Podcasts about in maggie

Maggie Patterson is the editorial director at Scoop Studios and the creator of Small Business Boss. With two decades of experience, Maggie has spent her entire career in client services and has been a successful entrepreneur for 15 years. Today, she works with freelancers and agency owners to help them implement smart strategies for business growth using proven marketing, sales, and client experience tactics. She's the host of the BS-Free Service Business podcast, has been on stage at events such as New Media Expo, Podcast Movement, and the Conquer Summit, and her work has been featured in leading publications such as Entrepreneur.com, Fast Company and Virgin.com. Here's what we covered on the episode: How We Met + Maggie's Journey (1:10) How we connected through Jessica Kupferman's podcast and Facebook group  Maggie shares that she worked at an agency, became pregnant in 2003 and with everything going on in her life decided not to return after her maternity leave The business plan Maggie wrote when she first started, which said she had four months to make 4,000 CAD ($3,186.32 USD)/month, which seemed unreachable at the time — she reached it in 6 weeks  Why Maggie was able to reach her goal in 6 weeks was because she had the extra business skills needed to run a business that most people don't have  Maggie spent time freelancing, doing PR work, then got into content marketing but realized around 2013/14 she wasn't happy with the clients she was working on, which led her to the online business world where she went from freelancing, to having a team, to building an agency Through her agency journey, Maggie realized she didn't want to work for online celebrity entrepreneurs anymore so she went back to working with tech and professional services companies Maggie explains that she had a safety net when she started her business, because of her husband and living in Canada which gave them support; and says not a lot of people have that starting out  How Maggie had three clients right out of the gate, which helped her surpass her 4,000 CAD/month goal and explains that her hourly rate was 100 CAD ($79. 62 USD)/hour, which was a fraction of the cost compared to when she left the agency, where they were charging her out at 250 CAD ($199.06 USD)/hour  Maggie shares her personal benefits from the online business world, like learning a lot, approaching a different style of content marketing, and most importantly building connections and friendships  How Maggie now mentors other business owners and how she likes helping them create their own path  We describe what the online space is, where experts of all sorts take their business online and how Maggie exposes some of the marketing tactics being used in the space today — check out Maggie's Instagram for more context    Maggie explains that there are a lot of good people who may be using tactics that are problematic or questionable because that's what they've been taught and how she's not saying she's never done anything she now considers problematic, but explains she's done the work to unpack that  Approaching Referrals: How to Ask + Keeping Track of Them (17:34) How most of us approach referrals is by waiting for someone to come to us instead of thinking about what we can do on an ongoing basis to let people know we want their business; Maggie explains we need to make the switch from passive to proactive when it comes to referrals As business owners, we make a lot of relationships and connections but we don't nourish them, which causes people to forget about us down the road Maggie shares a story of how she was able to stay top of mind for a client she had way back in 2003 by putting consistent content out about the recent service they needed, so she thought of Maggie and hired her How we tend to think it's a bad thing to let people know we need clients, but Maggie explains that people aren't going to refer clients to you if you act like you're booked and everything is fine; you don't need to say you're struggling, just be clear that you have openings for clients  One way Maggie asks for referrals is by letting people she's already made relationships with know that she has a spot open and by asking them if they know anyone to fill that spot  Why it's important to create an offboarding process where you have the opportunity to ask for referrals and why Maggie would rather ask for a referral over a testimonial in the offboarding process  Maggie stresses the importance of being transparent about when your next opening will be if you're currently fully booked and shares an example of a client who started doing this and was able to book out months in advance without having to shut people down by just saying, I'm booked, sorry!  Why Maggie keeps track of referrals she gets, the referrals she gives, and tracks leads because the more information she has, the easier it is to see what's working and what's not in her business  With everything going on in the world today, it can be hard to know if it's the right time to ask for referrals — Maggie suggests engaging in a back and forth conversation that allows you to read the room instead of jumping right to it  How Maggie has her lead generation data on her dashboard so when she's looking at revenue, she can also see the lead generation trends and see what kind of action she needs to take in order to get more clients, which is usually through referrals  Shifting the Type of Clients You Work With (34:35) When creating an email list for B2E (business to entrepreneur), Maggie says to think about who your target audience is, think about if they'll be interested in getting emails, and if they're the type of people who are going to buy from emails  In Maggie's experience her B2B (business to business) clients are way less likely to download a lead magnet so she stresses knowing your market, knowing if they're going to engage in your emails and if they aren't, figuring out an effective tactic to get in front of them Maggie shares that shifting the kind of clients they were working with was a slow process but if you want to make that shift, you have to figure out where these people are hanging out in the online space, see what podcasts are they listening to and make an effort to meet them where they're already at How cold outreach can be an overlooked tactic but if you move into the B2B world it's acceptable — Maggie shares that the majority of her new client revenue in 2019 came from cold outreach  The bulk of Maggie's content marketing agency is focusing on content production for clients, and acting as an extension of the client's team to help them with strategy, write their blog posts, create their case studies, create their white pages, etc.  Maggie says one thing that holds us back is thinking we have to know everything about an industry and thinking it has to be perfect when really it's okay to experiment  If you want to transition out of the online space, Maggie's advice it to take some time to experiment working with other types of clients because it's really easy to pick a niche, but it's much harder to truly embrace it and work in it all the time  Connect with Maggie on smallbusinessboss.co, Instagram, or if you're a service provider who needs help with pricing, packaging, leads, etc. go to smallbusinessboss.co/vault for resources that can help you    Links mentioned:   Connect with Maggie on Instagram  Small Business Boss  Small Business Boss Vault    Like what you heard?  Click here to subscribe + leave a review on iTunes. Click here to download my Sales Page Trello Board Let's connect on Instagram!

It took Mike about 2 weeks to read Tools of Titans by Tim Ferriss.  It took Maggie about 48 weeks to read Tools of Titans.  In Maggie’s defense, it was 647 pages and 2020 was a doozie of a year and it threw a lot of interruptions her way.  Either way, in the end, they both read it.  And Maggie used her 48 weeks to take better notes on it than Mike did.  Our top money-related insights and lessons from Tools of Titans:Stuff and how it won’t make you happy.  More broadly, happiness and money.  Derek Sivers quote on a billboard, “It won’t make you happy,” to be placed outside of shopping malls and car dealerships.Naval Ravikant said, “The most important trick to be happy is to realize that happiness is a choice that you make and a skill that you develop.  You choose to be happy, and then you work at it.  It’s just like building muscles.”  He then went on to say, “In any situation in life, you only have three options. You always have three options. You can change it, you can accept it, or you can leave it. What is not a good option is to sit around wishing you would change it but not changing it, wishing you would leave it but not leaving yet, and not accepting it. It’s that struggle, that inversion, that is responsible for most of our misery. The phrase that I probably use the most myself and my head is just one word:accept.”The role of money in your lifeThe idea of enough.  Our wants vs. needs episode.  Studies about how your happiness doesn’t increase after you have some basic level of money to take care of yourself.. after that more doesn’t buy happiness. It often does the opposite.  Money is a great servant but a terrible master. Knowing your target monthly income and ideal lifestyle cost. “What’s my real target monthly income. TMI. For the latter, in other words: how much does my dream life—the stuff I’m deferring for “retirement”—really cost if I pay on a monthly basis.”Why you, sometimes, spend money.  “Trying to get everyone to like you is a sign of mediocrity.” - Colin Powell“If you stop caring about what others think, you’ll magically start spending less money.”The chains money can put on you.  Be careful!“If you find yourself saying but I am making so much money” about a job or project, pay attention.  These are warning signs that you’re probably not on the right track.  “It is far better for a man to go wrong in freedom than to go right in chains.” - Thomas HuxleyFinancial freedomThere is a chapter titled “How to earn your freedom”.  It’s worth reading a few times.  “Instead our insane culture of fear, fashion, and monthly payments on things we don’t really need - we quarantine our travels to short, frenzied bursts.” In this way, as we throw our wealth at an abstract notion called, “lifestyle,” travel becomes just another accessory - a smooth-edged, encapsulated experience that we purchase in the same way as buying clothing or furniture.”The trend of vacations towards a “more simple life.”  “Purchasing a package vacation to find a simpler life is kind of like using a mirror to see what you look like when you aren’t looking in the mirror.”Naturalist Edwin Way Teale wrote in his 1956 book Autumn Across America…. “Freedom as John Muir knew it, with its wealth of time, it’s unregimented days, its latitude of choice… such freedom seems more rare, more difficult to attain, more remote with each new generation.”Thoreau said that we end up spending “the best part of one’s life earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of it.”  We’d love to drop all and explore the world outside, we tell ourselves, but the time never seems right. Thus, given an unlimited amount of choices, we make none. Settling into our lives, we get so obsessed with holding on to our domestic certainties that we forget why we desired them in the first place.“Thus, the question of how and when to start vagabonding is not really a question at all. Vagabonding starts now. Even if the practical reality of travel is still months or years away, vagabonding begins the moment you stop making excuses, start saving money, and begin to look at maps with the narcotic tingle of possibility.”  Vagabonding to me is a metaphor. Your goal may not be to vagabond, but the goal of financial freedom is the same thing. Top 3 Takeaways:Read inspiring books.  They are full of so much inspiration and learning.  It doesn’t cost money to learn new things.  We both checked out this book from the library.  There is no one single path to success or to fulfillment. Learn from others, test out their methods for yourself and when you find something that resonates, try it.  If it works for you, stick with it.---Show ReferencesBook - Tools of Titans by Tim FerrisBook - Designing Your Life: How to build a well-lived, joyful lifeArticle - How your salary and the way you spend money affect your happiness--Follow friends on FIRETwitterInstagramFacebookLinkedInLeave us a voicemail or text us: 404-981-3370eMail us at:  friendsonfiremm@gmail.comVisit our website: www.friendsonfire.org---Other LinksMaggie’s Blog: Mostly Minimal LifeMike’s Book: Your New Relationship with Money

Hello, Goodman Maudening and Nedclome to episode 16 of one of the world's top ten Maude Flanders based podcast! In today's show we find Maude joining yet another mob, being disgusted by Homer's trousers and giving the game away about a new baby. There ain't a not non dull moment i the MF house! Also, Maude in an Edinburgh chippy just trying to partake in local delicacies! Fland up listeners, it's time to jump back into Season 6 for some more mid season middle of the road Maudeppearances. In Bart's Girlfriend- written by Jonathan Collier and directed by Suzie Dietter- Maude learns the shocking truth about close friend Helen's devilish daughter Jessica (the great Meryl Streep no less!). Next, in Grampa vs Sexual Inadequacy- written by Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein, directed by Wes Archer- Maude has quite the folly with a particular neighbours' set of pants. And finally, in "In Maggie makes three"- written by Jennifer Crittenden and directed by Swinton O. Scott III (best name so far?), we are treated to a glimpse at Maude 1 year prior to the birth of Maggie Simpson- and she drops a bomb on Homer like no other! Where else could you get a trio of terrific trivia? Nowhere, that's where.  

For years, Maggie Ntim has worked passionately with soccer players and athletes on and off the field. She shares her motivation to fight for what she believes in, and the key values she shares with the players she works with. She continues to break the glass ceiling by being the first African American female soccer agent who continues to fight for female athletes. As a successful female agent in the sports world, Maggie has overcome numerous obstacles and has so many lessons for everyone. Key Lesson: a “No” is just a maybe. When people express doubts: In Maggie’s mind, “It’s possible … so, when they tell me that, I just laugh.” Enjoy the newest #SheLeads! Please like, share, and leave a review!

Maggie Zhou was appointed Managing Director for Australia and New Zealand in March 2016 for Alibaba Group. As one of the key veterans of the company, Maggie has witnessed major company developments as the company has expanded its businesses outside of China and as well as the progression and development of Mainland China’s e-commerce market. In her current role, as part of the company’s globalisation strategy, she is responsible for establishing a local presence for Alibaba in Australia and New Zealand to further develop infrastructure and help local merchants enter the vast China consumer market.Prior to this role, Maggie worked closely with the Australia and New Zealand business development team on Tmall Global, a cross-border B2C business platform for Tmall, and was in charge of overall government and public affairs for the platform. In Maggie’s earlier days with Alibaba, she helped the Group establish Taobao Marketplace in 2003 as one of the nine founders of the C2C platform, and served as Executive Assistant to Jack Ma, the founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba, for almost five years. Maggie joined Alibaba in early 2000 as one of the veteran employees of the company.

Maggie Berghoff is a functional medicine nurse practitioner-turned-health entrepreneur who works with high-level executives, entrepreneurs, and some of the most influential leaders in the world.  She guides you to create an environment for success and to develop a healthy peak performance lifestyle from the inside out.    Maggie works with clients who have autoimmune diseases, but also with clients that have hormonal and gut issues. Finding out what the root of the problem is instead of just taking medicine is very important to Maggie.  Biochemical individuality is a big word to say that your body is unique. So even if you have the same symptoms as someone else doesn’t mean that the treatment will be the same. Functional testing can help one to find the best way to create the perfect game plan for healing one's body.  Maggie is trying to end the diet cycle or yo-yo diet trends. In Maggie's practice, she encourages getting to know the individual's body and understanding what the best nutrition plan is.  Breathing is also a way to slow the body down and helps the body to relax, this will also help to not overeat.    Maggie loves almond butter and apples, self-development books and her special morning treat is a good matcha latte. Connect with Maggie:  www.maggieberghoff.com/home https://www.facebook.com/maggieberghoff/  https://www.instagram.com/maggieberghoff/  https://www.linkedin.com/in/maggieberghoff    Connect with us via social media

In Trail of Lightning (Saga Press, 2018), the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Rebecca Roanhorse draws on Navajo culture and history to tell a gripping future-fable about gods and monsters. The book launches The Sixth World, a planned four-part series set in the near future. The series title refers to the Navajo origin story, which says that our current world—the fifth—emerged after floods destroyed the previous ones. In Trail of Lightning, the six world is wrought from similar devastation, a combination of earthquakes and rising seas. The Navajo Nation survives thanks to a protective wall and a shot of magic, which transforms the barrier into four culturally resonant materials: turquoise, abalone, jet and white shell. The wall seals the nation off from not only the apocalypse but from white Euro-centric colonialism. Roanhorse considers her work a form of indigenous futurism that tells “a sovereign story, a story that exists on its own, on native land in native thought with native characters’ stories and processes that don’t have to acknowledge the larger, white western world. This is not a story that even has any white folks in it. This is a Navajo-centric story, and that’s on purpose.” In creating a magic system, Roanhorse decided not to draw on Navajo spirituality. “There’s already a mess in New Age thinking about Native American spirituality as magic and yet somehow other spiritualities are not,” she says. Still, she wanted to make the magic “distinctly Navajo” so she turned to the concept of clans, which imbue her characters with unique powers. For instance, the clan powers of the book’s protagonist, Maggie Hoskie, make her ideally suited to be a monster hunter. She is Honágháahnii, which means Walks-Around, giving her lightning speed. And she is K’aahanáanii, which means Living Arrow, making her, as Maggie herself puts it, “really good at killing people.” Maggie’s powers emerge spontaneously in response to a devastating incident from her childhood. “The clan powers answer your need,” Roanhorse says. “In Maggie’s case, her jumping off traumatic event was the murder of her grandmother, so what she needed then were those two powers … But often the coping skills that we learn in dealing with trauma—especially childhood trauma—may serve us in the moment but don’t necessarily serve us as we grow. And overcoming those and the baggage that comes with it is part of Maggie’s journey.” The novel is a gripping action-adventure that all readers can appreciate but that holds particular resonance for Native Americans. Some readers have told Roanhorse that “they’ve never seen some of the things I talk about on the rez in a book… I had one reader say she cried the whole way through because she’s never gotten to see that.” A Yale graduate and lawyer specializing in federal Indian law, Roanhorse didn’t get serious about writing until 2013. But she’s quickly made a name for herself. A couple days before we recorded her interview in August, she was honored at the 76th WorldCon with the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and a Hugo Award for Best Short Story for “Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience™.” (The story also earned the Nebula Award for Best Short Story in May and is read by Lavar Burton on his podcast.) Rob Wolf is the host of New Books in Science Fiction and the author of Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Trail of Lightning (Saga Press, 2018), the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Rebecca Roanhorse draws on Navajo culture and history to tell a gripping future-fable about gods and monsters. The book launches The Sixth World, a planned four-part series set in the near future. The series title refers to the Navajo origin story, which says that our current world—the fifth—emerged after floods destroyed the previous ones. In Trail of Lightning, the six world is wrought from similar devastation, a combination of earthquakes and rising seas. The Navajo Nation survives thanks to a protective wall and a shot of magic, which transforms the barrier into four culturally resonant materials: turquoise, abalone, jet and white shell. The wall seals the nation off from not only the apocalypse but from white Euro-centric colonialism. Roanhorse considers her work a form of indigenous futurism that tells “a sovereign story, a story that exists on its own, on native land in native thought with native characters’ stories and processes that don’t have to acknowledge the larger, white western world. This is not a story that even has any white folks in it. This is a Navajo-centric story, and that’s on purpose.” In creating a magic system, Roanhorse decided not to draw on Navajo spirituality. “There’s already a mess in New Age thinking about Native American spirituality as magic and yet somehow other spiritualities are not,” she says. Still, she wanted to make the magic “distinctly Navajo” so she turned to the concept of clans, which imbue her characters with unique powers. For instance, the clan powers of the book’s protagonist, Maggie Hoskie, make her ideally suited to be a monster hunter. She is Honágháahnii, which means Walks-Around, giving her lightning speed. And she is K’aahanáanii, which means Living Arrow, making her, as Maggie herself puts it, “really good at killing people.” Maggie’s powers emerge spontaneously in response to a devastating incident from her childhood. “The clan powers answer your need,” Roanhorse says. “In Maggie’s case, her jumping off traumatic event was the murder of her grandmother, so what she needed then were those two powers … But often the coping skills that we learn in dealing with trauma—especially childhood trauma—may serve us in the moment but don’t necessarily serve us as we grow. And overcoming those and the baggage that comes with it is part of Maggie’s journey.” The novel is a gripping action-adventure that all readers can appreciate but that holds particular resonance for Native Americans. Some readers have told Roanhorse that “they’ve never seen some of the things I talk about on the rez in a book… I had one reader say she cried the whole way through because she’s never gotten to see that.” A Yale graduate and lawyer specializing in federal Indian law, Roanhorse didn’t get serious about writing until 2013. But she’s quickly made a name for herself. A couple days before we recorded her interview in August, she was honored at the 76th WorldCon with the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and a Hugo Award for Best Short Story for “Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience™.” (The story also earned the Nebula Award for Best Short Story in May and is read by Lavar Burton on his podcast.) Rob Wolf is the host of New Books in Science Fiction and the author of Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Trail of Lightning (Saga Press, 2018), the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning author Rebecca Roanhorse draws on Navajo culture and history to tell a gripping future-fable about gods and monsters. The book launches The Sixth World, a planned four-part series set in the near future. The series title refers to the Navajo origin story, which says that our current world—the fifth—emerged after floods destroyed the previous ones. In Trail of Lightning, the six world is wrought from similar devastation, a combination of earthquakes and rising seas. The Navajo Nation survives thanks to a protective wall and a shot of magic, which transforms the barrier into four culturally resonant materials: turquoise, abalone, jet and white shell. The wall seals the nation off from not only the apocalypse but from white Euro-centric colonialism. Roanhorse considers her work a form of indigenous futurism that tells “a sovereign story, a story that exists on its own, on native land in native thought with native characters’ stories and processes that don’t have to acknowledge the larger, white western world. This is not a story that even has any white folks in it. This is a Navajo-centric story, and that’s on purpose.” In creating a magic system, Roanhorse decided not to draw on Navajo spirituality. “There’s already a mess in New Age thinking about Native American spirituality as magic and yet somehow other spiritualities are not,” she says. Still, she wanted to make the magic “distinctly Navajo” so she turned to the concept of clans, which imbue her characters with unique powers. For instance, the clan powers of the book’s protagonist, Maggie Hoskie, make her ideally suited to be a monster hunter. She is Honágháahnii, which means Walks-Around, giving her lightning speed. And she is K’aahanáanii, which means Living Arrow, making her, as Maggie herself puts it, “really good at killing people.” Maggie’s powers emerge spontaneously in response to a devastating incident from her childhood. “The clan powers answer your need,” Roanhorse says. “In Maggie’s case, her jumping off traumatic event was the murder of her grandmother, so what she needed then were those two powers … But often the coping skills that we learn in dealing with trauma—especially childhood trauma—may serve us in the moment but don’t necessarily serve us as we grow. And overcoming those and the baggage that comes with it is part of Maggie’s journey.” The novel is a gripping action-adventure that all readers can appreciate but that holds particular resonance for Native Americans. Some readers have told Roanhorse that “they’ve never seen some of the things I talk about on the rez in a book… I had one reader say she cried the whole way through because she’s never gotten to see that.” A Yale graduate and lawyer specializing in federal Indian law, Roanhorse didn’t get serious about writing until 2013. But she’s quickly made a name for herself. A couple days before we recorded her interview in August, she was honored at the 76th WorldCon with the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer and a Hugo Award for Best Short Story for “Welcome to your Authentic Indian Experience™.” (The story also earned the Nebula Award for Best Short Story in May and is read by Lavar Burton on his podcast.) Rob Wolf is the host of New Books in Science Fiction and the author of Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Days in The Enchanted Circle: 110   Manifest $10K Total =  $38,557.96   If you are keeping track, yes as of the last interview Maggie’s total was $34,625.98. In Maggie’s words, here’s why the total was adjusted, “I adjusted the total because the $1200/month 6-month contract I thought I had turned into being paid $300-$600 per article for that magazine gig.”   As a seasoned money manifestor the change in number doesn’t freak Maggie out because more and more is coming her way everyday. Remember her mantra, “People show up to give me money.”   Right now, Maggie is almost to capacity and easily raised her rates. She’s getting ready to hire more people to support her.   The first time Maggie participated in Manifest $10K she manifested $20,000, more time and more freedom by way of a new job that paid her more for working less hours and was flexible enough that she could mostly decide when she worked.   All that was awesome, but it was also as big as she could dream at the time. The difference this time around is that Maggie, after being in The Enchanted Circle, for 110 days sees that everything is possible. Manifesting $20,000 is a big deal and for Maggie at the time it felt like as big as she could dream. She’s been busting all kinds of her own myths about life and abundance since her last interview.   More money is awesome, but being in The Enchanted Circle has also changed the way Maggie shows up for her family. She is now the leader of anything is possible and her family is joining her.   One of the coolest things Maggie said about our work together in this interview is that scripting has gone from, “This is a cute day dream,” to “This is in the works.”   If you want to model a positive money mindset for your children, make sure to listen to this interview to hear about the impact Maggie’s shifts are having on her graduating (at the time of the interview) son.   Maggie McReynolds is a longtime journalist, life coach, and the author of "Un-Settling," available on Amazon, and the upcoming "The Un-Settling Manifesto: The Unconventional Path to Financial, Emotional, and Social Freedom for Fed-Up Women," due out summer 2018. Founder of the Un-Settling online community and women's movement, she works with women in small groups online and through live workshops and retreats to stop settling for the lives they've been dealt and start creating the lives they want. You can reach Maggie at http://iamunsettling.com. Resources Manifest $10,000 book Double Your Business book The Enchanted Circle

Millions of people read Rustic Wedding Chic, which is the #1 resource for rustic and country weddings online. What you may not know is this popular wedding blog is run by a Mom of 2 with her 3rd on the way, Maggie Lord. Maggie calls herself a naptime entrepreneur and we SO resonate with that idea. Welcome to the show, Maggie! We’re so excited to have you! On the Podcast 1:10 - An Inspired Bride3:01 - Curating A Site5:50 - Solving Problems Through A Directory Site7:01 - Monetizing Your Platform9:52 - Advice For A Blogger Building A Platform12:20 - Working With A Team16:27 - Working with Freelance Photographers17:40 - Growing A Pinterest Following20:06 - Thoughts on Content Schedulers22:55 -  What Makes A Popular Pin25:26 - A Frequent Pinner27:50 - Testing Out Promoted Pins29:34 - Maggie’s Embarrassing Mompreneur Moment Listen Now   An Inspired Bride When Maggie and her husband were planning their wedding 9 years ago, she had a very clear vision for how she wanted things to look. She pictured a rustic but chic and elegant feel for her northern Wisconsin, small town wedding, but struggled to translate it to vendors. There was no Pinterest or Instagram 9 years ago (can you believe it!?) and Maggie found it difficult to plan a wedding without a quick way to save and share the magazines and images she loved. She thought if she was having trouble, surely other brides were, too. So she thought, “I bet I could start a blog.” And back then, starting a blog was super easy! There were a million different blog formats to choose from, so she picked one and set out to help other brides just like her. In the back of her mind, Maggie thought her new venture would be a great profession someday, but she wasn’t sure how the details would work out. In the meantime, she enjoyed planning her own wedding! And, of course, sharing the process on her blog. Where did she find inspiration? Where did she NOT find inspiration? Where did she struggle? She compiled these thoughts on her blog, and Rustic Wedding Chic began. Curating A Site How did Maggie go about gathering and sharing content that was the best of the best for rustic weddings? She thought if she could share ideas from other brides and photographers, then her readers could translate those ideas into their own weddings. Initially, she had the idea to reach out to photographers and ask if she could share photos of their beautiful, rustic weddings. She offered to do a write up on their work, with a link to their services. In the early days of blogging, this is how blogging was done. When Maggie started 8 years ago, there were maybe 3 wedding blogs in the niche: The Knot, Style Me Pretty, and Martha Stewart Weddings. She had access to ‘real weddings’ (not even a term yet) that she could showcase. As this virtual collection grew, brides all over the country were able to find the right florist or cake decorator for them. RWC started by asking to feature the work of vendors, and now they get hundreds of requests a month from vendors. Maggie quickly learned that ‘rustic’ was an umbrella term - and there were tons of wedding types you could call ‘rustic’, from lakeside to barn settings. Shortly after launching Rustic Wedding Chic, Maggie launched RusticWeddingGuide.com as a way to help couples connect with vendors and venues. Creating this resource came out of requests Maggie would constantly get about finding the best venues. It's fantastic to see savvy business owners become the solution to their own problems. Solving Problems Through A Directory Site Did Maggie need a bunch of expensive software to make a directory site? Did she have to become a tech whiz? She admits that putting together a directory site was a challenge. Maggie was very comfortable producing content in blog format. She had post-writing down to a science. Putting together this directory site forced her out of her comfort zone. She made the decision to start small, and build from there. RWC was getting requests from both sides: vendors wanting to get listed and brides wondering how to connect with vendors. Since the Rustic Wedding Chic team is small, they had to really focus their efforts. Maggie pulled everyone together and they made their plan. Starting small and building up worked in Maggie’s favor, as currently there are over 5,000 vendors listed on this directory site. Monetizing Your Platform Since Maggie has monetized successfully, I wondered if she could walk us through that process and break down her income streams. Early on she got help from her brother, who is the president of an internet company. He helped her brainstorm and make a plan to monetize WRC. She knew she had a strong readership and impressive social media numbers, but the path to starting a business wasn’t so cut and dry. Along with her brother, she tested ideas - and it turned out that advertising was her strong suit. Maggie intentionally wanted to make sure that she could work with smaller vendors like Etsy sellers, so they worked out a model that was more like direct sales. She also partnered with Google and used Adsense for selling ad spots. The wedding world is perfect for featuring sponsored posts or Instagram campaigns. The game has changed a bit now than when she started, but still, the model of featuring products and services on your platform works. Maggie is also an author! When she signed her first book deal, she was unsure of how the process worked. She signed with a good publishing company and invested in a book attorney to make sure she was making wise choices. We love how diverse Maggie’s income streams are. She’s got many pieces of the pie all fitting together. Advice For A Blogger Building A Platform What would Maggie say to a blogger who’s new and trying to build a platform and create a package that would be attractive to advertisers? Maggie’s advice is on-point: “People have to be really cautious of the niche they’re in. I felt comfortable being in the rustic country wedding space because it came from a very organic place, and people could tell I was passionate about it. I was going to be true to that topic.” Once you find a niche, spend a lot of time and effort learning how you can dominate that niche. You want to have the best site, be the most authoritative, and give readers a good experience. “Be brand conscious, even if you’re not a huge, well-known brand yet,  you still have to think of yourself as a brand.” Maggie says that when bloggers try to work with bigger sponsors, they have to be confident in who they are as a brand. It’s difficult for any company to part with money, even if they have deep pockets! So you have to prove that your blog is worth investing in. The company wants to make sure that if they send you X dollars, it’s going to be worth their effort. If you can put a package together to explain who you are, why they should work for you, and who your readers are in a compelling way, that makes the decision ten times easier. A simple start is, "I am the expert in this world because...(your reason)" Brands have a million options when it comes to spending their advertising dollars. They want a blogger who will be the perfect fit. Working With A Team Maggie’s site is INCREDIBLY busy! She has lots of logistics going on behind the scenes to manage regular advertising spots, sponsored posts, working with publishers, and so on. She accomplishes all of this with a small team! We had to ask how she makes it work. When RWC first started out, she was a one-woman-show. All she had to do was create the content and publish it to social media. When the social scene exploded, especially with the development of Pinterest (Rustic Wedding Chic was one of the first Pinterest users) and her site gained more readers - she was responsible for more work. Maggie knew they had to grow as a company or she’d be limiting her potential and opportunity. When Rustic Wedding Chic decided to develop the Rustic Wedding Guide, she needed a team member solely dedicated to that project. Since their list of vendors is curated, Maggie had to make sure the vendors were high-quality  - and this took a great amount of attention. She also needed a team member to handle paid subscribers advertising in Rustic Wedding Guide’s showcase listings. Maggie was able to hire someone to dedicate their time exclusively to the wedding guide and taking care of advertisers. A couple years ago, Maggie’s husband left a job he had for a long time and transitioned to managing advertising on the blog. RWC would get tons of requests asking for a media kit or ad prices for social posts, or to personall review a dress - her husband was able to completely take this responsibility off of Maggie’s plate. (We love wife-husband teams!) Maggie handles all of the content creation and does media appearances for Rustic Wedding Chic. Rustic Wedding Chic hires freelancers from all over, from California to New York. Maggie frequently hires photographers to do styled shoots, as well as freelance writers to assist here and there. Her team is a healthy mix of full-time and contract employees. Working with Freelance Photographers Sometimes Maggie will work with a company who wants her to review or showcase their product. In some instances, the company is very direct that they want Maggie’s special touch on these features. Maggie likes to be hands on with that content. Other times RWC will field a request for something like a sponsored post, and the sponsor wants Maggie’s team to only be responsible for creating images and sharing the product. She talks with the company to see what their vision is, and they find a solution that works for her and her team as well as the company. Maggie really wants Rustic Wedding Chic readers to know that they can expect only product and photos that will deliver high value to their lives. No matter your niche, this standard is great for any blogger. Growing A Pinterest Following Maggie has an impressive 161,000 followers on Pinterest, and has leveraged the platform well to grow her business. We had to hear more! At the time when Maggie joined Pinterest, it was still by invitation only during their small roll out! The friend who recommended Pinterest to Maggie wasn’t even thinking of her wedding business, just that the social media platform might be something Maggie would personally enjoy. But it wasn’t long before Maggie started looking at Pinterest that she thought it would be the perfect place to share their beautiful featured weddings, so she sign-up as a person, but with the first name "Rustic" and last name "Wedding." They grew very quickly and early because they saw the value of people being able to look at, and curate for themselves, hundreds of images at once. When RWC started on Pinterest, there weren’t a lot of Pinterest users or competition. She certainly credits that early adoption to their success. As we know, Pinterest isn’t perfect. Maggie says that now she will go onto Pinterest and it kills her to see other pinners stealing her images! Swiping an image that they have exclusive rights to, and linking to their site, which means her fabulous photographers don't get the credit they deserve. As great as Pinterest can be for business growth, there are certainly drawbacks. Nowadays if you were to search ‘rustic weddings’ on Pinterest, you would probably get thousands of images from so many people. But just a few years ago, you would have only seen Rustic Wedding Chic content. We think this is totally a lesson in being an early adopter of new technology; don’t be afraid to try something new for your business! Thoughts on Content Schedulers Maggie says she has seriously signed up or paid for practically EVERY content scheduler out there. Some she found helpful, and some were just downright frustrating. She did use Tailwind for a while, but wasn’t a fan that her items would be scheduled SO far out. She’s also worked with a company that uses a bulk uploader for Pinterest. But despite trying out these many different scheduling options, Maggie just didn’t see that her pins were performing as well as they did when she pinned organically. Maggie has gone back and forth as to whether or not a 3rd party service is useful. These days she still does take the time to daily pin organically and see what performs well. She will go back to her blog archives and see what post she could recirculate since there are always new brides needing to see past weddings. Bottom line: Maggie has paid for ALL of the scheduling tools, but still feels that the best return on her investment is organic pinning. That said, Maggie does use Pinterest Analytics. She thinks it’s very valuable to keep track of how many people you're reaching and which pins are most popular. Maggie did work with a social media expert to help her make sense of Pinterest Analytics. Her consultant asked Maggie if she’d ever notice that her pin view rate was about 4 million a month!! And then the consultant explained that a  pin view rate means a number of times your pins are interacted with in a month - in Maggie’s case, 4 milion! It was one of the highest the consultant had seen. You can imagine that brides using Pinterest to plan their weddings are highly dedicated, if not a little obsessed! And the numbers show it. Maggie finds it helpful to use analytics to know how to hone her Pinterest strategy. While content schedulers weren’t right for Maggie’s business, the value of gauging performance and observing trends certainly has been. What Makes A Popular Pin So what ARE those insanely popular pins that keep driving traffic back to Maggie’s site? Maggie continues to be FLOORED that some of her content has been pinned over 145,000 times. Surprisingly, many of her top pins are fairly simple images. She’ll even see images of simple wedding features like mason jar centerpieces doing incredibly well. (Though the success does come with difficulty. You can imagine how annoying and frustrating it is when Maggie sees her amazing pins pointing to OTHER people’s content. Let this interview be a friendly PSA: don’t steal pins!) Highly popular pins are ones in which people feel like they’re going to get a piece of information or insight that can only be found at Rustic Wedding Chic. One of her pins is a lovely image with the title: ‘This Wedding Was Planned Under $10,000, See How They Did It’. A user can pin any pretty image, but it is highly valuable to be able to go to a site with solid information. Maggie has a pin called, ‘How To Have The Best Unique Guest Book’ that did very well, and another ‘Rustic Wedding Sign On Pallets’ which has had over 400,000 repins. This kind of success makes total sense! Maggie’s not just throwing around pretty images, she’s giving practical advice that helps others. One final note: while DIY projects aren’t a huge part of the Rustic Wedding Chic brand, those select posts do pin well. Again, Maggie wisely has observed that any pin through which the reader knows they’ll get exclusive information of how to recreate a look or complete a project will be a success. A Frequent Pinner Maggie’s favorite strategy is to pin content directly from her blog. On any given day, her site produces a few brand new featured pieces of content. Her daily Real Weddings posts will have between 12-24 images, each of which Maggie turns into a pin. She also spends time going back to more popular posts or seasonal interests and searches for pinable content. (For example, at the time of recording we’re heading into summer. So Maggie is looking for posts like ‘25 Beautiful Summer Wedding Ideas’ or ‘Best Outdoor Seating Ideas’.) She estimates that she’s pinning between 50-100 images a day. She is constantly checking her Pinterest analytics to see what pins are popular and resonating, looking at stats like the pins with the most impressions, saves or click throughs in the last 30 days. A lot of bloggers or business owners are curating content from not only their site, but also other related sites. Because Maggie has Sso much brand content, she could easily fill out a Pinterest profile with only her own images. But does she? Maggie says probably 90% of her boards feature pins from her own site. And considering they have 9 years’ worth of content, it makes sense! But Rustic Wedding Chic does believe in sharing the love. They do try to pin and share content from other brands that they know Rustic Wedding Chic fans will love. Though on the whole, of their 60,000 pins most, maybe 90%, are from Rustic Wedding Chic. Testing Out Promoted Pins Just like us, Maggie was excited to see Promoted Pins roll out. She thought it would be a great way to reach new followers on Pinterest, but admits that for her brand she’s always been a bit disappointed with the outcome--they got repins but not new followers. The best way for Rustic Wedding Chic to get new followers is still to create gorgeous content and work with great companies their readers will love. In Maggie’s opinion, she thinks promoted pins are probably a great tool for businesses just starting out and trying to gain more followers because you need to be seen. Personally, she likes seeing promoted pins because she gets amazing suggestions of ideas that she truly enjoys. Maggie’s Embarrassing Mompreneur Moment Maggie calls herself ‘The Naptime Entrepreneur’ and has written a few articles on that topic. She has 2 boys - and one on the way - so her house is a bit crazy! She used to try to work all hours of the day, but realized it wasn’t working when she made one embarrassing mompreneur mistake! She was at the park with her kids and drafted a hastily written email to a very prominent magazine, full of misspellings. She thought to herself that she would save the draft and polish the email once she was home. But when Maggie went to fix and send the email, she realized it had already sent! Enough was enough. She realized she really couldn’t do it all! So now, she works when her kids are napping or sleeping. As anyone with kids and a business or creative outlet knows, it’s never easy. Maggie says it well: “When my kids are awake I’m CEO of Mommyhood, and when they’re asleep or at school I’m CEO of Rustic Wedding Chic.” Connect with Maggie Site: RusticWeddingChic.comPinterest: @RusticWedChic Now It's Your Turn To Head Out There And Be Brilliant!