping With A Stranger to share her story in a vulnerable way. She shares what she went through and how she created a life that gives her purpose while sharing her story and strategies with others.    Here's where you can get more from Jessica   Website: Jessicazimmerman.com Book: Sleeping With A Stranger   Business Courses: jessicazimmerman.com/courses Podcast: zimmermanpodcast.com   To access your Cash Flow System: https://www.cortneybaker.com/cash If you need business guidance: Email here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts

Dr. Cortney Baker is an award-winning entrepreneur, host of the podcast Women in Business: Inspirational Stories of Women Entrepreneurs, TEDx speaker, and a nationally recognized authority on women’s leadership. She has been featured on FOX News, Forbes, iHeart Radio, and Huffington Post, among other publications. As a leadership expert, mentor and business coach to female entrepreneurs and mother of three, she is passionate about empowering women to close the gender gap through the power of entrepreneurship. Dr. Cortney is the author of the best-selling book The Ten Do’s and Don’ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and her most recent book, Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. Dr. Cortney was named the 2016/2017 Texas Business Woman of the Year, and the Top 100 in Healthcare in America. She’s the founder and CEO of KidsCare Home Health, a multi-million dollar healthcare organization with 11 locations across Texas, Colorado, and Idaho. She holds an Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership from Pepperdine University, where she concentrated her studies on understanding and advancing women to the highest levels of leadership. Dr. Cortney resides in Dallas, Texas, with her husband, daughters, dogs, and rescue kitty. To try Honeybook, click HERE To access your Cash Flow System: www.cortneybaker.com/cash Click To access Marketing in an Economic Downturn Click To access From Side Hustle to CEO Click To access the Scaling Master Class If you need business guidance: Email here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts

Amanda Walker is a Health and Life (Healthstyle) Coach who empowers women to feel amazing naked.  She is the creator of the Feel Amazing Naked Program and the Feel Amazing Naked Podcast. Amanda uses a “WHOLE”istic, no B.S., approach to coaching and blends strategy, skill and mindset to help clients unearth the root causes of their struggles with food, body and mind to help them create the life they crave. She is passionate about challenging clients to create more time in their life for healthy living and giving them tools to get out of their own way to lead their fullest life possible. Contact Amanda HERE   Dr. Cortney Baker is an award-winning entrepreneur, host of the podcast Women in Business: Inspirational Stories of Women Entrepreneurs, TEDx speaker, and a nationally recognized authority on women’s leadership. She has been featured on FOX News, Forbes, iHeart Radio, and Huffington Post, among other publications. As a leadership expert, mentor and business coach to female entrepreneurs and mother of three, she is passionate about empowering women to close the gender gap through the power of entrepreneurship. Dr. Cortney is the author of the best-selling book The Ten Do’s and Don’ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and her most recent book, Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. Dr. Cortney was named the 2016/2017 Texas Business Woman of the Year, and the Top 100 in Healthcare in America. She’s the founder and CEO of KidsCare Home Health, a multi-million dollar healthcare organization with 11 locations across Texas, Colorado, and Idaho. She holds an Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership from Pepperdine University, where she concentrated her studies on understanding and advancing women to the highest levels of leadership. Dr. Cortney resides in Dallas, Texas, with her husband, daughters, dogs, and rescue kitty. To try Honeybook, click HERE To access your Cash Flow System: www.cortneybaker.com/cash If you need business guidance: Email here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts  

Sherisse, an engineer and technologist, has a passion for driving the evolution of digital narrative content, and believes she has the best job ever as founder and CEO of Pagedip. As an award-winning business owner and accomplished international speaker, Sherisse loves helping others on their life journey. She has appeared in Vanity Fair and on ABC’s Shark Tank. Sherisse’s background includes working as a Walt Disney Imagineer building theme parks around the globe as well as joining Time Warner Cable where she served as the vice president of software development  For more information on Pagedip: Click Here  Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts    

Dr. Cortney Baker is an award-winning entrepreneur, host of the podcast Women in Business: Inspirational Stories of Women Entrepreneurs, TEDx speaker, and a nationally recognized authority on women’s leadership. She has been featured on FOX News, Forbes, iHeart Radio, and Huffington Post, among other publications. As a leadership expert, mentor and business coach to female entrepreneurs and mother of three, she is passionate about empowering women to close the gender gap through the power of entrepreneurship. Dr. Cortney is the author of the best-selling book The Ten Do’s and Don’ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and her most recent book, Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. Dr. Cortney was named the 2016/2017 Texas Business Woman of the Year, and the Top 100 in Healthcare in America. She’s the founder and CEO of KidsCare Home Health, a multi-million dollar healthcare organization with 11 locations across Texas, Colorado, and Idaho. She holds an Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership from Pepperdine University, where she concentrated her studies on understanding and advancing women to the highest levels of leadership. Dr. Cortney resides in Dallas, Texas, with her husband, daughters, dogs, and rescue kitty. To try Honeybook, click HERE To access your Cash Flow System: www.cortneybaker.com/cash If you need business guidance: Email here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts  

Kate Crocco, MSW, LCSW, is a psychotherapist, confidence and mindset coach and writer who mentors female leaders around the globe. She has coached thousands of women through one-on-one, group, and mastermind programs, as well as through her Confident Ladies Club community. Her first book (of three), Thinking Like a Boss released with Baker Books on February 18, 2020. She is the host of a weekly podcast, Thinking Like a Boss. A guest expert on numerous podcasts and telesummits, Kate has been quoted in publications such as the Huffington Post, Best Kept Self, SheKnows, and BlogHer. Kate’s mission is to empower women to go after their dreams by helping them break down the walls and fears that have been holding them back from greatness through lovingly challenging them to step into the best version of themselves. Kate currently resides in New York with her husband, her two sweet girls, and her rescue pup, Turbo.   To register to win an on-air coaching opportunity with Dr. Cortney: www.cortneybaker.com/WIBcall To access your Cash Flow System: www.cortneybaker.com/cash If you need business guidance: Email here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts

Dr. Cortney Baker is an award-winning entrepreneur, host of the podcast Women in Business: Inspirational Stories of Women Entrepreneurs, TEDx speaker, and a nationally recognized authority on women’s leadership. She has been featured on FOX News, Forbes, iHeart Radio, and Huffington Post, among other publications. As a leadership expert, mentor and business coach to female entrepreneurs and mother of three, she is passionate about empowering women to close the gender gap through the power of entrepreneurship. Dr. Cortney is the author of the best-selling book The Ten Do’s and Don’ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and her most recent book, Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. Dr. Cortney was named the 2016/2017 Texas Business Woman of the Year, and the Top 100 in Healthcare in America. She’s the founder and CEO of KidsCare Home Health, a multi-million dollar healthcare organization with 11 locations across Texas, Colorado, and Idaho. She holds an Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership from Pepperdine University, where she concentrated her studies on understanding and advancing women to the highest levels of leadership. Dr. Cortney resides in Dallas, Texas, with her husband, daughters, dogs, and rescue kitty. To try Honeybook, click HERE To access your Cash Flow System: www.cortneybaker.com/cash If you need business guidance: Email here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts  

Tina Anderson began her career as a trial lawyer when the birth of her second child resulted in a career pivot to in-house counsel for a family pharmaceutical company.  Tina, frustrated by the many abuses in the pharmaceutical industry, then turned toward the field of natural health, and found her life’s work. Channeling her energy into learning all she could about disease prevention and good health maintenance, she discovered the importance of gut health to our overall health and wellness.  Now, Along with her husband, Tina created Just Thrive a unique supplement that contains the superior probiotic strains of renowned researcher Dr. Simon Cutting to help others live their best physical and emotional lives.  To find Just Thrive: Just Thrive Health Click HERE To register to win an on-air coaching opportunity with Dr. Cortney: www.cortneybaker.com/WIBcall To access your Cash Flow System: www.cortneybaker.com/cash If you need business guidance: Email here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts  

Dr. Cortney Baker is an award-winning entrepreneur, host of the podcast Women in Business: Inspirational Stories of Women Entrepreneurs, TEDx speaker, and a nationally recognized authority on women’s leadership. She has been featured on FOX News, Forbes, iHeart Radio, and Huffington Post, among other publications. As a leadership expert, mentor and business coach to female entrepreneurs and mother of three, she is passionate about empowering women to close the gender gap through the power of entrepreneurship. Dr. Cortney is the author of the best-selling book The Ten Do’s and Don’ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and her most recent book, Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. Dr. Cortney was named the 2016/2017 Texas Business Woman of the Year, and the Top 100 in Healthcare in America. She’s the founder and CEO of KidsCare Home Health, a multi-million dollar healthcare organization with 11 locations across Texas, Colorado, and Idaho. She holds an Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership from Pepperdine University, where she concentrated her studies on understanding and advancing women to the highest levels of leadership. Dr. Cortney resides in Dallas, Texas, with her husband, daughters, dogs, and rescue kitty.

Ashley Kirkwood is a dynamic speaker, trademark lawyer, and on-air legal expert for a Chicago daytime show. Her law firm, Mobile General Counsel helps entrepreneurs to trademark their brands and protect their business assets with contracts! She takes great pride in helping business owners on the legal side and the business side. On the business side, she helps entrepreneurs and experts make speaking an income stream through live events, her podcast, and coaching programs, which all fall under Ashley's brand, Speak Your Way To Cash! When Ashley's not helping her legal or coaching clients, you can find her on a stage around the country delivering her signature speech, The Currency of Confidence! She's a sought-after expert, who speaks on topics such as, sales training, confidence, and storytelling! https://www.ashleynicolekirkwood.com To register to win an on-air coaching opportunity with Dr. Cortney: www.cortneybaker.com/WIBcall To access your Cash Flow System: www.cortneybaker.com/cash If you need business guidance: Email here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts

Dr. Cortney Baker is an award-winning entrepreneur, host of the podcast Women in Business: Inspirational Stories of Women Entrepreneurs, TEDx speaker, and a nationally recognized authority on women’s leadership. She has been featured on FOX News, Forbes, iHeart Radio, and Huffington Post, among other publications. As a leadership expert, mentor and business coach to female entrepreneurs and mother of three, she is passionate about empowering women to close the gender gap through the power of entrepreneurship. Dr. Cortney is the author of the best-selling book The Ten Do’s and Don’ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and her most recent book, Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. Dr. Cortney was named the 2016/2017 Texas Business Woman of the Year, and the Top 100 in Healthcare in America. She’s the founder and CEO of KidsCare Home Health, a multi-million dollar healthcare organization with 11 locations across Texas, Colorado, and Idaho. She holds an Ed.D. in Organizational Leadership from Pepperdine University, where she concentrated her studies on understanding and advancing women to the highest levels of leadership. Dr. Cortney resides in Dallas, Texas, with her husband, daughters, dogs, and rescue kitty.

Adrienne Finch is a digital content creator, entrepreneur, and host of the Self-Made CEO Podcast with a social media following of 400k+. With over 32 million aggregate views, her YouTube channel "Adrienne Finch", was born from her love of storytelling and filmmaking, and the desire to make videos that positively influence others.  To register to win an on-air coaching opportunity with Dr. Cortney: www.cortneybaker.com/WIBcall To access your Cash Flow System: www.cortneybaker.com/cash If you need business guidance: Email here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs go from side-hustle to CEOs! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

To register to win an on-air coaching opportunity with Dr. Cortney: www.cortneybaker.com/WIBcall To access your Cash Flow System: www.cortneybaker.com/cash If you need business guidance: Email here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs go from side-hustle to CEOs! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

Having a life-altering experience can lead to some big changes in your destiny. Perhaps the most important thing to consider is that you are actually in control of how the rest of your life will pan out. I’m joined by Devika Dandona who shares how having thyroid surgery motivated her to change her life and career. Devika is a philanthropist and blogger who’s using her influence to raise money for charities. After having thyroid surgery, she knew there was more to life than what she was doing. Devika now uses the experience as fuel for her fire, knowing that she can achieve everything she wants to.  When Devika was first learning about blogger and influencer marketing, she attended blogger’s brunches to find out as much as she could. While it’s a saturated market, she knew she had a place in it. That’s when she decided to combine her love of blogging with philanthropy. She dedicated her blog to raising money for a charity in honor of a friend who had recently passed away. Before her surgery, Devika didn’t feel herself and she didn’t feel comfortable expressing herself. She tells us how sharing her true, authentic self has attracted an audience who truly relates to her. Devika believes in creating her own destiny. She knows what it’s like to feel like you’re watching life from the sidelines and that is not what she’s about. She explains how her thyroid surgery fueled her to achieve more and how you can, too. Her philanthropy projects inspire her to encourage charity in others. That’s why she started 4 Philanthropy, a platform that helps influencers give back. Devika thinks that influencers have the best platform for raising money for important causes. Finally, Devika shares how she balances building her business and motherhood. For her, the most important concept is learning to give herself grace. Devika believes allowing yourself grace is vital for creating a life on your own terms. How do you treat yourself with kindness and grace? Have you had an experience that has shown you there’s more to life? Let me know in the comments on the episode page!   In This Episode: How to live your life believing you can achieve everything What happens when you create something different in a saturated market Why there is magic when you express your true, authentic self How to create your own destiny Why you should shop for a cause What the importance of giving yourself grace is   Quotes: “My thyroid surgery motivated me. So if I have an idea, I just go for it. I just do it. I don’t want to ever feel like that again. I never want to see or feel like my ideas are unattainable.” (9:58) “It really taught me to trust my own self and my intuition. I regained confidence in myself. I know my body, I know when something’s wrong. Illness lit a fire under my butt.” (22:34) “I don’t know why this concept hasn’t caught on more in the influencer marketing world. If you can convince 50 people to buy a t-shirt that you have on just by saying, ‘I like the way it’s stitched, I like the shape of it’, take 30 seconds of that time on your stories and talk about a way to give back. Talk about a way to build a community up around you.” (25:23)   Links Find Devika Dandona and The Devi Collective Online Find Davika Dandona on Instagram Find The Devi Collective on Instagram | Pinterest | Twitter Find 4 Philanthropy on Instagram Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs go from side-hustle to CEOs! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

Susie Carder, a globally recognized profitability coach and inventor of the Predictable Success Method, joins Dr. Cortney Baker to discuss sound strategies to navigate business decisions in times of crisis.  For more information on Susie, go to: Susie Carder To access the Manage your Cash System: www.cortneybaker.com/cash If you need business guidance: Email here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs go from side-hustle to CEOs! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

The perfect path to entrepreneurship doesn’t exist. All entrepreneurs have gone through their own journey. They’ve experienced success and failure, and have changed direction in their business. My guest, Scout Sobel, is no different and she joins me to talk about mental health, entrepreneurship, and finding her goldmine. Scout is the founder of Scout’s Agency, a PR firm working with female podcasters to help them find guests and guest appearances. But Scout’s journey hasn’t been smooth. With a Bipolar Disorder diagnosis, Scout left school to figure out what her destiny was. She also had to learn how to balance that with her new mental health diagnosis. Scout explains how she discovered entrepreneurship by creating a magazine that got picked up by Barnes and Noble. Even though she realized that this wasn’t the right direction for her, her entrepreneurial spirit was born. Her journey has taken her through different iterations of what her business is. Now that she’s found something that makes her heart sing, she’s thriving. In her own words, Scout explains what the Entrepreneurial Spirit is. Each entrepreneur has their own definition of this phrase and I love Scout’s simple explanation. Ultimately, it’s having that drive and determination to work for yourself above anyone else. She shares the journey she’s been on into her own business. It’s not been without difficulties, especially when paired with her mental health, but the journey has been part of the adventure. With Scout’s Agency, Scout knows she’s created a winning business because she’s passionate about it every day. Now that she’s created a physical office space, Scout has to decide how to grow her company’s culture. When you’re intentional about the direction you want to take your office culture, you can create an amazing, welcoming, and thriving work environment. One of Scout’s values is the self-employed approach where she lets her employees have a certain sense of autonomy. Scout believes that the most important part of entrepreneurship is learning to trust and love yourself. When you believe in yourself and you love yourself enough to trust everything you’re doing, you will succeed in business. Has your business idea changed and grown over the years? Tell me about your entrepreneurial journey! Let me know in the comments on the episode page!   In This Episode: Why your business might go through a few iterations before you find the perfect fit for you What the Entrepreneurial Spirit is What the entrepreneurial journey looks like What happens when you create something that you’re truly passionate about How to intentionally grow an office culture Why you need to believe in and love yourself in order to succeed in business   Quotes: “I think that’s what entrepreneurs do. You do as many things as you can until the right thing comes and you hit the goldmine.” (13:37) “If you work 8 hours a day for someone else, believe me, you can put that same amount of time into your dream.” (15:15) “I think that as an entrepreneur, you have such an amazing opportunity to create something that’s never been around before.” (24:48)   Links Find Scout Sobel Online Find Scout Sobel on Instagram Find Scout Podcast on Instagram Find Scout’s Agency on Instagram | Online  Find Okay Sis on Instagram Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs go from side-hustle to CEOs! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

Amidst an economic downturn, Ashley Monk, founder and CEO of It Media discusses the most important aspects of running her successful business in a shaky economy. In this interview with Dr. Cortney, Ashley discusses what she sees as the greatest challenges facing business owners right now and how to overcome those challenges. For more information about Ashley, go to: www.byitmedia.com To access the Manage your Cash System: www.cortneybaker.com/cash If you need business guidance: Email here Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs go from side-hustle to CEOs! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

If the world of venture capitalism and investment seems foreign to you, you’re going to love this episode! I’m joined by Minni Ingersoll, Partner at venture capitalist firm TenOneTen, to talk about what VCs are currently looking for. Minnie has been in the business of scaling since she started in Silicon Valley - at Google, no less - back when it had only 500 employees! She used her 11 years experience at Google to build and scale her own start-up company, Shift.  Then she followed her higher vision to transition into venture capitalism. In this episode, Minnie gives us some useful insight into investment. If this is something completely new to you, you’re going to learn a lot! First, she explains what the different levels of investment are - trust me when I say there are so many! Minnie explains what type of companies venture capitalists are currently investing in. They’re not only looking at the type of start-up, but who’s running in, what team is in place, and what the future projections are.  As someone who “learned on the go” how to raise money for her start-up, Minnie is perfectly equipped to explain this process. She details the difference between the seed and pre-seed rounds of pitching for investment. Minnie also explains the three biggest things VCs are looking out for in a pitch. We talk about communication style and why it’s important to understand what type of communicator you are. When you’re more confident in how you communicate, you’ll have more effective conversations.  Finally, Minnie shares some insight into how she manages to be the most productive version of herself. Minnie creates an “Enough List” where she lists out a handful of tasks per day that she has to get done; anything else is a bonus! She also believes in the value of knowing exactly what you want for your life and business because this lets you know what type of help to ask for. Have you thought about seeking investment for your start-up? Do you know your communication style? Let me know in the comments on the episode page!   In This Episode: What the different levels of investment are Who VCs are investing in right now How to raise money for your start-up company What the difference between seed and pre-seed rounds are What the three things that Venture Capitalists are looking for in a pitch How to be more in line with your communication style What an “Enough List” is and how you can implement it to be more productive in your business Why knowing what you want out of your business and your life will help you clarify where you need assistance   Quotes: “Getting our top-line revenue numbers to a few hundred thousand a month, maybe even half a million, we were able to build that pretty quickly so that we had a couple hundred $K in revenue monthly. That opened the conversation. People became more eager to talk to us once we had something that we could show was working… or at least happening” (14:05) “It’s not just about getting customers, it’s about building something that people love.” (16:20) “Maybe what surprised me about growing my own company was the communication, but it was that the job was less about the business and more about people.” (26:06)   Links Listen to the LA Venture Podcast Find Minnie Ingersoll and TenOneTen Online Find Minni Ingersoll on Twitter | LinkedIn Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs go from side-hustle to CEOs! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

In this episode, Dr. Cortney discusses steps to take to maintain your business success even in an uncertain economy. Although the economy is always uncertain, these key principles are excellent to implement at any time.    - Cortney To access the Cash Flow Projector: www.cortneybaker.com/cash If you need business guidance: Email here   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs narrow the gender gap through the power of entrepreneurship! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

Living big and supporting the women in your network and community are some of the most important parts of building a thriving business. Gail Davis from GDA Speakers joins me to talk about how she took a measured risk and built her own speaker’s bureau. Gail is the founder and CEO of GDA Speakers. She shares the story of how she started organizing speakers and her first success. This prompted her to explore starting her own speaker’s bureau which has grown exponentially over the decades. Gail explains why she had to shift her identity from entrepreneur to business person in order for GDA Speakers to actually grow. When she made that conscious decision to scale the company, she had to change her mindset. As she’s grown as a business person, Gail developed a sense of humility towards her former entrepreneurial self. This has played an important role in her business growth. Gail’s marriage ended in divorce when she was 6 years into her entrepreneurial journey. This forced her to decide whether to take her casual business seriously or to abandon it altogether. She decided it was time to go all-in. By working hard, she altered the company culture and outlook into that of a growing business.  Gail also shares what it was like being a single mother while growing her business. It’s all about balance. It’s essential to find hobbies and interests outside of your business - you never know how stepping away will help you work through problems. The most important aspect of any business is having a passion for what you’re doing. You can learn the skills, but passion comes from the heart. Gail explains how her passion is driving GDA Speakers. Finally, we talk about how women need to be more willing to stepping out of their comfort zones. Us women need to play big and stop minimizing ourselves. We can do it all, ladies! How can you step out of your comfort zone today? Are you passionate about your business?  Let me know in the comments on the episode page!   In This Episode: Why you need to shift your identity from entrepreneur to business person What role humility has in business How quickly you can change your company culture and outlook when faced with a huge life change How you can balance being a single mother with growing your business Why you NEED to develop interests that are outside of your business Why passion is the most important aspect you can have for your business Why it is so, so important to support and encourage other women to step out of their comfort zone and play big   Quotes: “The challenges I’ve faced are just learning how to shift from this entrepreneurial idea to becoming a business person and making decisions that are scaleable.” (14:42) “Some problems that seemed insurmountable at work all of a sudden become so clear because you walk away from it. I think when we’re too heads-down we get lost.” (24:44) “We’re all women, there are many different paths, and I think we need to support each other. Thank goodness for those women who did not have a job and were able to take care of my kids and support me while I was building my business. It takes a village!” (29:35)   Links Find Gail Davis and GDA Speakers Online Find GDA Speakers on Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs go from side-hustle to CEOs! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

Today I lay out a step by step plan for you to follow to help you plan your next business pivot and stay afloat through this economic uncertainty. A plan is crucial, now more than ever before, and we discuss real-life scenarios of business pivots that will help businesses stay on top of their game.   - Cortney To access the Cash Flow Projector: www.cortneybaker.com/cash If you need business guidance: Email here   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs narrow the gender gap through the power of entrepreneurship! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

Leaders need to be self-aware, able to make effective decisions, and prepared to grow their network to succeed in their careers. Laurie Baedke joins me to talk about how she helps build high-performance teams and keeps leaders at the top of their games. Laurie transitioned from a background in healthcare administration to self-employment by helping physicians create their own clinics. She developed her own career even further and now works as a speaker, educator, and author. Laurie is also the host of The Growth Edge Podcast. Laurie starts by explaining how she grew her own business through referrals. She is the perfect example of your network being your net worth. We also talk about how women face a double-bind at many points in their careers. Laurie explains why she started to dial back her personality depending on who her audience is. As women, we’re often told to hide aspects of ourselves and it is absolutely infuriating. Yet, there are times when toning it down can be beneficial in our careers. Making effective decisions is part of what being a good leader entails. But it’s not only about saying yes - your no can be just as important and impactful. And, even more than this, it’s knowing what your decision is that makes the most difference. Laurie shares why “hard” is simply an expected aspect of the entrepreneurial journey. She gives some examples of her own learned experiences that have been humbling for her. We all have them and sharing these experiences is vital for ours and other’s growth. You already know what a big believer in having a mentor is. Laurie confirms this when she talks about how many mentors she has and what roles they’ve played in her career. For Laurie, it’s about curating her circle to be the most supportive and effective - and playing that role for other women. How are you growing an effective circle? What learned experiences are the most humbling for you? Let me know in the comments on the episode page!   In This Episode: Why your network is truly your net worth How women are faced with a double-bind in their career Why leaders need to know their audience and dial back their personality when it’s appropriate How you can make more effective decisions Why hard is part of the entrepreneurial journey How your learned experiences can be very humbling Why you should make mentors a consistent source in your career How you can start to curate your circle   Quotes: “As leaders, we need to be self-aware and we need to understand where certain attributes are an asset to us and where they can be a liability to us.” (9:00) “The more that you have clarity on who you are and what you need, the more that you can either be the leader that you needed and attract people around you who you find community with or intentionally seeking out those people who you learn from their journey.” (21:28) “When you are giving to someone several steps behind you the things that you were given is so meaningful and validating.” (31:04)   Links Listen to The Growth Edge Podcast Find Laurie Baedke Online Find Laurie Baedke on Twitter | LinkedIn | Vimeo Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs go from side-hustle to CEOs! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

We are currently living in a world that has been hit with a global pandemic, and fear and uncertainty abound all around us. In this episode, I discuss practical tools to help you assess your situation and give you a game plan to decrease your fears and focus on moving forward. I pray this episode gives you hope and clarity, personally and professionally. Cortney   Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about narrowing the gender gap by ambitious female entrepreneurs lead as CEOs of their own organizations. Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com   

Living an intentional life absolutely can and should translate into how you run your business. When you treat your business and employees like you treat your family, the way Courtney Caldwell does with ShearShare, you’re going to create an incredible company culture that will help your business thrive. Courtney explains the power of mindset and how what you tell your brain, your brain is going to believe. Your brain can’t determine what’s true and what’s false, so when you consciously choose to only tell yourself that which is true, you set yourself up the best. This is where practicing affirmations can be really powerful. Being open to receiving new opportunities and possibilities is a skill that will get you far in business. Whether the call comes from your network and connections, your current business partners and relationships, or a call directly from God to guide you to where you need to go in your life, listening and acting on these possibilities can take you and your business to new heights. Courtney knows the value of keeping yourself fit, healthy, and thriving. She says that the state of your body and mind has a knock-on effect on the health of your business. This falls along the same lines of living intentionally and making conscious decisions always. For Courtney, she has learned what happens when she treats her employees as part of her family. Employees shouldn’t be just a number, as so many larger corporations and potential partnering investors seem to think. Employees that feel valued and cared for will absolutely perform better, be more loyal to you and your company, and will be happier - which will positively impact the success of your business. How do you show up with intention daily? What can you do today to create conscious truths and awareness in your brain? Let me know in the comments on the episode page!   In This Episode: How you can make a conscious choice to tell yourself truths What happens when you’re open to new possibilities How God appears in your life to guide you when you need it Why you need to keep yourself healthy and thriving in order for your business to do the same How to live an intentional life What happens when you treat your employees like your family Why you have to partner with people who have similar values to you   Quotes: “You really have to focus on doing all the things that people don’t ever see in order for your business to truly be able to thrive.” (23:02) “Culture is something that you’re not going to create by accident. It has to be something that you’re focused on building from day one.” (27:46) “If that’s the worst that can happen then you have to take the risk. Because in that moment when God says, “I need you to do this,” you don’t have a lot of time to think about if you’re going to turn right or turn left, you just have to go.” (34:47)   Links Find Courtney Caldwell and ShearShare Online Email Courtney Caldwell at courtney@shearshare.com  Find ShearShare, Inc on Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs go from side-hustle to CEOs! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

When sh*t hits the fan in a global crisis, it's imperative to keep a level head and make sound business decisions. In this episode, Dr. Cortney Baker gives easy strategies to stay in business during times of uncertainty.   Links The True Cost Calculator Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs go from side-hustle to CEOs! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

Finding your passion and asking for feedback are two of the best qualities to have when you’re starting and building your own business. Especially when you find yourself an accidental entrepreneur, like Angela Jia Kim, owner of Savor Beauty, who joins me today to talk about how she discovered her true passion for self-love. Angela explains how she became an accidental entrepreneur and the decision she made to leave professional music for skincare. She shares the qualities she learned from playing the piano and how these characteristics helped drive her success in business. These, combined with her habit of asking for feedback, has been a catalyst for Angela’s continued success in building a household brand name. On the same now, Angela encourages anyone who’s been turned down for a job to ask for feedback on their application and interview. This goes for online pitches, too! More than anything, Angela attributes her success to being passionate about what she’s doing. When she started treating her skin like the most expensive piece of silk, she revealed within herself a deep longing for self-love that has led her on a whole new journey. Now, Angela is living as her true, authentic self, sharing her journey and rediscovery along the way.  Because Angela has been treating herself with the kindness and love she knows she deserves, her confidence has been increasing, along with her happiness and presence around others. She encourages you, too, to practice self-love to help build your confidence, as these two characteristics truly go hand-in-hand. Have you developed a self-love routine that lets you feel more confident in your own skin? How can you encourage others around you to feel more confident in their abilities? Let me know in the comments on the episode page!   In This Episode: How you can become an accidental entrepreneur What the great characteristics of success are Why you need to be passionate about your business Why you should ask for feedback if you don’t get a job How to include your growing children in your business to encourage their entrepreneurial spirit and success mindset What the journey for authenticity can look like Why you should treat yourself to build your confidence and self-love Where to find confidence in what you think   Quotes: “Pour passion and love into what you’re doing because eventually if you keep doing that and getting the word out, people are going to feel that love. It’s contagious.” (15:44) “I think feedback is such an important piece of the puzzle that can help you grow exponentially if you just ask.” (17:08) “I don’t do anything unless I’m passionate about it. Because I feel it. When there’s passion missing, and there’s love missing, my heart’s not in it. And when your heart’s not in it, there’s no magic.” (31:42)   Links Find Angela Jia Kim Online Find Angela Jia Kim on Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | LinkedIn Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs go from side-hustle to CEOs! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

As great as it would be, becoming a millionaire is not an overnight achievement... unless you’ve won the lottery. Self-made millionaires all have a set of habits they stick to in order for them to be successful. In this episode of Women in Business, I share what they are. First of all, you absolutely need to set up multiple streams of income. Think side hustles, affiliate marketing, employment, book sales, speaking engagements… it doesn’t matter where the revenue comes from, make sure you have at least a few sources coming in. Millionaires have a good grasp on what their budget is and what their books look like at all times. And, this is the most important part, they stick to the budget. Don’t forget as well that in order to avoid burning out, you should be working self-care necessities into your budget, too. I’m sure you already know the importance of your network, right? But do you know that you should be taking the opportunity to build your circle at every single opportunity? It’s true what they say, that your network is your net worth. Having confidence, even learned confidence, is a vital part of becoming a millionaire. Being confident in who you are, what your expertise is, and what decisions you’ve made to get to where you are. You also need to have the confidence to take risks. Risks are an important part of getting ahead in business. Millionaires also invest in coaches and mentors. Who better to learn from than someone who’s already walked where you’re walking and done what you’re doing? Make the investment. Trust me. Lastly, practice gratitude every single day. Gratitude has so many benefits, including boosting your mental, physical, and emotional health! When you take the time to be grateful for what you already have around you, you’re more likely to be in the right frame of mind for success. Do you already have some of these habits? What ones are you going to start doing right away? Let me know in the comments on the episode page!   In This Episode: Why you need to have multiple streams of income What the long-term reason for knowing your budget and books is How to avoid burning out by investing in self-care. Why you should build your network at every available opportunity What the benefits of being confident are Why you should take risks in business Why millionaires invest in business coaches and mentors in order to be more successful What role gratitude has in millionaire success   Quotes: “It’s crucial that we be aware of our incoming and outgoing funds of the total of your fixed and variable expenses, and then from there build a budget. But a budget is only good if you’re going to stick to it!” (8:00) “Ladies, if you have a business coach who’s not looking at your finances and helping you keep that in check, your business could be in danger! I cannot stress that enough. Your finances and your cash flow are the number one thing in your business.” (8:50) “The most successful people in the world have strong connections around them.” (12:01) “It’s so important to be confident in who you are, your expertise, and your decisions.” (14:52) “Procrastination and laziness won’t build an empire. Entrepreneurship is no joke and there are going to be long days, long weeks, months, and years and, yes, maybe even short maternity leaves, but with goal-setting, acting on those goals, and being efficient, you will absolutely make progress.” (19:13)   Links Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs go from side-hustle to CEOs! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

Knowing what you want to do with your life from a young age is a rare gift, but when it happens, you’re absolutely unstoppable. Elizabeth Ward Creel, the owner of high-end fashion boutique Elizabeth W, joins me to talk about following your passion, excelling in your career, and opening your own store. Elizabeth tells us about how she started in retail and worked her way up to working in the buying department of Walmart. Sure, it wasn’t exactly where she wanted to be, but she got so much experience that she was able to use when she decided to build her own store. For Elizabeth, it was a lack of high-end fashion in her city that led her to ultimately decide to open Elizabeth W. By taking advantage of a gap in the marketplace, she has built a successful business with a large, national customer base. However, despite knowing so much about how to run a fashion business, Elizabeth didn’t know how to get started running her own store. She turned to business books for guidance, especially regarding a business plan, and her friends for support and advice where she lacked mentorship. Elizabeth shares some of the first hurdles she came across in her first year of business. Sometimes, these hurdles are in totally unexpected areas, such as hiring! But Elizabeth learned from these experiences and has used them to grow as a woman in business. Finally, we discuss how to strike that work/life balance that entrepreneurs are always talking about. Because it can definitely be a challenge to not be glued to your new business baby at all hours. Elizabeth gives some excellent advice about how she set herself a physical challenge to stick to during her first year in business. Are you ready to transition from your career to owning your own business? How are you striking the balance between work and life? Let me know in the comments on the episode page!   In This Episode: How you go from having a career to opening your own store Why you should take advantage of gaps in the marketplace What the advantage of investing in business books is Who can take the place of a mentor when you don’t have one What some of the unexpected hurdles are in the first year of business What you can do to help strike that balance between business and life   Quotes: “There are things when you start a business that you can never anticipate.” (16:40) “It’s difficult to strike that balance between home and social life and owning a business. It’s never perfect. I think it’s always a journey and an evolution.” (19:11) “Be flexible. Have your plan but figure out what changes you need to make as you go along.” (25:02)   Links Find Elizabeth Ward Creel & Elizabeth W Online Find Elizabeth W on Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs go from side-hustle to CEOs! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

Happy International Women’s Day, you beautiful, driven souls! This episode is dedicated to you. To making waves, taking seats, and standing up for what you believe in. Because, ladies, the tide is changing. This is only our beginning. How many times in your life have you been called a bitch? It’s a fairly regular occurrence. But tell me what is wrong with standing up for yourself and others, what you believe in, and being that bold voice in the workplace? Nothing, that’s what! One thing’s for sure. We need to keep speaking up. Speak up for yourself, for other women, for anyone struggling with diversity. Women reaching gender equality in the workplace is set for over 100 years away! We can do better if we speak up. I know that it’s not always the easiest environment, being a woman in the workplace. You’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t, right? This is called a double-bind - it’s similar to a double standard but applicable in the workplace. Let’s talk about how we can stop it. Finally, I’m giving you the low-down on what the rules of our new playbook are, ladies. These are the steps and actions we need to take in order to step up and speak out about gender bias in the workplace. Define what matters to you. Be committed to diversity and inclusion. And be the voice for those who aren’t able or ready to speak for themselves. Help your sisters up. Help other women thrive. We’re all in this together! How are you supporting other women on International Women’s Day? Let me know in the comments on the episode page!   In This Episode: Why you shouldn’t be offended to be called a bitch What will happen when we continue to speak up What the double bind is and how we can stop it What the rules of the new playbook are Why you have to define what matters to you What it means to be committed to diversity and inclusion   Quotes: “Ladies, we are worth way more than having to wait 100 years to have a seat at the table. Together, let’s build our own damn table.” (2:24) “Women! Now is the time for us to stand up, use our voices, and be bold for workplace equality.” (6:05) “You don’t have to like everyone, but respect for others and dignity for yourself will carry you farther than alienation and disdain every day of the week.” (12:08) “Remember where you came from but be committed to putting your hand out and pulling up the next in line.” (15:01)   Links Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs go from side-hustle to CEOs! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

Discovering what sets your soul on fire and living every day working towards that purpose makes even the hard days that bit easier. Because when you’re walking in line with your passion and purpose, you become even more driven and determined. Dr. Sharon Spano is here to talk about how becoming an advocate for her disabled son lit a passion in her to help other women bring their family life in line with their business goals. Sharon created a life where the advocacy work she was doing for her son when she was speaking up on his behalf for his healthcare and life turned into a career coaching other women on how their family needs to be considered when pursuing their business. For many in business, balancing family and work simply wasn’t done. But she’s inspired by this new wave of CEOs emerging that exist without the stress and pressures their predecessors experienced. While Sharon has been in this line of work for many years, when she first started, career speaking wasn’t really done. But speaking about her adversity, standing up for what she believed in, and exploring options ignited a career spanning decades - and one that allowed her to be present for the last years of her son’s life. The thing that helped Sharon cope with the loss of her son was being clear about her purpose. She knew that the work she was doing was important to other women. But, more than this, it was the drive and passion that Sharon held for her career that kept her going over these many hard years. Sharon urges women to be confident in their abilities. So many of us shy away from compliments, brush off how good we actually are at something, and, let’s just say we’re the masters of deflection. But when we own what we’re good at? Accept it and embrace it? Women, we are unstoppable!! One tool that Sharon is adamant about is creating a mission statement. By detailing exactly what your mission in life and business is, you work every day to get you one step closer to your highest potential. Are you living in your highest purpose? Do you have a mission statement that drives what you do? Let me know in the comments on the episode page!   In This Episode: What the new wave of CEOs looks like How adversity and speaking what you believe in can ignite a career Why you need to be clear about your purpose What happens when you own what you’re good at  How a mission statement helps you reach your highest potential   Quotes: “There are many amazing, great things happening in this country. From the very small mom and pop or woman business owner, into these people that are building these platforms and it’s just a very exciting time. You can basically take your idea and be whatever you want to be.” (8:40) “Every family system has its story. I really believe that when you just lean into what is, that is how we move through it with grace and then have a better opportunity to grow from it and come out the other side in greater service to humanity as a result of that experience.” (13:28) “I stay focused on how can I, as one woman, do my part to make the world a better place every day?” (32:23) “I think that the world is waiting for us to step up into leadership roles. The world needs us to do that.” (34:13)     Links Find Dr. Sharon Spano Online Find Dr. Sharon Spano on LinkedIn | Facebook | Twitter Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs go from side-hustle to CEOs! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

Starting your own business is such an incredible feeling! I want you to start on the best footing possible: by giving you give business tips every female entrepreneur needs to know. These tips will help you avoid the common mistakes many women in business make while scaling! First things first - you NEED to have a contract for every single business interaction you have. Trust me. You don’t need to be embarrassed or feel awkward about getting your work agreement in writing. Nine times out of ten it’s just a formality, but there could be a time when you need to refer back to your contract, so make sure you have one! Next, we’re talking about how you can start your business off on the right foot from day one. This means registering your business and setting up a separate bank account so you can start trading the right way. And, as easy as it is to put another business on blast for some BS they pulled with you, I really, truly, honestly recommend NOT doing that. Burning bridges is not the way to handle sour relations. Keep your head up, take the high road, and, if that’s not enough, take them to court. But don’t drag them through the mud - that just reflects badly on you. You also definitely need to face your fear and get comfortable asking for what you want. This goes for both asking for your WORTH and for potential opportunities and networking. Not only will your business relationship improve, but I guarantee so will your confidence and bank balance. Finally, I urge you to believe in yourself. When you do, and when you respect yourself, your business, your work, and what you stand for, guess what? So will other people. Are you ready to pursue the business you’ve always dreamed of? Let me know in the comments on the episode page!   In This Episode: Why you should always use a contract How you can get your finances straight from day 1 of your business Why you absolutely need to have a separate business bank account What happens when you burn bridges in your business journey How to face your fear and ask for what you want What happens when you’re confident of your worth Why you need to stand up for what you believe in and earn respect   Quotes: “You contract, and more importantly your client’s signature equates to nothing but pure gold. And without having a written, agreed upon, and mutually signed agreement in your hot little hands, you’re better off holding pixie dust.” (4:55) “You cannot control other people and their poor ways of handling situations. But the one thing you do have complete control over is how you handle yourself and your business.” (15:03) “We need to be it til we believe it. Your worth and your confidence will come from taking baby steps or huge leaps, whatever you’re comfortable with, to be the woman you admire.” (17:28) “Don’t be afraid to speak up because earned respect starts with YOU respecting your first.” (21:32)     Links Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs go from side-hustle to CEOs! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

Launching and growing a virtual assistant agency is the perfect study of why it’s so important to have your process and SOPs in place. Tasha Booth, founder of The Launch Guild, joins me to talk about how she’s achieved the incredible success she’s had since becoming a full-time virtual assistant in 2017. First, Tasha briefly explains what a virtual assistant is and what types of tasks they can help busy business owners with. Tasha also lets us in on the secret to using Facebook groups to find your clients and how it works when you’re a solo entrepreneur and a successful agency owner. When it came time for Tasha to bring in more people to her team, she had to go through some big mindset shifts. Creating Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) has been essential to the success of The Launch Guild as these have allowed the virtual assistants she’s hired to have more autonomy over the way they work. Tasha says that over the years, she has learned to be proactive with her hiring, rather than reactive. This has alleviated a lot of the stress of the hiring process, which means that more business owners are happy with the onboarding process The Launch Guild uses.  Allowing your staff to take ownership of their mistakes, deal with clients directly, and learn to be better leaders is something Tasha has had to educate herself on - and take a step back from micromanaging. But Tasha trusts her team implicitly, and this is evident in the company culture that she’s building. Lastly, Tasha gives some advice on how any entrepreneur can grow their business: virtual coffee chats!  Are you ready to grow your team? Have you already laid out your standard operating procedures? Let me know in the comments on the episode page!   In This Episode: What a virtual assistant is How you can use Facebook groups to find your ideal clients as a virtual assistant What mindset shifts you need to make when you’re moving from a solo entrepreneur to an agency How creating SOPs can help your team be more independent Why you need to be proactive rather than reactive Where problems arise when you take ownership of your employee’s mistakes How to cultivate a company culture when you have a remote team Why you need to be consistently visible How you build relationships with online coffee chats   Quotes: “When I’m having a hard conversation with any team member I like to lead with the Brene Brown quote, ‘clear is kind, unclear is unkind,’ and explain the key times in my own corporate career where I wish my supervisor would have talked to me or let me know if things weren’t going well and given me the opportunity to change gear, explain, or whatever the case may be instead of waiting until it was irreconcilable.” (17:37) “You’re not allowing your team to grow as people if you are not allowing them to grow as leaders when they know that you’re just going to swoop in when something goes wrong.” (20:07) “I love that you said it’s lonely at the top because what I’ve found is that as I do gain more success, there are fewer and fewer people who have been as successful as I am with my agency model. And you don’t want to sound as though you’re bragging when you have a problem that seems small to other people who haven’t been there yet. I definitely think it’s important that you create community that are in your same income and business sphere.” (30:30) Links Find Tasha Booth and The Launch Guild Online Follow  The Launch Guild on Instagram | Facebook | Pinterest  Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs go from side-hustle to CEOs! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

Succeeding in business isn’t just about the service or product you provide. It’s about the kind of woman you are. Are you someone that can G.S.D? Today, I’m talking about the 5 habits of successful women you HAVE to cultivate. As women, saying no doesn’t come easy to us. But, and let me repeat this loudly for everyone in the back, “NO” is a complete sentence. If an opportunity, meeting, or piece of work doesn’t feel like a big ol’ yes to you, you need to protect yourself and just say no. It doesn’t make you a bitch, it doesn’t make you a bad businesswoman, and it definitely doesn’t make you a bad person. So start practicing saying no to what doesn’t serve you! Hands up who tends to procrastinate? It could be over the easiest task, maybe not finding the right words, or over something you really just hate doing. I’m here to tell you that you need to break up with procrastination. Successful women don’t procrastinate. And if you find yourself procrastinating over some work that doesn’t fulfill you, I’ll let you into a little secret: outsource it. You also need to protect yourself in order to avoid burnout. Are you doing too much all the time and feeling no joy in it? That’s not okay, girl! Take a step back and practice some of that self-care we’re all talking about right now. It’s vital for our mental health which, of course, impacts the health and success of our business. Mistakes happen to literally everyone. Own yours, learn from them, and then move the hell on. You won’t succeed if you’re trapped reliving your worst mistakes, trust me! Finally, you need to stop focusing on putting out the fires as they pop up instead of focusing on preventing them from ever happening! What are you procrastinating on right now? And what are you going to do to change it? Let me know in the comments on the episode page!   In This Episode: What habits of highly successful women you absolutely need to know and implement this year Why you need to guard your yes How you can stop procrastinating right now What you need to do to stop burning out Why you need to own your mistakes, learn from them, and move on How to be proactive to any possible change in your business   Quotes: “Do you think there are highly successful men out there - or highly successful women out there who are saying yes just to be accommodating? Because I promise you, Oprah is not!” (5:32) “If you continue making the same mistake over and over, it’s no longer a mistake. It’s a choice.” (11:49)  “Drop the ego and recognize where you can improve. Once you can get ego out of the way, you’ll see tremendous growth within your self and as a result of your company. Because of your growth, your company will grow, too.” (12:40)   Links Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs go from side-hustle to CEOs! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

You don’t have to be a naturally confident person when you start your business, but you do need to learn how to be more confident in order to have true success. Julie Reisler, CEO of Julie Reisler International and host of The You-est You podcast, joins me to talk about how to find true confidence by stepping into your highest purpose. For Julie, it was a journey of years that took her through many self-help and support group programs that led her to the realization that she absolutely loved helping and advising other people. She describes how she was able to tap into herself and discover that her highest potential is to help guide others in finding their own path. Julie is a firm believer in trusting her intuition. She explains the process she uses to question hers and what results this has brought her and her career. She also shares the importance of being over doing, even though as humans, we’re far more comfortable doing. As Julie has published her meditations on the Insight Timer app, she believes that meditation is a big part of finding our true alignment. She explains how even those of us with the busiest of minds can learn to find the calm that meditation brings.  By finding her true calling, Julie has found out what actually happens when your entire heart and soul go into your business. Her business is in six-figures after just a handful of years and she owes this success to following her intuition. By trusting herself and her intuitive guidance, Julie stepped into her confidence to own what she teaches. Julie shares the steps you can take to find your own confidence, even if you’ve never been a naturally confident person. She explains why walking in your purpose doesn’t come naturally to us and what happens when we do. Julie also guides us through creating a routine that encourages our state of being. Are you ready to find the confidence to walk in your true purpose? What do you know your calling is? Or if you’re not sure, what do you think is blocking you from your truth? Let me know in the comments on the episode page!   In This Episode: How to tap into yourself and find your highest potential Why you should ask your intuition if you have a question about your direction Where being exists compared to doing How to quiet your mind in order to meditate What happens when you put your entire heart and soul, intuitively, into your business What steps you can take to start your own business when you have no idea How your intuition will help you step into your confidence Where you can find your confidence Why it’s difficult to walk in your purpose How to create a routine to encourage being overdoing   Quotes: “I really think this inner wisdom, this intuition, is something that is within and is more of a listening and receiving, less of a doing and a pushing. You have to be in that mode in order to hear it.” (14:40) “Once you start to really understand, feel, and sense how to work with your intuition, it will never steer you wrong. A lot of my confidence is in this sense of knowingness.” (30:29) “A great way to build confidence is to keep evidence of what’s working and what people want from you, what’s natural, where you thrive easily. That’s often the place that we’re meant to be.” (31:42)   Links Get Your FREE Copy of Get a PhD in YOU! Find Julie Reisler Online Follow Julie Reisler on Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | LinkedIn Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs go from side-hustle to CEOs! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

Investing in a mentor to help you transition and scale is one of the best ways you can start having massive success with your business. Kara Weaver of Weddings by Weaver joins me to talk about how working with a mentor(me!), changed the course of her business. Kara shares how working with a mentor helped her achieve the goals she set out for her business. She also opens up about how lonely it can be as an entrepreneur and how finding an online community of other women in business really eased that. Community is vital when you’re an entrepreneur as it can help you move forward, air your frustrations, and offer advice. The best advice Kara can give a small business, especially if you want to reach a level where you’re not working 60 hours a week, is to hire employees or contractors. When you have more people, who you trust and are trained, your customers will have their needs taken care of easier, without you having to face the very real threat of burn-out. Another tip for growing your business is to put systems in processes in place early so that when you do hire, your employees and contractors have something straightforward to work with and learn from. Kara explains how she worked with her mentor on her D.A.M.M. goals, and getting these processes in place was one of the first goals she achieved. Kara’s company is growing at such a steady pace. She’s been able to step back out of her business more, allowing herself and her husband to regularly go on trips. She couldn’t have achieved this without working with her mentor to help her scale her business the way she has. In this episode, we also talk about company culture and why you need to treat your employees with love and respect. When your employees love working for you and your company, they truly are your best advocates… which means your conversion rate will be higher than ever before. Kara leaves us with the best piece of advice: “Spend the time, spend the money, get the investment into yourself because your company’s not going to succeed if you don’t believe in yourself.”  Are you ready to make an investment in your future through mentorship or coaching? Have you set your D.A.M.N. goals for 2020 yet? What can you do to start scaling your business this year? Let me know in the comments on the episode page.   In This Episode: How working with a mentor can help you reach your business goals Why you need to connect with an online community of like-minded entrepreneurs to feel less lonely and more inspired How hiring employees and contractors can let your business provide a better service for your clients Why putting systems and process in place is essential for allowing your company to grow What happens when you set your D.A.M.N. goals Why you need to scale if you want to live your dream life What happens to your conversion rate when your employees love to work for you Why investing in your personal and business betterment is the best thing you can financially do for your company   Quotes: “My goal sheet is a lot smaller [than last year] and has a larger impact than having multiple goals with smaller impacts.” (14:05) “When you write down your goals, like pen and paper, write them out, you are 42% more likely to achieve them than if you just think about them.” (17:15) “If anybody’s listening to this and they have ever thought to themselves, ‘I want to create a company and I want a sustainable company that’s going to allow me to live the life that I want, and a life that is going to be manageable for me,’ you have to start with scaling. There’s no other way around it. You’re going to have to ask for help.” (22:54) “Spend the time, spend the money, get the investment into yourself because your company’s not going to succeed if you don’t believe in yourself.” (32:30)   Links Buy the Wedding Planner by Kara Weaver Find Kara Weaver & Weddings by Weaver Online Follow Weddings by Weaver on Instagram | Facebook | Pinterest Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs go from side-hustle to CEOs! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

In this age of digital disconnection and overwhelm, making personal connections with your audience is more important than ever. After smashing into the online business scene back in 2007, Amber Vilhauer has seen all the shifting trends of the industry, and personal connections top her list of the best advice. Amber shares with us some stories of dark days from her childhood; but rather than using these experiences to feel sorry for herself, she’s learned and grown from then to become the woman she is now. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger, and all that. Since she’s been in the online business space since 2007, Amber has seen so many trends come and go. The worrying thing that’s happening now, however, is that influencers report feeling disconnected from their audiences and that social media doesn’t have the reach and impact it once did. This is why Amber is passionate about showing up as your true, authentic, and vulnerable self and making personal connections with your community. It’s no longer about your follower count, but your community engagement that impacts your business growth. For Amber, she thinks of personal connection in how she can elevate each individual experience to be the best possible, making the person she’s connecting with feel truly appreciated and special in those moments. One of the best ways to make personal connections easier is to utilize video. Put all your effort into creating videos! These videos can be used to welcome and guide people through your website, explain to your audience what action you want them to take, streamline your sales process, and more. When your face is in video and you’re showing your unique personality, your audience will feel more connected with you pretty instantly. How do you connect on a personal level with your audience? Have you started putting your energy into video and video marketing?  Let me know in the comments on the episode page!   In This Episode: How the darkest days of our lives mold us to be the people we become Why you need to build personal connections with your audience How the quality of your community impacts your growth What the importance of personal connection is Why you should think about how you can elevate each experience What happens when you step into who you actually are rather than who you think you should be Why you should put your efforts into video marketing How video helps your clients feel like you’re there without having to physically be present  How using video can streamline your sales process Why your website should be a unique experience   Quotes: “What I’m seeing is that we’re in the midst of a major connection crisis. And we now have to now figure out ways to develop personal connections with each person that learns about our work, regardless of expectation of that working or networking relationship is going to look like. It really is about building personal connection.” (14:09) “When you have personal connection with people, they want to give back to you because it feels good to give.” (19:02) “If you’re not suggesting to people how they move through your organization, they likely won’t know what to do and will just leave.” (30:40)   Links How to Attract Qualified Buyers and Grow Your Following Find Amber Vilhauer Online Follow Amber Vilhauer on Instagram | Facebook | YouTube | LinkedIn Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs go from side-hustle to CEOs! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.

When you organize your business, there’s no limit to how much you can get done. In this episode, I’m sharing the 5 steps you need to take in order to G.S.D. (Get Sh*t Done) so you can take control of your business and bring in the revenue you know you can. I’m a firm believer that you need to be organized to reach your maximum business potential. Most women I know pride themselves on being multi-taskers, but studies have actually shown that multi-tasking makes you LESS productive.  That’s why you need to learn how to time-block. Time-blocking helps you figure out where your time is going each week and what you’re actually wasting time on. When you’ve figured that out, you can block all your tasks together. So, for example, you spend 1 hour in the morning replying to emails, then don’t look at it again until the next day. When you organize for time-blocking, you should also label your tasks, based on how important it is that YOU complete them, how big a priority they are for your business, and how much you enjoy them.  Trust me when I say that organizing your schedule by time-blocking will have a profound impact on your level of productivity. Plus, once you’ve figured out which tasks take a lot of time and take you OUT of your zone of genius, you can start building standard operating procedures so you can outsource them! You also need to learn to love automation to take over repetitive and time-consuming tasks, like onboarding a new client. Are you ready to Get Sh*t Done? What is the first task you’re going to outsource? Let me know in the comments on the episode page!   In This Episode: Why you need to be organized in order to make more money What steps you need to take to be ultra-organized and GSD How time-blocking makes you more productive What happens when you organize your schedule Why you need to set your business priorities When you should consider outsourcing How automation can save you time running your admin   Quotes: “Studies have shown that you are actually 30% less productive when multi-tasking because you aren’t truly focusing on the task that you are working on.” (3:45) “What are you working on and spending your time and focus on that will actually bring in revenue? And what are you doing that really is just a time suck in your day? Because so many business owners get caught up in their own “busy work”.” (12:56) “So let a CRM take your repeatable processes off your plate and handle them for you. Trust me, it’ll be a breath of fresh air.” (17:20)   Links Try HoneyBook for yourself Find Dr. Cortney Baker Online Follow Dr. Cortney Baker on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | LinkedIn Join From Side Hustle to CEO on Facebook Subscribe to Women in Business on Apple Podcasts   Are you a female millennial entrepreneur who wants to start or scale your service-based business but not sure where to start? Go to https://www.drcortneybaker.com/roadmap to get a copy of my business roadmap. Stop duct-taping ideas together for starting your business. Snag my FREE roadmap to get starting on building a real business today. About Dr. Cortney Baker... She is an award-winning entrepreneur, researcher, author, speaker, and advocate for gender equality. As a leadership expert and mother of three, she is passionate about inspiring and empowering women to lead with greatness. Dr. Baker is the author of the best-selling books: The Ten Do's and Don'ts for Business Leadership: Lessons to Lead Effectively and Unlimited: Conquering the Myth of the Glass Ceiling. She is passionate about helping ambitious female entrepreneurs go from side-hustle to CEOs! Feedback? Questions? Comments? For more information or to reserve Dr. Cortney Baker to speak at an upcoming event, please contact her at cortney@cortneybaker.com or 1-469-708-8840.