Podcasts about cocommercial

Tara (Gentile) McMullin, author and the founder of the What Works Network, formerly CoCommercial, joins us this week to share how she pivoted her business model to help turn small business owners into tomorrow’s economic powerhouses. Listen and learn: The less common motivation behind registering your trademark Why consulting your ideal customer can help you fine-tune your perfect product How a licensing program can broaden your reach How understanding the difference between an independent contractor and an employee can help make the hiring leap less scary KEY TAKEAWAY: When you “don’t know what you don’t know”, legal can seem intimidating. But sometimes doing your due diligence and tackling something scary like legal can open doors to help you grow your business more effectively. Visit www.awbfirm.com/podcast79 for show notes and to get a free 5 Minute Intellectual Property Audit to learn how you can make more money from the copyrights and trademarks in your business (plus be the first to know when new episodes are live). This podcast is information, not legal advice specific to your situation.

Tara's business has changed a lot over the last 10 years. Find out more about the journey--and why CoCommercial is now The What Works Network. The post EP 181: How Tara McMullin’s Brand Has Evolved Over The Last 10 Years appeared first on What Works.

Welcome to episode 51 of The Blogger Genius Podcast. This week my guest is Gina Bianchini, founder and CEO of Mighty Networks, an online platform to help you build your brand in a variety of ways. Gina and I go into detail on how to build a vibrant online community, why Facebook groups are waning,  and why there's real value in getting your fans to interact with each other.   Resources: MiloTree Mighty Networks Teachable Kajabi Patreon CoCommercial The Happiness Project Zoom Crowdcast Catch My Party * May contain affiliate links. If you click and make a purchase, I might receive a small commission at no cost to you.   Transcript: How To Build A Vibrant Online Community with Gina Bianchini Host 0:04 Welcome to the Blogger Genius Podcast brought to you by MiloTree. Here's your host, Jillian Leslie. Jillian Leslie 0:11 Hey everyone, welcome back to the Blogger Genius Podcast. I'm really excited about my guest today. Today, I am interviewing Gina Bianchini. Gina is a legend in Silicon Valley. If there is a list of female founders, she is always on it. She is the CEO of Mighty Networks. Many of you have probably heard of Mighty Networks or are using Mighty Networks. It's a place where you can build your own community. So without further ado, I bring you Gina Bianchini. Gina, welcome to the show. Gina Bianchini 0:48 Thank you for having me. Meeting Gina Bianchini of Mighty Networks Jillian Leslie 0:50 I was thinking about it and I think we met about five years ago. So we both went to the Stanford Business School at different times and there was a conference. You remember this? An entrepreneurship conference, and you were leading a session on product-market fit. Gina Bianchini 1:10 Yes, I do. Jillian Leslie 1:12 And I reached out to you afterwards and said, "Hey, we should get together." And then we met in your offices in downtown Palo Alto. Gina Bianchini 1:19 Yes. Jillian Leslie 1:20 And we sat down and we were talking about our business models and things like that. You were so kind. I remember you being like, "I totally get what you're doing. And any way I can help, I'm in." Then recently, somebody I was talking to mentioned Mighty Networks -- at the time it was called MightyBell, right? Gina Bianchini 1:41 Yes. Jillian Leslie 1:42 And I was thinking about you and I thought, "Oh my God," I wanted to reach out to you, have you as a guest on the podcast. What my audience probably doesn't know is that I think of you as one of the original "girlboss" founders in Silicon Valley. Gina Bianchini 1:59 Which makes me feel so feel old. Jillian Leslie 2:01 I don't mean it to make you feel old. Gina Bianchini 2:04 Okay, okay. I'm just going to, like, embrace it. Jillian Leslie 2:06 Embrace it because you have seen a lot and you have built businesses. Gina Bianchini 2:13 Yes. Jillian Leslie 2:15 So let's start. So can you share then your story and how you became an entrepreneur, how you founded businesses, and where you are today with Mighty Networks. Gina Bianchini 2:25 Sure. And I almost want to start with where I'm at today because I always think that that's sort of the more fun, you know spot, to begin with. What is Mighty Networks and who is it for? So Mighty Networks is a software platform. We sell it as a service, so people pay us money although we do have a free version to build brands and businesses that bring people together. So our passion is how do we enable and unlock for... We think about it as niche entrepreneurs, but it can be anybody from a small business owner to a creator to a lifestyle influencer to... actually, big brands use us as well. The really special secret sauce of a mighty network is that because you have in one place what you're probably using today as a group on a big blue platform... Jillian Leslie 3:25 It shall remain nameless. Gina Bianchini 3:27 Right. An online course on a platform like Teachable or Kajabi, an email list over here, a website over there. All the time you're spending in social media. We actually let you bring those things together. And when you bring those things together, something magical happens, namely, the thing we learned about at Stanford Business School which is called the "network effect," meaning you can create a brand or business that brings people together such that it gets more valuable to everyone with every new member who joins. That is the reason Facebook is as powerful as it is today. That's the reason we're using Skype right now for this podcast. And it's the reason that each and every one of us has the power and potential to take a small business and make it a lot bigger. Because if we bring people together in one place such that your courses, your groups, your website, your content, your events, and your messaging are all in one place under your brand, you are able to create something that gets more valuable with every new member who joins. So I share that as kind of the the opening because everything in my life and career has brought me to this moment in this place where I am absolutely obsessed with the notion of how to enable niche entrepreneurs to bring people together and create something much more valuable as a result. So I grew up in Cupertino down the city, where Apple was founded and is headquartered today. I grew up amongst orchards. My grandparents owned a nursery and I watched how the orchards got taken over with office buildings. But what I learned which was just sort of a function of where I was. My dad was a history teacher. My family was obsessed with thinking about how does social change happen and how have cultures changed. I was always really fascinated by people systems and how we've gone from one culture to another culture. Then being in the heart of Silicon Valley, looking at technology through the impact it has on culture, I feel like everything in my life led me to the moment that social, you know, at the time was called web 2.0 really in the early aughts. But fundamentally, It was about "Oh, I get this." I have been surrounded by technology. I worked in the Goldman Sachs high technology group. I understand technology, I understand engineering, but my passion just happened to be how do you bring people together not as robots but as human beings. Jillian Leslie 6:40 And I remember the first time we talked and we sat down, and you said that to me, so your message is incredibly consistent. Like, this is what gets you going. It's not the things. It's funny because this is stereotypical but there is some truth here, which is women like people, men like things. And so you found a way to use technology for people. Gina Bianchini 7:03 Certainly, I hope so. There's certainly moments when I feel like, "Oh my gosh, am I I working on the right stuff? Is this going to be successful?" We all have those moments of fear, vulnerability, but what I know to be true is whenever I have followed my own curiosity and hit the send button on something that scared me just a little bit, the results have been profound. At times that's kind of all we've got in terms of what drives us and what motivates us. I feel very fortunate that I was born in the right place at the right time to be able to do what I really believe in, which is how do we push out to the edges of the network in a really dorky technical way of saying it. What it really means is how do we push out to beautiful individuals with the ability and curiosity and passion to bring people together and allow them to create network effects. You know, again, create a brand that brings people together without needing to be an engineer or commute from Palo Alto to San Francisco. Or whatever it is. You can be anywhere in the world and as long as you have a passion, a niche that you want to bring together, that the tools and technology exist for you to be able to do that and create something that gets more valuable with every new person that you bring into that tribe, you bring into that niche. Jillian Leslie 8:57 Okay, so let's break it down. My audience is somebody who might be listening to this probably started as, let's say, a food blogger and they loved food, so they started putting their recipes out there and then they started getting visitors. Then they started growing social media networks, social media accounts, and then they started to monetize. And this is very true, which is I think that a lot of online entrepreneurs especially female entrepreneurs kind of start with their passion. Then they figure out over time, "Okay, how do I monetize this? So usually, first, you put up some ads and then you say, "Oh, I can work with brands." Then you say, "I want to create my own products and I want to grow my social media accounts," and they start building that way. So could you talk about how you think about that and what happens? Gina Bianchini 10:00 Absolutely love this question. Jillian Leslie 10:02 Oh, wait, wait, but I just want to say because what happens is the people who you start to piece together these stacks of technology. "Oh, I need to make a course, I go over here." "Oh, I need a Pinterest Scheduler, I go over here." Whatever it is. So we end up with all of these different things that all you hope kind of talk to each other. Gina Bianchini 10:25 Yep. Jillian Leslie 10:26 So talk about then the organic growth of somebody's business and how you could help them. Gina Bianchini 10:32 Yeah. And you forgot the podcast. Jillian Leslie 10:34 Oh, and the podcast! Gina Bianchini 10:35 Yes, you forgot the podcast. You forgot like, "Hey, wait a second. Should I be doing a YouTube channel?" "Oh, gosh, there are no more ads. Should you know, should I launch a Patreon subscription?" So, I love this question so much because it's our world. Jillian Leslie 10:57 Oh wait, and one last thing. My audience, typically, is not super technical. They are much more creative. So I think I told you we created a little like a SaaS business called Milotree. And our intention -- our users are bloggers and people like that don't care about the technology, so we took on the technology. Because my husband's my partner, he's a technologist -- I am not -- but we made it really smart and really easy to use because we said, "Uh-oh, we're not going to give you a lot of options. If there's a good option, we're going to make this choice for you so all you have to do is just install it," and it works. And I feel like philosophically, we are speaking the same language. Gina Bianchini 11:44 Yes. Jillian Leslie 11:45 Okay, so go for it. Gina Bianchini 11:48 Okay. So the first thing is, let's just celebrate for a second that wherever you start, following your passion is awesome. It just is. The hardest step is... and I sort of think about it as the courage to focus. The hardest step is the first one, which is launching that first blog or launching that podcast or launching whatever it is the first thing that you decide to do that expresses your passion in a way that can bring people together. So, yay, like this is awesome. The interesting thing and the part for us that we passionately believe is that it's actually great for all of these different platforms and terrible for the entrepreneur, the business owner, the food blogger in this example, to be trying to use all of these different services at one time. And there's the obvious reason which is it's a heck of a lot of work. You're also paying SaaS fees for each and every one of these services. Or you're giving cuts of things. A cut over here, a cut over here, a cut over here, a cut over here. But the big problem with having 10 different services, you know, because we haven't even talked about like what if you want your people to start meeting up or you're going to go on a live event podcast tour? Jillian Leslie 13:35 You wrote a cookbook and now you're going to go around and talk about it. Gina Bianchini 13:39 So the problem -- and this is something that again, I think it's a really positive thing in terms of the opportunity for Mighty Networks, but it makes me mad as a technologist and as a Silicon Valley person, which is it's absolutely a missed opportunity for every entrepreneur, every food blogger who is not first and foremost thinking about "how am I bringing my people together in one place, so that when I want to launch events, it's one click to turn it on." Jillian Leslie 14:13 Right. Gina Bianchini 14:13 Or when I'm ready to launch my course, I don't have to go use a new service, it's right there. It's already in my mighty network, in this case. Again, I'm biased. But the reason why we've invested millions of dollars in building out this type of functionality is because when you bring together the option of turning on groups, for example, or the option of launching a course or deciding, "Hey, I launched a course, and instead of it didn't work as well as I wanted it to, I just turned it off." But I don't have to move my people anywhere, I don't have to, rebuild in each and every one of these different places, and the most important thing. We talk about Mighty Networks as like the simplest way to build a business online today because your subscriptions are in one place so you don't have to go use Patreon separately. Jillian Leslie 15:07 Will you just explain what Patreon is because I'm not sure my audience knows. What is Patreon? Gina Bianchini 15:11 Sure. Patreon is a service that is actually really, really good. It started because YouTube channels, the sponsorship money for YouTube channels kind of went away. So people who had a large following on YouTube would go to patrons on Patreon who they would essentially ask. Almost like a Kickstarter where it was like $5 to join my exclusive Facebook group, $10 to get exclusive access to this kind of content first if I have a new post coming out, for example. Or you get to hear my podcast before other people hear it in a week. So, it essentially shifted the business model for YouTube creators from sponsorship to subscriptions. Jillian Leslie 16:01 Right, right. And, in fact, there are certain podcasts that I give money to on Patreon because I love the content and they've decided not to do ads. So, I'm willing to pay $5 a month to get access. Gina Bianchini 16:17 So we built that into a Mighty Network alongside with online courses or groups or events or questions and polls. So the idea is you don't have to go to four more different services over time as you want to add various things to your business. It's all an on-off switch directly in your Mighty Network. So at whatever point you decide to use a Mighty Network, you might just use it upfront to replace your website or instead of a Facebook group. But what's awesome is that you never have to go somewhere else when you're ready to grow your business in another way. Jillian Leslie 17:04 Okay. So is like an email service provider? Gina Bianchini 17:08 That is the only thing we don't do, but we have notifications built in. So if you want to create, for example, an article and let everybody know that the article is up, that's all built in. If you want to run a separate weekly newsletter, that's something you go to MailChimp. But here's an awesome thing. Actually different from every other service out there, we give you access to all of your data. Jillian Leslie 17:39 What does that mean? Gina Bianchini 17:40 Meaning that when you create a group on Facebook or even, you know, even on Slack, you don't actually get anybody's email address, location, the topics they're following, anybody that they referred into that group. We give you all of that information. Plus a bunch of analytics that make it so you actually know what people are doing with your content or conversations or we think about it as engagement plans. So what that means in practice is that, one, you're not beholden to a Mighty Network. We want to lock you in because it's awesome, not because you have no alternative to leave. But more importantly, again, when everything's in one place and you can turn on different features when you're ready to expand, it means your people can actually meet each other. You do less work when your community can come together And if your people are actually meeting each other, your followers, your fans, your subscribers, when they're meeting each other, it means that you actually are going to do less work. Jillian Leslie 18:50 What do you mean by that? Gina Bianchini 18:52 They're not relying on you exclusively for all the posts. They're not relying on you to build all the content. They're not relying on you for any reason that they would pay attention to your comeback. So there's a woman. I'll give you a very specific example. There is a woman named Tara McMullin, formerly Tara Gentile. Tara has been a long-time creative, live small business guru. I learn from her every day. She woke up one day and was like, "I am exhausted. I don't want to actually be the person who is front and center and have it be all on my shoulders," which is the reality of life for whether it's us as bloggers, or, I mean, I feel that when I've run a blog or when I have been the face of a company or whatever. So she launched a Mighty Network called CoCommercial, and CoCommercial she describes as a virtual co-working space for online small business owners. She charges a subscription fee for basically it's a one-time annual price of 199 to be a member of CoCommercial. And she's posting in CoCommercial. It doesn't mean that she hasn't in any way, shape or form stopped posting on social media. But what it has meant is that she not only has another revenue stream (subscriptions) but she's freed up her time so that when people are sending her emails, and this happens a lot especially to podcasters... She's got a great podcast as well, where it's like, "Oh, my God, I don't have time to answer all of these fantastic emails coming in from my followers or my subscribers, I wish they could talk to each other." So that has a thriving Mighty Network in CoCommercial. And even the name is not about her, it's about what people are doing together. They are co-creating their businesses together in the context of this network. Jillian Leslie 21:10 So they can ask advice, that kind of thing, help each other, kind of raise each other up. Gina Bianchini 21:16 Exactly. As we all know, anybody who's listening to this podcast, is listening to this podcast, in part, because all of us have tough days. This is a tough path that we have chosen. There are moments of absolute and utter delight when we have that sense of accomplishment of having posted something, or added that video, or made that recipe -- and it's awesome. And then there's the next day where you're like, "Oh, my God, I have to do this all over again today and then I have to do it all over again tomorrow." Jillian Leslie 21:47 Yes, it is. It's like you're Sisyphus pushing the rock up the hill and then it rolls back down. Absolutely. Gina Bianchini 21:54 Choose a model where you're consciously building a business that brings people together, that goes away, and you become much more closely aligned. You're a host of a party which is very different. It's like I always think about it as the difference between when you have to give a speech and dread it for two weeks and work really hard on the speech. Versus hosting a party is really, yeah, you have to set up the room. But for the most part, people are there to meet each other. And you get to engage as much as you want or as little as you want and it doesn't change the fact that people are there interacting and engaging with each other and creating something special that you've still brought together these people. But you've done it in a way that is not exhausting. Jillian Leslie 22:48 Okay, so let's go back to the food blogger who starts with a food blog. Then she says, "Hmm..." I or he, I want to build this into a business into a business with multiple income streams. So they sign up for Mighty Networks. Would they move their blog, first of all, to Mighty Networks because you're a blog platform? Gina Bianchini 23:10 It depends, Okay, so here's the beautiful thing. It's a free country and you get to do it in whatever way that you want. The beautiful thing is, you know, we have tens of thousands of active thriving Mighty Networks and they're all doing it a little bit differently. But here's what I would recommend. If you want to move your blog, great, move your blog. What I think is better is to replace your website. So if you have a website or something that's static, we have sort of a very simple landing page that you can fully customize. So the idea is, replace one of the things that you're doing. Bring together, replace your website. Definitely think about migrating a Facebook group, or if you're using a Slack team, that's really where where a Mighty Network shines. Why you might move your Facebook group to a Mighty Network We have some really specific kind of 123's for how to do it well because we've worked very closely with a number of very large Facebook groups who have moved over to a Mighty Network. Jillian Leslie 24:18 I would say a lot of my audience either has their own Facebook group or participates in Facebook groups daily. Gina Bianchini 24:25 Yeah, absolutely. Two years ago, I would say the kind of overall sentiment was, "Oh, my God, why would I ever leave Facebook? Everything is already on Facebook, I'll miss things like..." You basically would tell group admins they were idiots if they were moving. Fast forward to today... Jillian Leslie 24:49 Yes, how things have changed. Gina Bianchini 24:52 So now, actually, the crazy thing and I'm still sort of surprised by it is that now... I actually talked to a podcaster two weeks ago now -- time is flying -- two weeks ago who said he runs a retirement podcast, and he's like, "I was ready to start a Facebook group. My members, I sent a survey out of what would they want, and they were like, 'Do not do this on a Facebook group. We don't want the distractions. We want to actually be able to meet people in sort of its own space." So instead of feeling like you're in sort of a crowded bar, the idea that you're in sort of a room where people can talk to each other, it's like the back private room. And, then there were other concerns about Facebook that I don't, unfortunately, think are going away anytime soon. Jillian Leslie 25:54 What do you mean by that? You mean in terms of privacy and data and stuff like that? Gina Bianchini 25:59 Just the fact that you really have no predictability around what people are actually going to see. The outcomes are so challenging that where six or seven years ago, people would organically see all of your posts. Jillian Leslie 26:16 I know, yes. Gina Bianchini 26:17 Today, 1 to 3 percent. So the thing I can promise anyone who goes to a Mighty Network is, you know what, you have 100% guarantee people are going to see your stuff. And that's pretty powerful. So basically, we have some nice little tools that make the transition from a Facebook group to a Mighty Network just a little bit easier. Then there are some great best practices that are awesome, that have been done over and over and over again. The momentum in terms of the number of people who are moving their Facebook groups has really accelerated in the last 90 days. What's exciting from my perspective is that people are actually really excited about moving, and people love a Mighty Network. So what is happening is we're seeing larger and larger YouTube channels and bloggers. I mean, one of our earliest adopters of Mighty Networks, actually, is a woman named Gretchen Rubin who I'm sure your audience knows from The Happiness Project, or her latest book called The Four Tendencies. She has a podcast called Happier that's extremely popular. She chose two years ago, almost two and a half years ago now, to move her brand and build a new one on a Mighty Network called Better. The reason was that she wanted people who followed her, especially around The Four Tendencies, which is basically a way to think about how you react to expectations that are placed upon you. She actually launched it a year before she released the book and it went to the bestseller list in part because her most passionate fans were all at the same place. Because they had a deeper connection with the content and obviously with Gretchen but it was really about the content because of the relationships that they had with each other. The book went to number one, and she just successfully launched her second cohort of The Four Tendencies online course which has basically sold out in a week. Jillian Leslie 28:44 Wow. Gina Bianchini 28:44 This is all because she brought people together, she created a network effect. She focused not on "Oh, shoot, I'm going to stay in this sort of fragmented... I'm doing all these different things in all these different places." But rather, she knew that hub of her activity and her brand needed to be about bringing people together because it's highly scalable, meaning more and more people can use it without any more work from Gretchen. Everybody gets more value with every new person who joins. And she has full access to the data and the activities so she can see what people are doing, and get to know her followers and fans even better. So, as she's planning out her next course or her next book, or we're coming up on the 10-year anniversary of The Happiness Project that she can really think about how does she get that to what does she do for her most passionate fans and followers, but then how she harnessed their energy to get it out to more people. Jillian Leslie 29:54 One thing I talk a lot about is that to build a business, you don't have have to have the scale of Amazon. Remember, like, you need 1000 true fans. Gina Bianchini 30:06 Yeah, that's a great piece. Jillian Leslie 30:07 Exactly. And I've talked about it a lot, which is those are the people you want to cultivate. You don't want that person who's saying "Yeah, whatever." You want those people who go "Wow, I am all in." That's how you want to build this sense of community and this interaction where one plus one is five, and also where you can then get them on your side and get them to buy from you. Gina Bianchini 30:39 Yeah, I could not agree with you more. The other thing is that even Amazon, even Facebook, they started narrowly. They started with a niche. And the reality is that while a niche sounds like it's small, it just means that it's narrow. And anyone who's driving in their car, listening to this podcast is capable of building a compelling niche that brings people together by just simply framing these techniques that the best and brightest in Silicon Valley, all these moguls who unfortunately control a lot of our time and inputs -- media and books. But fundamentally, any of us can do it as long as we're not just plugging along, trying to do a little bit over here and a little bit over here and a little bit over here. The reality is that Gretchen Rubin, Tara McMullin, these amazing entrepreneurs and creators know who their customers are, they know who their followers are. And if all you are doing is building followings or building groups on other people's platforms, you will never achieve the level of success that they have because you don't know what your people are doing. Jillian Leslie 32:12 It's a little bit like putting a spike in the ground and saying, "Here's where I live and you can find me here, and you can find my people here." This is like the hub. Gina Bianchini 32:26 Yes, exactly. Jillian Leslie 32:27 Versus, "I'm a little bit over here and a little bit over here and a little bit over here," and you have to reach out. You can reach me but, like, personally, I'm not as good at getting back to people who DM me on Instagram, but if you email me, I will definitely get it. But other people are like, "Oh no, I spent all my time DM-ing on Instagram," for example. Gina Bianchini 32:49 And also for every DM that you have on Instagram -- because here's the problem. Your fans can't really meet each other that well in the comments section of Instagram. Why you don't have to worry about algorithm changes So now imagine instead of you having to answer each and every one of those DMs, your emails, that you can jump into a community that people are answering each other's questions. They're DM-ing with each other. And you get to come in. First of all, your brain just has more time to be creative. Then when you jump in, you can do what make the conversation just take off and participate in as deep or as light of a way that you want. That is the magic and also the sustainability of our businesses. Jillian Leslie 33:38 Right. And we talk about this all the time. So a lot of us have been in this business for a long time and we have seen algorithm changes and just you are beholden, you're a sharecropper if you're building your business on Facebook or Instagram or wherever. My audience flips out when Pinterest changes stuff because Pinterest drives lots of traffic. And it's kind of the nature of it, and the nature is you have to be flexible. But what I like is you're coming and saying "No, no, no..." I mean, you do have to be flexible but you don't have to be at the whim of all of these services. Make your own -- make your own business. Okay, a couple things. One, let's say I want to join one of these communities. Can I go to Mighty Networks and search for Gretchen Rubin's community? Is there some sort of directory? Like with Facebook, I can search for groups. Gina Bianchini 34:34 Yes. So we have a "Find a Mighty Network" function. It is not something we invest heavily in at this point. So we're not going to be your best source of new traffic, but at the same point in time, neither is Squarespace or Shopify, Jillian Leslie 34:57 So you think of yourself as, say, a Shopify store or a Squarespace, meaning people are discovering your network on Mighty Networks. They are learning about it and then using the platform like you might with a Shopify. Gina Bianchini 35:11 Right. Jillian Leslie 35:11 Okay, that makes sense. Gina Bianchini 35:13 Yeah, and part of that is it is very consciously, because we want you to be able to create the Mighty network that you want. Jillian Leslie 35:21 Got it. Gina Bianchini 35:26 When you start to do a lot of discovery as a service that like what you get is some spam and potentially bad actors or other bad things that can necessarily happen. We'll get there as we find ways to do it in ways that are positive, optimistic and awesome. Jillian Leslie 35:45 I like that. Yes. Gina Bianchini 35:47 What we are focused on right now is how do we allow a creator, that food blogger in our example to have everything at their fingertips that they may want to experiment with next on that online course, on that podcast. Jillian Leslie 36:07 Is the backbone of a Mighty Network then like a feed? What does it look like? Gina Bianchini 36:14 Yeah. So we do have an activity feed that is personalized for every member, meaning that they can opt in or out of topics. If they're using a course, that course update will show up in their feed. People they follow will show up in their feed. But the difference is that the host, as we call the people who are it's the equivalent of our group admins, a host or a creator at any point in time can make sure that everyone sees something that they have added. So there are some override features and also some just really nice discovery features we've added as well that that allow for that feed to be augmented with topics, with groups, with events, with courses and other features. Why MiloTree will grow your social media followers on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube Jillian Leslie 37:06 I wanted to take a minute to talk about MiloTree which is the company that I have built with my husband, David. MiloTree is a group of pop-ups that you install on your site and they help grow your social media followers. So you can have an Instagram pop-up that will say "follow me on Instagram" or a Pinterest pop-up that will say "follow me on Pinterest," or Facebook, or a YouTube pop-up that says "subscribe to my channel," or even an email pop-up that says "join my list". You get all of these pop ups in one MiloTree account. If you head over to MiloTree.com and sign up right now, you'll get your first 30 days free, so you can try it out. And again, it takes your traffic and converts your traffic into followers. To be honest, what better followers could you get than people who've already been on your site who've already liked your content. In today's world, you want engaged followers, MiloTree grows engaged followers. These are people that will interact with your social media channels and will read your email list. So if you're trying to grow your business, it's worth checking it out. So head on over and I invite you to head over to MiloTree.com and sign up today. Now, back to the show. Why Might Networks is good for authors Lots of people write books. So I like that example that you used from Gretchen Rubin. I write a book and I'm going to maybe self-publish it because it's the internet today and I can do that. But I need to get people to discover my book. So instead of, again, creating a Facebook group and trying to be active on Instagram, or Pinterest, or Facebook or whatever, I would go to Mighty Networks and I would start a network. Gina Bianchini 38:59 Yes. Jillian Leslie 39:00 And then I would be directing people to my network. Gina Bianchini 39:04 Yeah. Think about it as a hub. So you're still going to have these folks on Instagram or on an email list or on Facebook or on Twitter or on Pinterest, but you're sending people to one place -- and that one place allows them to meet each other. It allows you to launch new things. So, take a book. If you have a book and it's a nonfiction instructional book... Jillian Leslie 39:37 Right, let's say it's a cookbook. Gina Bianchini 39:38 It's a cookbook. That is a perfect online course. That is a perfect series of events. That is a perfect way to do live Zoom or Crowdcast. The way to think about it is that you can sell more books by having this type of Mighty Network and you can extend the life of the book in all of these other ways. And Gretchen Rubin, if you go to Betterapp.us, it's fantastic. It's public, you can you can see everything kind of in one place. It is a wonderful example for those who have instructional books, or a cookbook or a finance book or anything in between. And you can find more ways to not just promote your book to your most passionate fans and followers but also extend the life of it in all of these other ways. Jillian Leslie 40:41 Got it. Wow. Again, I feel like it's funny because you're right, two years ago, it'd be like you're crazy not to have a Facebook group. And today, it's a little bit like that you want to kind of be able to step away from these large platforms and really build something. I think it's like the power of Shopify, for example, which is you might have started with an Etsy shop. But then you don't own your Etsy shop where all of a sudden with a Shopify store, I can own my e-commerce site and I can do all of this cool stuff, but it's mine. Gina Bianchini 41:22 Right. And by the way, we have a great, great way to integrate Shopify stuff. So, I just digress. Jillian Leslie 41:30 Oh, no, no, please because I want to know all the things that can integrate. So if, in fact, I have multiple cookbooks and I put them in my Shopify store with all of my cooking tools, I can then integrate that into Mighty Networks. Gina Bianchini 41:45 You can add a link in just the upfront navigation. There's a couple of different navigation spots where we let you put custom links. Then we also have this really cool feature which is we call it the "Welcome" and "Featured" sections, meaning that you can actually do like a full article promotion and then basically put it in a place where everybody sees it. It's like first when they come in and then when they come back. So you get to have those spots where you can promote additional products and services. Jillian Leslie 42:19 And if I post in my Mighty Network, can I make it so that everybody gets some sort of notification? Gina Bianchini 42:27 Yes. So we have something called "Notify All" that is only available to the host or creators of the Mighty Network and that then notifies everybody that you just posted something. And it's totally opt in. It doesn't happen automatically. But it's a really nice way of having 100% confidence that everybody is seeing something that you just posted. Jillian Leslie 42:57 Is it the groups that are the most active that you think are the most successful? How active then? Because if you are the host of your own party, you do need to be walking around and making sure everybody's happy and making sure everybody has a drink, let's say. What are some best practices for hosts? Gina Bianchini 43:19 So here's the good news. I was thinking about it this morning, actually, because I was writing something up. We run our own Mighty Networks. While it may just seem like it's good business to make it really easy to manage a Mighty Network and do quick things that actually pack a punch, we do it for very selfish reasons, namely, that we run our own Mighty Networks. We're sitting there and were like "ugh" and without doing this thing and it's a total pain. So some of the ways that we let you automate the drink, making sure everybody has a drink, obviously, we have the normal ways of moderators and other people that you can deputize to be making sure everybody's having a good time. Again, another basic thing is scheduled posts or scheduled features. So you can basically line up a bunch of stuff for the week and let it go and know that it's going to get out without you having to do anything. But there are some very specific features that we have put in place because of our own expertise and experiments that we run that are awesome for getting the conversation started in a very low effort way on the part of hosts. One, we, we have something called an icebreaker question. An icebreaker question basically drives up the number of people who start contributing in their first session. So they join and they're asked a very simple question that a host can set up. We love the question, what do you want to get from a community of peers? Or what do you want to get from people who love the food blogger? And the answers people will contribute in their first session are so rad. So right then and there, more and more of your members are already getting comfortable contributing. And for everybody who contributes, other people see it and can say "hey, welcome." The second feature that we have that makes it really easy to manage a Mighty network, which is we call it "Welcome All". So we were manually welcoming every single person that was coming into a Mighty network that we were running a few years ago. At the end of a Saturday where I had probably welcomed 300 people and I was like, "Oh my god, there's 1000 people that joined in the last 48 hours," we built a little feature that lets that process get automated, namely, I go in and for all the members who have joined since the last time I click this button, they get a welcome email from me. A personalized one from Gina saying, "Hey, welcome to this particular mighty network." And then there's a button that says, you know, say thanks or say hello, and then I can start conversations with people. But everybody gets that warm welcome from me and it's one click. Another feature that we put in place are polls. Polls are one of our favorite features because a quick hot cold poll which is basically a pole that says are you positive or negative on X, Y or Z, or for or against X, Y, or Z. We also have a poll that's what we we call a percentage poll, meaning what percentage of your time are you spending listening to this podcast, or what percentage of your time do you spend cooking each week. Then you can compare your time or resources or whatever to the rest of the membership. So there's just some really fun ways to use polls that for the host, it takes like five minutes to post the question and it takes on a life of its own. Jillian Leslie 47:18 Got it. Gina Bianchini 47:18 So those are just that. Another thing that our hosts do, you know, when they're... Tara McMullin, again, is deep in building a book and doing some amazing half marathons and things like that. So what she does is just sets up a weekly live Zoom call or Crowdcast chat -- I think she uses Crowdcast -- where she can just take questions and people can meet each other. It's once a week and it's live. So it feels like it's almost like just this coming together of everybody at the same time and then it reactivates and reengages people in CoCommercial, her Mighty Network. So what's fun about this is that there's all sorts of different ways to keep it interesting, to keep it fresh, and to really set it up so that it's no more than a few minutes every day or an hour to set up kind of the week ahead. Then when you have online courses, for example, that's certainly more of an investment that your listeners are probably already doing or thinking about doing because people will pay for courses today. But you set that up and people are meeting each other in the context of a course, and you don't have to do a lot. So we continually find ways to make Mighty Networks in the technical term 'self-organizing'. But what it really means is that you as a host get to set it up, you can decorate it. Why Mighty Networks is good at bringing people together Some of the best parties any of us have been to have had a big bag of Costco chips and some root beer. But it's fundamentally about the people that you bring together. And again, it doesn't mean that you can't decorate your Mighty Network to the nines and really make it your own, but it also means that if you bring people together and have some really compelling questions, that can make something wildly successful. Jillian Leslie 49:27 What's interesting, I'm just thinking about it for myself, which is, so I've talked about this on the podcast. I have very siloed businesses. So for example, when we first met, my husband and I started a company called Catch My Party. It still exists, it's still growing, and it's completely separate from MiloTree, which is our SaaS app (software as a service app). Then, out of that, I grew the Blogger Genius Podcast. And I had this SEO expert on and we were talking about this and this has come up a variety of times, which is that if we take Catch My Party out of the equation, the Blogger Genius and MiloTree, they're different but they're kind of related and I have a very difficult time integrating them in a more cohesive whole. And you're getting my, you know, like the wheels are spinning, and I have a Facebook group called the MiloTree Mastermind Group. And again, you and I have real business backgrounds and my goal with the Blogger Genius is to interview people like you, people who have been successful, people who have ideas to share, but also because I want to help and I want to share what I've learned being in the trenches. And I want to share that with my audience. I want to say exactly what you were saying which is some days, it's really hard. Some days, I don't want to get out of bed, and other days, I am so excited to get out of bed. Anyway, so for me in my businesses, I'm thinking "Wow, I am all over the place." I am on Facebook and I am on Pinterest and I am on Instagram -- and it makes my brain explode. Gina Bianchini 51:21 Yep. Jillian Leslie 51:22 So we're gonna have to have a conversation after this. Gina Bianchini 51:25 You know, I don't know that it's our tagline at Mighty Networks but there's probably something along the lines of Mighty Networks to help you make your brain not explode. Jillian Leslie 51:37 Yes, yes. I like that. I think you should should trademark that Gina Bianchini 51:43 I'm going to get on that. Jillian Leslie 51:44 Well, Gina, okay, so if as a female entrepreneur who has been at this and again, we have meant to but just there is something really special I think about having somebody like you on the show who has rolled up your sleeves and really just you've dived in there, dive, whatever it is really like talking the talk, what piece of advice would you have for other entrepreneurs? Gina Bianchini 52:15 It's interesting, I really try to stay away from advice because I think it shuts conversations down as opposed to stories and experiences and ideas that kind of continue the conversation. But here's what I would say. I would share that no one who it looks like they have it all together, that looks like they're wildly successful, that looks like that they're perfect, none of them are. Each and every one of us gets up every morning and has a little bit of terror, a little bit of fear of what if this doesn't work or what if this goes away, Or if I'm walking into some kind of bad news situation today. And what I've learned is, the more that I view what I do as a series of experiments and the opportunity to learn, the happier I am. Jillian Leslie 53:28 I like that. I like that. I really like that. Oh, well. Okay, Gina, how can people reach out to you? How can they learn more about Mighty Networks? Gina Bianchini 53:36 Yes. So first, my email address is what you think it would be. Just Gina@mightynetworks.com. Our website is Mightynetworks. com. It is free to create a Mighty Network. We have also tons of resources, and they're only going to get more and more, fun and deep in the new year related to not just how to get the most from a Mighty Network, but really like how to grow your brand and how to grow your business as you start to really take your niche, take that food blog, take that unique category that you are building and expand it into a podcast, into a series of events, into a VIP subscription, into an online course. You don't have to do any of these things all at one time or juggle things that are more than what you want to juggle. But there is something really powerful of just experimenting and just trying things. I tend to post on LinkedIn occasionally. It's probably where I do the most when I write something. One of my goals for 2019 is to get a little bit more comfortable with putting a video on my face and talking, I'm not there yet. Like, I look at myself and I'm like, "Oh, I should really, really start to actually want to wear makeup," which I don't. So hopefully, I will do more of that in the new year. But for the most part, you know, send me an email, join Mighty Networks. We're friendly, Jillian Leslie 55:25 Awesome, awesome. Well, Gina, thank you so much for being on the show. You have given me so much to think about, especially as I try to wrap my arms around my own business, and I'm sure for all of you. I like what you said, which is to experiment. You know, it's funny, we met at that session. You led on product market fit, and what I have learned over the years is you will never know if you have product market fit unless you are experimenting like crazy. That's the only way to find it. Gina Bianchini 56:00 And that is something I relearned every few years. Jillian Leslie 56:04 Me too, me to. Gina Bianchini 56:07 And so this notion that anybody knows... that anybody is doing it really well, it's just they're better at busting through the fear. Jillian Leslie 56:17 Yes, I love it. I love it. Well, thank you so much for being on the show. Gina Bianchini 56:21 It's my pleasure. Have a great rest of your day. Jillian Leslie 56:24 Oh, you too. I hope you liked my interview with Gina and I invite you to head to milotree.com and start growing your business faster. If you're trying to grow your social media followers and your email list, Milotree will do it on steroids. It will grow your followers 24/7 and your email list, and it does it while you sleep. Watch your followers on Instagram or Pinterest or Facebook or YouTube or your email list grow faster! Sign up for MiloTree now and get your first 30 DAYS FREE!

Tara McMullin, founder of CoCommercial, talks about why she decided to walk away from a business that earned her over a million dollar in sales because of her values. Sarah and (former co-host) Garrett also get into the nitty gritty of what she did to build another business that both earns her money and helps her customers thrive without her. Tara also shares what business owners and consumers can do to be more informed about the choices they make so that they’re purchasing or creating products in an ethical way. To find resources shared in this episode, go to https://beyondthedollar.co/311.

“Entrepreneurs get into business because they are problem solvers.”  How many of us wish we had a community of entrepreneurs to grow with and learn from? In this episode I'm talking with Tara McMullin, CEO of CoCommercial. Tara is a community-based business advocate and is on a mission to turn today's small business owners into tomorrow's economic powerhouses. She'll share […] The post Episode 189: Cultivating Community by Empowering Others with Tara McMullin first appeared on Michael Knouse.

Show Notes: What if you need to BE different in order to accomplish your next goals? What if the missing link is not working harder or investing more money in your business, but rather making your SELF more resilient and strong? This week it’s just you and me. I’m gonna talk about something that’s been on my mind. You know how you keep hearing a theme over and over again and it finally sinks in? I’ve been going through that about how self-care and fitness connect to being an entrepreneur. I resisted the hell out of this connection for years. But I have been hearing this theme too many times from people I respect to ignore it or naysay it. I was hesitant to talk about this with you because some stuff out there about fitness feels really alienating to me. The tyranny of thinness is alienating. The idea that bodies should look a certain way is alienating. I’m not into that. I don’t believe fitness or self-care looks one way. I think it’s very personal and different for each person. But I decided I NEED to talk about this because it’s important for me to share what’s helping me in my business and what’s helping others in their businesses. So here I am, talking about fitness. I’ve been hearing something over and over from entrepreneurs who accomplish a lot. Over and over I hear that they have fitness and self-care routines that they stick to. I’m talking about routines to take care of yourself and your health so that you can be who you need to be to in order to run your business at a higher level. Tara McMullen, the founder of Cocommercial, has said that you need a morning routine that gets you ready to be who you need to be to lead your business each day. She’s taken it all the way there and is now running half marathons and bouldering and doing all the stuff. She started just with morning walks and increased from there. Jeff Guenther was on this podcast recently and said that hiring a trainer and working out 4 or 5 times a week has made a big difference in leading his businesses. Casey Truffo talked about this when she was a guest. She talked about getting up before the crack of dawn to do an intense workout each day before she starts running her companies. Bari Tessler who was a guest last year does a daily hike up a mountain near her house. These folks are all entrepreneurs who keep on growing and evolving their businesses. So what if it’s true? What if the thing you have to do in order to take your business to the next level is to change your self-care routine? What if that is a necessary key to helping you build the capacity to go where you want to go next? Here’s my story right now. I have a big pivot coming up in my business. I’m going to tell you all about it on the podcast soon. In order to get ready to make this pivot, I am changing my self-care routine. I’m increasing my capacity and my energy level so that I have the resilience to follow through and do the work to make it happen. My recent routine change (from the outside at least) has not been huge or dramatic. It’s the right amount for me now. I will be 100% honest and I will promise right now not to inflate or exaggerate what I’m doing. As tempting as that may be. I had already changed how I eat a few years ago so that the vast majority of what I eat is real food and I’m avoiding the stuff I discovered doesn’t make me feel good. It’s made a huge difference in my energy level and day to day health. What I’m changing now is about movement. I used to exercise quite a bit. Then I dealt with an injury a few years ago and haven’t been doing as much. So what’s my new routine? I’m simply getting up 20 minutes earlier every morning, drinking a glass of water while I start to brew my coffee or tea, and then getting some exercise. On one day, I go jogging. Just a mile for now. My knees don’t like more than a mile at this point. The next day, I do strength training. I just do a plank, a very small but growing number of push-ups, and a few other exercises each time. I am averaging 10k steps a day by walking more throughout the week. So I’m not doing the same thing as Jeff, Tara, Casey or Bari. I’m doing what’s right for me for now. I’m easing back into it. It’s only been a few weeks at this point. What’s the impact? One thing I’m noticing is that I start the workday feeling a little more physical energy and a little more mentally alert. I’m also feeling a sense that I can trust myself to do what’s important. I am showing up for myself each morning, and that’s building my sense that I can trust myself to do the same for my business. It feels subtle but important. I will keep you posted about this. I have resisted this connection between fitness and entrepreneurship for so long. But I can’t ignore the message anymore. Between hearing from Jeff and Tara and Casey and Bari, and so many others, I’m convinced that I need to be committed to doing this. So here’s what I’m wondering about you: Who do you need to BE in order to take your business to the place you want to take it, whether that’s more income, a bigger reach, starting a podcast, writing a book, or creating an online program? What if self-care is a huge key to this? What kind of self-care routine could help you be who you need to be? How can you show up for yourself so that you can build your capacity and resilience? Show notes at http://coachingwithannie.com/podcast/81

How can building a community help your business grow? What's the best way to serve a community and make money at the same time? How do you attract the right members and ensure that they stick around and engage with other members? What platform should you be using for your community? These are all good questions. When it came to identifying someone qualified to share some real insights into all things community-related, there was one individual that immediately came to mind - Tara McMullin (formerly Tara Gentile). In this candid conversation with Tara we dive into her background, the unconventional path that led to her discovering her purpose-led business (and recently pivoting away from services and online training towards community building as her business model). Whether you're wanting to build your own community, or find the right community to help you accelerate your business and personal growth, in this interview Tara shares some key lessons (and mistakes) all business owners need to pay attention to. Tara McMullin (formerly Tara Gentile) is on a mission to turn today's small business owners into tomorrow's economic powerhouses. She's the founder of CoCommercial, a platform for helping small business owners work together to overcome daily challenges, solve big problems, and achieve even bigger goals. She's also the host of What Works, a podcast that takes you behind the scenes of successful small businesses and shows you what's working in marketing, operations, time management, product development, and more. Entrepreneur named it one of 24 top women-hosted podcasts for business owners. Listen in now. Show notes can be found at www.foundersconnect.co/podcast

Underneath their ambitious and confident facades, small business owners experience quite a bit of fear. Since our goal is to bring you honest conversations about what it really takes to run a small business, we thought it was high time to talk about the fears we all face on a daily basis. We spoke to 11 small business owners and several themes emerged. These themes were echoed in the conversations we’ve been having about fear all month long at CoCommercial. The post EP 155: Small Business Owners Get Honest About Fear appeared first on What Works.

What if we committed to making our businesses a catalyst for change? If you want to do business differently and embrace being a pioneer, rebel and culture maker in your industry, then episode 134 of the Lead with Love podcast is for you. I get cozy with sought after speaker, educator, and one of CreativeLive’s best selling Money & Life experts, Tara McMullin. Tara is on a mission to turn today’s small business owners into tomorrow’s economic powerhouses. She’s the founder of CoCommercial, a platform for helping small business owners work together to achieve their business goals. Entrepreneur named her podcast, What Works, one of 24 top women-hosted podcasts for business owners. Tara’s work has been featured in Fast Company, Inc, DailyWorth, Forbes, and The Huffington Post. In this episode, you’ll learn why it’s important for us to tear down the power structures we’ve been trying to step away from and the power of building community first. What you'll hear (and don't want to miss!): :: Why Tara moved from a traditional scaled coaching business to focus on building community first :: How to see the biggest barrier the people in your community are facing right now :: Tara’s intention in building CoCommercial membership without using her personal brand to grow it and the challenges that she’s faced along the way :: How products can evolve through multiple iterations over many years :: Her experiences in operating a brick and mortar business and why she feels her latest business is now like a “toddler” in many ways :: What she’s most proud of about the team she’s built and where a lot of business owners go wrong here when doing this :: We’ll also talk about the one skill that every entrepreneur needs You can find full show notes over at https://jadahsellner.com/where-your-power-is-tara-mcmullin-134 

How can building a community help your business grow? What's the best way to serve a community and make money at the same time? How do you attract the right members and ensure that they stick around and engage with other members? What platform should you be using for your community? These are all good questions. When it came to identifying someone qualified to share some real insights into all things community-related, there was one individual that immediately came to mind - Tara McMullin (formerly Tara Gentile). In this candid conversation with Tara we dive into her background, the unconventional path that led to her discovering her purpose-led business (and recently pivoting away from services and online training towards community building as her business model). Whether you're wanting to build your own community, or find the right community to help you accelerate your business and personal growth, in this interview Tara shares some key lessons (and mistakes) all business owners need to pay attention to. Tara McMullin (formerly Tara Gentile) is on a mission to turn today's small business owners into tomorrow's economic powerhouses. She's the founder of CoCommercial, a platform for helping small business owners work together to overcome daily challenges, solve big problems, and achieve even bigger goals. She's also the host of What Works, a podcast that takes you behind the scenes of successful small businesses and shows you what's working in marketing, operations, time management, product development, and more. Entrepreneur named it one of 24 top women-hosted podcasts for business owners. Listen in now. Show notes can be found at www.foundersconnect.co/podcast

When are you violating someone else’s trademark rights?  OR, flip-side, when should you get in touch with someone you think might be infringing your trademark and ask them to change it?   How can you interpret your search results when you type your trademark into the USPTO website? I received this great question in an online business community, CoCommercial, and realized I’ve never dug into how lawyers, courts, and the USPTO evaluate when trademarks are too close. This is a meaty episode on a complex topic, where I covered: Consumer confusion - what trademark law is intended to prevent, and why this matters Who has “priority rights” over a trademark in the US When might you need to evaluate whether one trademark is too similar to another? How to figure out if trademarks are too close Does it matter if one trademark has a few extra words? What about different spelling? When are two logos too similar? Does it matter if someone copied a trademark intentionally, or by accident? Examples of trademarks that are and are not too similar When you need to bring in an experienced IP attorney to help you evaluate a potential trademark infringement Key takeaway: trademarks do not have to be identical to potentially be infringing!   If you have questions about whether one trademark is too close to another, post them in our Legal Road Map® Facebook group!  Just request access and we’ll let you right in. Next month we’re diving into the legal issues that come up with running a location-independent business.  You will definitely want to tune in if you’ve ever thought about living that laptop life and traveling the world while running your business!  Tune in next week for the first episode in this series. Sign up below to get a free 5 Minute Intellectual Property Audit. You’ll learn how you can make more money from the copyrights and trademarks in your business (you can also sign up there to be the first to know when new episodes are live and receive other legal updates and special offers from the AWB Firm). This podcast is information, not legal advice specific to your situation.

Tara Gentile shares her journey from “I’m not the kind of person who works out” to avid hiker, runner, and climber. We also talk about the critical mindset shift that propelled her to prioritize fitness, and the powerful side effects that committing to her health had on Tara’s business, social life, and relationships. Tara is founder of CoCommercial, a digital small business community for entrepreneurs serious about making money, impacting their communities, and transforming the lives of those they love. (Original broadcast: 2/20/18)

Tara Gentile is the founder of CoCommercial, a business community for entrepreneurs serious about making money and impacting their communities. She’s also the host of Profit. Power. Pursuit., a bestselling instructor on CreativeLive, and has been featured in Fast Company, Inc, and Forbes. In this episode, we talk about how the last US election drastically changed the social media landscape, why authenticity is so critical, how the price you charge tells a story and the future of digital marketing.

Meet Brodie Brodie Welch is a Licensed Acupuncturist, board-certified herbalist, Chinese Medicine expert, group coach, and self-care strategist. She’s the founder of Life in Balance Acupuncture in Corvallis, Oregon, where she has been treating patients since 2003. In addition to her clinical practice, Brodie helps caring, high-achieving, women put themselves on their own to-do lists so they can trade stress and burnout for energy, joy, and vibrant health. She has helped thousands of clients improve their digestion, sleep, and mood; dial in a regular bodymind practice, and step into the next version of themselves. She’s also the creator and host of A Healthy Curiosity: the podcast that explores what it takes to be well in a busy world. My fave moments from this conversation: Brodie and I share the whole cobbler's children have no shoes syndrome...Brodie in the form of her own self-care and me (not) being able to strategize and plan for me (but a whiz-bang doing it for others!). The messages you receive early on when your dad is a functioning alcoholic (and fairly absent) and your mom is basically Superwoman. How being around kids (Brodie became a step-mom to two children who'd lost their mom) tends to bring up all the not so great stuff about our childhoods (Can I get an AMEN!). Asking why we put such unnecessary pressure on ourselves? Just...why? The shame of being a healer and not being able to cure yourself. How to be a good step-parent when you haven't had the best of role models and not wanting to carry forward traumas and wounds from your own childhood. And so much more including lessons from step-parenting, being an overachieving altruist, and healing through work with the Chinese elements. People + Resources Mentioned Emelia Symington Fedy's thoughts on radical inconvenience as it relates to self-care (check out Emelia's episode on Going There) Tara Gentile, CEO of CoCommercial (where Brodie and I first met) What's Your Chinese Element - Brodie's amazing resource for learning more about your Chinese element Connect with Brodie Website |Facebook | A Healthy Curiosity Podcast (check out my episode!)

  #037 — Putting Your Mission Back In The Driver's Seat  With Tara Gentile  Rebranding your business is a risk, especially if what you’re doing is still making money. How can you be sure it’s time to shake up the status quo and shift your focus? Tara Gentile can attest to the fact that there is no easy framework for making that decision. But a good place to start is by asking the question, “What is the company that I really want to build?” Tara has spent the last year getting back to her original mission, getting clear and focused on the legacy she wants to leave behind, and rebooting her business to emphasize the community aspect of her small business network and give members access to the collective intelligence of the group. Today, Tara shares how losing out on a promotion during maternity leave inspired her start her own business. She explains how her business has evolved over time and offers insight around retiring products, hiring employees and putting on live events. I ask Tara about her writing practice, and she speaks to the call-response approach she employs to facilitate conversation among the CoCommercial community. Listen in and learn about how the flexibility of entrepreneurship enables Tara’s atypical co-parenting situation and what her daughter is teaching her about herself. FULL SHOW NOTES: Get the complete show notes with episode quotes, photos, and time stamps at http://www.startuppregnant.com/037. EPISODE SPONSOR & SPECIAL OFFER: Thank you to the sponsor of this episode: Acuity Scheduling. Acuity functions as an online assistant, helping to organize your schedule and collect client information. Take advantage of Acuity’s 45-day free trial for Startup Pregnant listeners at https://acuityscheduling.com/startuppregnant. All of our sponsor offers are available on our website for you to grab the perks and discounts offered to podcast listeners: http://startuppregnant.com/sponsors. LEARN MORE ABOUT TARA GENTILE: Tara is the founder of CoCommercial, a social network for microbusiness owners that brings together coaches, consultants, educators, designers and makers who are passionate about taking control of their livelihoods in the New Economy. Tara’s work has been featured in Fast Company, Forbes and Inc., among many others. She is a sought-after speaker on the topics of money, marketing and entrepreneurship, a bestselling CreativeLive instructor, and the author of several books on doing business today. Tara is also the host of Power. Profit. Pursuit., one of the top 24 women-hosted podcasts for business owners. CoCommercial Tara on Facebook Tara on Twitter Tara on Instagram Tara on Medium Profit. Power. Pursuit. RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Tara’s Books Tara on Creative Live Marie Poulin Gusto THE STARTUP PREGNANT PODCAST & HOST Startup Pregnant Startup Pr --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/startuppregnant/message

We always hear the story of someone quitting their 9 to 5 job in the corporate world to become an entrepreneur.  What happens when an entrepreneur feels a need to shift? What about when they feel their mission is complete, and they want to move on to something else? There isn't really a name for this entrepreneurial shift that happens. It's something that many people hesitate about because they worry about their finances, or they worry it's the wrong time. Much like taking the first leap into being an entrepreneur, shifting to a new area of entrepreneurship means taking a risk. Remember, you did it once there's no reason you can do it again. Of course there will be a small amount of financial uncertainty, but the transition isn't that scary and it's always better to make less and be happy than make more and feel miserable.  On this episode of the Creative Warriors we bring on someone who knows a lot about making this pivot, Tara Gentile. Tara is the founder of CoCommercial, a digital small business community for entrepreneurs serious about making money, impacting their communities, and transforming the lives of those they love. She's also the host of Profit. Power. Pursuit., a podcast that takes you behind the scenes of successful small businesses. Entrepreneur named it one of 24 top women-hosted podcasts for business owners. Not only that, she's also a bestselling Money & Life instructor on CreativeLive. Check out her (mostly) weekly live show, Help Yourself, for in-depth, non-obvious conversations about the ins and outs of growing a company you love. Download this episode of Creative Warriors now and hear how to know if it's time for you to make a vital pivot in your life. WARRIOR OF INDEPENDENCE    “I get to choose my mission.” -Tara Gentile  My book, LINGO: Discover Your Ideal Customer's Secret Language and Make Your Business Irresistible is now available! Highlights - When you decide to transition, consider the roots you come from. Once a transition starts, there's no going back. You want your pivots to occur more quickly so it doesn't kill your finances. There are many entrepreneurs who transition to a new type of entrepreneurship. It's always the right time. You don't have to have a singular purpose. Take time to really think about your business. We often plan more for failure than we do for success. Many times we sabotage ourselves after we hit our goals. Be around people who see more in you than you see in yourself. Guest Contact - Tara's Website Tara's Twitter Tara's Podcast Tara's Book Quiet Power Strategy Mentions- The Art of Community by Charles H. Vogl 17hats  Resources - 12 Must-Have Mindsets for Uncommon Entrepreneurs! A FREE tool for Creative Warriors to help you get clear on the ways you need to think differently to get the results you want. We've been handed a whole bunch of malarky about who we are and how business works that simply doesn't work for us. It's time to set it straight! This tool will give you the insights you need to think your way to success as a Creative Warrior and keep you on track. Check out the Creative Warriors RESOURCE page! A collection of the best companies, hand-selected, to help you succeed! You'll find vendors, services, products, and programs to help you Create, Serve, and Be Prosperous! All these companies have been used and approved by Jeffrey and most are used every day in his business. Music by Jawn  

Tara Gentile shares her journey from “I'm not the kind of person who works out” to avid hiker, runner, and climber. We also talk about the critical mindset shift that propelled her to prioritize fitness, and the powerful side effects that committing to her health had on Tara's business, social life, and relationships. Tara is founder of CoCommercial, a digital small business community for entrepreneurs serious about making money, impacting their communities, and transforming the lives of those they serve.

Tara Gentile, author and the founder of CoCommercial, joins us this week to share how she pivoted her business model to help turn small business owners into tomorrow’s economic powerhouses. Listen and learn: The less common motivation behind registering your trademark Why consulting your ideal customer can help you fine-tune your perfect product How a licensing program can broaden your reach How understanding the difference between an independent contractor and an employee can help make the hiring leap less scary KEY TAKEAWAY: When you “don’t know what you don’t know”, legal can seem intimidating. But sometimes doing your due diligence and tackling something scary like legal can open doors to help you grow your business more effectively. Sign up below to get a free 5 Minute Intellectual Property Audit to learn how you can make more money from the copyrights and trademarks in your business (plus be the first to know when new episodes are live). This podcast is information, not legal advice specific to your situation.

Tara Gentile is a writer, community builder, and a brilliant entrepreneur. Back in 2008, an aggravating incident at work pushed her to decide to leave the job market and start building her own vision and business. Tara got her start with founding the premier website for promoting arts & crafts in Pennsylvania before moving on to creating an online publication called Scoutie Girl. For the past five years, my guest has been growing her now main business called CoCommercial a fluff-free social network for small business owners on a mission. In this episode we discuss, community building, content marketing for customer acquisition, and the journey from freelancer to entrepreneur. Now, let’s hack… Tara Gentile.

Join us LIVE In the Spotlight on Crowdcast, Thursdays at 2pm EST : https://www.crowdcast.io/tanyageisler  This week's guest is Tara Gentile and we're talking Showing UP in Community.  Tara Gentile is the founder of CoCommercial, a digital small business community for entrepreneurs serious about making money, impacting their communities, and transforming the lives of those they love. She’s also the host of Profit. Power. Pursuit., a podcast that takes you behind the scenes of successful small businesses.She's the author of several books, a sought-after speaker, and a frequent CreativeLive instructor. Find full episode show notes here.

This week, Tara is joined by CoCommercial’s own marketing director and the founder of B, the forward-thinking PR agency, Brigitte Lyons. Brigitte and Tara have been friends for years and love working together. Brigitte helped Tara land several huge media placements including 2 popular articles in Fast Company. Now, she leads an agency that creates […] The post Episode 94 – Why Marketing Campaigns Fail with CoCommercial Founder Tara Gentile and Media Strategist Brigitte Lyons appeared first on What Works.

Tara Gentile is the founder of CoCommercial, a digital small business community for entrepreneurs serious about making money, impacting their communities, and transforming the lives of those they love. She’s also the host of Profit. Power. Pursuit., a podcast that takes you behind the scenes of successful small businesses. Entrepreneur named it one of 24 top women-hosted podcasts for business owners. Tara’s work has been featured in Fast Company, Inc, DailyWorth, Forbes, and The Huffington Post.   On Today’s episode we’re talking about overcoming mindset obstacles, proactive decision making in business and how to align yourselves with partners that elevate your brand.   ON TODAY’S EPISODE: [01:00] Misconceptions people have about running a business.[04:00] How mindset plays into business decisions, growth and general success.[10:00] How Tara tackles mindset concerns.[12:30] Making decisions now for what you want your business to be in the future.[18:30] How to decide on your long term goals.[20:30] Five year plans aren’t set in stone & business isn’t a straight line.[23:00] Benefits of dreaming bigger than you can imagine.[25:30] Ruthlessly auditing the way we present our products and services so that they align with our brand story.[30:00] Importance of research when building your products & services[33:00] Determining which strategic partnerships align best with your brand.[38:00] How strategic partnerships have elevated Tara’s brand.[43:00] How Tara defines success for her business[45:00] What’s next for CoCommercial. KEY TAKE-AWAYS:   “If you truly believe that you are taking action and things aren’t happening, traction isn’t there, it’s really time to examine that mindset stuff.” - Tara Gentile   “I have to build something a lot bigger than what I’m building right now and I have to build something that’s just not designed to make me a lot of money, but that’s actually designed to create something huge.” - Tara Gentile   “Research, research, research and don’t be afraid of research. One of the things that I find both in the product world and in the service world is that people are really afraid of researching their “competition”. - Tara Gentile “Pricing tells a story.” - Tara Gentile   “Get out in the world and look at what things are selling for in a broader scope.” - Katie Hunt   CONNECT WITH TARA:   Website: http://cocommercial.co Facebook: http://facebook.com/taragentilebusinessstrategist Instagram: http://instagram.com/taragentile Twitter: http://twitter.com/taragentile   JOIN THE TSBC FAMILY: Interested in learning more about launching or refining a wholesale line or exhibiting at trade shows?  Join us for our next Paper Camp conference in Los Angeles. Get more details and register at www.tradeshowcamp.com/papercamp   ABOUT PROOF TO PRODUCT: Proof to Product is brought to you by Tradeshow Bootcamp and hosted by Katie Hunt. Since 2011, TSBC has worked with hundreds of product based businesses to help them up level, scale, and build profitable sustainable companies. You can find our show notes and additional resources at ProofToProduct.com. If you like what you heard today, please head over to Apple Podcast to leave a five star review and subscribe. Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back next week with a new episode.

Tara Gentile is the creator of Quiet Power Strategy™ and the founder of CoCommercial, a company specializing in hands-on business training for idea-driven entrepreneurs. She’s passionate about helping people with smart ideas make more money, reach new audiences, and live life with ease. Tara is the author of “The Art of Earning,” “Quiet Power Strategy,” and “The Observation Engine.” Tara’s work has been featured in Fast Company, Forbes, Design*Sponge, and in the New York Times bestselling book “The $100 Startup” by Chris Guillebeau. She’s a regular instructor on CreativeLive and speaks on entrepreneurship, money, and marketing all over the world. In this episode, Tara and Stacy discuss strategies that you can use as a business owner to solve problems for your customers. Some highlights include: “I just needed the seed of an idea.” At minute 2:00, Tara talks jumping into business head first without thinking about it and why experimenting is so important. Separate your personal and business finances. At minute 11:00, Tara talks about making this mistake when she started her business and the ill effects that it had for years on her business. Know where your customers are in their awareness. At minute 16:00, Tara talks about this major principle of copywriting that you need to know to market effectively. At minute 21:00, Tara talks about work-life balance and why it doesn’t exist. However, she believes that what she calls work-life integration does exist. “People know how I receive information best.” At minute 32:00, Tara talks about developing a system with your team so they know how to communicate in the way that is most productive for both of you. Ways to contact Tara: Twitter: @taragentile Website: quietpowerstrategy.com *Business Rescue Road Map may be an affiliate or receive compensation from some of the business listed for referrals, as their “thank you” for sending you their way. However, we would never recommend any product or service unless we personally love the product and have great things to say about it. Our reputation is at stake and we would not jeopardize that!

Today’s Guest I originally discovered Tara Gentile, today's guest, on Natalie Sisson's Suitcase Entrepreneur podcast...I think. I feel like I've been following her on social media forever. I absolutely love what she does, and she's been on my list of women to invite to this podcast for some time. After recently reading her fabulous book The Art of Earning, I invited her to be a guest on this show. About Tara Gentile Tara Gentile is a customer-obsessed business strategist who works with a global clientele on making a bigger impact with their businesses for less heartache. She’s the creator of Kick Start Labs, a microbusiness community and resource library where over 200 members support each other in navigating the New Economy. She’s also the founder of CoCommercial in Astoria, Oregon–a coworking and education space for independent works and thinkers. Her work has been featured in Fast Company, Forbes, DailyWorth, Design Sponge, creativeLIVE, SXSW, Etsy, and the New York Times bestselling book, $100 Startup by Chris Guillebeau. Tara brings a brainy, experimental, and curious perspective to business-building for coaches, designers, doctors, makers, writers, and others looking to make their art–broadly defined–into a healthy, sustainable business. She plays at the intersection of Silicon Valley and Main Street. Tara’s love of business and her obsession with customers grow out of a background in religious studies. She’s inspired by a drive to understand how other people see and interact with the world around them. She writes, speaks, and consults on the New Economy–the emerging shift from consumer culture to creator culture. What You’ll Learn Tara's top tips on who to get a big picture perspective on your business How a degree in religion helped her build a business (yes, you read that right) Why using her name as her brand changed everything How to be proactive, not reactive (as so many of us are!) Why positioning is one of the most overlooks parts of marketing Inspiring Women in Business Amanda Steinberg of The Daily Worth Nilofer Merchant Sally Hogshead Things We Discussed 10ThousandFeet 11 Rules for Creating Value in the Social Era The Fascination Advantage System Connect With Tara Website Facebook Twitter Instagram [SHP 58] How to See the Big Picture in Your Business, with Tara Gentile http://wp.me/p3QOiq-KW #podcast