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Send us a textIn this week's episode of Metafit Metamind Podcast, I sat down with Chella Diaz, an incredible entrepreneur, financial empowerment coach, and passionate advocate for women's financial literacy.Chella opens up about her lifelong curiosity around money,buying her first car at 17 and first house at 23, and how her humble beginnings shaped her drive to help others master their finances.We also discuss the importance of service, community, and practicing the art of enrolling (not selling) clients authentically. Chella brings a refreshing perspective on empowerment, accountability, and how connecting with the right mentors and supportive environments accelerates personal and professional growth. Listen in to get wisdom full stories, empowering advice, and practical things to do to break free from limiting beliefs.Chella Diaz's Instagram → chelladiazIMPORTANT REMINDERS: Mark your calendar for September 27th for the Women Without Limits Movement Summit in Austin, TX!Interested in financial literacy, LinkedIn learning, or the OWWLL networking app? Chella shares tips and ways to connect with her in the episode.Get the app in APPLEGet the app in ANDROIDSupport the showRegister for the next cohort of NLP Certification Training with Metafit Metamind Academy! https://metafitmetamind.com/certified/ Check out our YouTube Channel!Metafit Metamind con KarlaGive us 5⭐ & Review! Follow @metafitmetamindpodcast @coachkarlita @HERanimeuniverse CONNECT with Me!
Mamapreneurs often struggle to make their own dreams a priority. I launched the Mamas & Co. membership to provide much-needed support, community, and resources to mamapreneurs everywhere. Through the Mamapreneur Fund, awarded each year at MamaCon, three deserving winners receive recognition and grants that will help them focus on their dreams and grow their businesses – with one lucky recipient taking home the grand prize of $5000, a full-day strategy session, and a 1-year coaching program. In this very special episode of The Business of Thinking Big, I sit down with this year's incredible Mamapreneur Fund grand prize winner, Susana Carasco! As the co-founder of Diamonds Media Group, Susana offers strategic graphic design and full-service printing to small to medium-sized businesses and organizations. During this conversation, we discuss Susana's journey in the community and take a deep dive into the Mamapreneur Fund application process. If you've ever considered applying for the Mamapreneur Fund, you'll definitely want to hit play! In this episode, you'll discover: How Susana prepared for the application process (and what made her stand out!)Why she was chosen to win the grand prize — and how she plans to use it to grow her businessHow her amazing new initiative allows her to give back to her communityGuest bio: Susana Carasco is a graphic designer and co-founder of Diamonds Media Group Inc., a print shop that specializes in graphic design, printing, stationery, and advertising services.Timestamps: 00:01 Intro02:34 Meet Susana Carasco03:31 Mamapreneur Fund application process05:18 Why she stood out08:37 Recording the video10:11 Moving story12:30 The MamaCon moment14:50 What she's excited about15:47 Made With Love creative cards19:18 Mamas & Co. benefits23:21 MindsetLinks mentioned: Susana Carascohttps://www.diamondsmg.com Instagram: @dmg_printanddesignMamapreneur Fundhttps://www.mamasandco.com/fund —Learn with me: Mamapreneur Success Path - Free Audio TrainingConnect with me: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/liannekimcoach Instagram: @liannekimcoachJoin the Mamas & Co. community to get access to valuable resources and the support of likeminded mompreneurs and mentors: https://www.mamasandco.com Instagram: @mamasandcoPodcasting support:https://theultimatecreative.com https://copymagic.agency
Sample Content Calendar for a Beauty & Skincare Entrepreneur on Instagram (Targeting Mothers in Abuja & Lagos) Week 1: Monday: Live Q&A session with a pediatrician on common child skincare concerns (e.g., eczema, baby acne). Tuesday: Product demonstration: Gentle cleansing routine for mothers and children using your brand's products. Wednesday: Before-and-after photo story: Showcase a mother's journey to achieving clear, radiant skin with your products. Thursday: Interactive poll: Ask mothers about their top child sun protection concerns and product preferences. Friday: Collaboration post with a local mommy blogger: Share her skincare routine for her and her kids. Weekend: Run a "Natural Skincare Challenge" giveaway: Encourage participants to share their natural skincare tips for mothers and children. Week 2: Monday: Educational story: Debunking common myths about child skincare (e.g., using harsh soaps, applying adult products). Tuesday: Product tutorial: DIY natural sun protection spray for children. Wednesday: Before-and-after photo story: Highlight a child's journey to overcoming skin irritation using your gentle products. Thursday: Interactive quiz: Test mothers' knowledge on child skincare essentials. Friday: Collaboration post: Partner with a Lagos-based family-oriented account to share fun & educational activities for healthy skin. Weekend: Announce winners of the "Natural Skincare Challenge" and share the best tips submitted. Week 3: Monday: Live Q&A session with a dermatologist on maintaining healthy skin during pregnancy and postpartum. Tuesday: Product spotlight: Highlight your brand's commitment to natural, safe ingredients for children's skin. Wednesday: Before-and-after photo story: Showcase a mother-daughter's journey to achieving glowing, healthy skin together. Thursday: Interactive poll: Ask mothers about their preferred ways to learn about child skincare (videos, blog posts, etc.). Friday: Collaboration post with an Abuja-based pediatrician: Share expert tips on managing common child skin conditions. Weekend: Host a "Skincare Storytime" session: Read a children's book about skin health and answer questions in the comments. Week 4: Monday: Educational story: Explain the importance of consistent skincare routines for children and adults. Tuesday: Product tutorial: Create a fun DIY face mask for mothers and children using natural ingredients. Wednesday: Before-and-after photo story: Share a child's journey to overcoming acne with your targeted treatment products. Thursday: Interactive quiz: Test mothers' knowledge on the impact of diet and lifestyle on skin health. Friday: Collaboration post: Partner with a local organization supporting mothers and children to promote healthy skin habits. Weekend: Run a "Best Skincare Tip" contest: Encourage mothers to share their favorite tip for healthy skin and award prizes. Remember: This is just a sample calendar, and you can customize it based on your specific brand, audience, and goals. Be flexible, experiment with different formats, and track your results to see what resonates best with your target audience. Additional Tips: Respond to comments and questions promptly to build engagement. Maintain a consistent aesthetic and brand voice on your Instagram page. By following these tips and creating a consistent content calendar, you can effectively utilize Instagram to educate, engage, and ultimately build a loyal customer base
“We don't always love motherhood but we love our kids.” Join us as we talk with Lynn Turcotte-Schuh who is a Speaker, Mentor, Educator and Podcast Host who helps Mamapreneurs love themselves, and their lives, as much as they love their kids. Through workshops, 1:1 mentorship and the HMW Community, Lynn supports Mamas as they break free from society's unrealistic expectations and redefine motherhood for themselves.
Host Robbin Kelton New episode of the Mamapreneur Podcast will premiere. I will be highlighting 2 more fabulous Mamapreneurs and their businesses. Tune in
Tonight is the night! A new episode of the Mamapreneur Podcast. Live tonight at 8pmCST via Power Team Facebook/YouTube
This episode is for all the Mamapreneurs and Mamapreneurs-to-be! We sit down with Chelsea Lewis, owner & founder of My Mommy Wisdom and talk with her about her journey to being a Mamapreneur. If you're a mama and business owner or aspire to be one, this episode is for you! Follow us (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube) @therealmamapod @kendraferg_ @devgrace_ Follow Chelsea Lewis @my.mommy.wisdom www.mymommywisdom.com Mama Merch: www.therealmamapod.com Mama's Corner (Email): mama@therealmamapod.com Episode 10: Mama Juice "Go GetHER" (Cocktail) 1.5 oz. of Bourbon 1 oz. Pomegranate juice 1/4 fresh lime Top w/energy drink "Go GetHER" (Mocktail) 1 oz. of Pomegranate juice 1/4 fresh lime Top w/lemon-lime soda
Ever had a bad parenting day? I'm sure if I could see you, every single one of our, yes OUR (I have bad days too) hands would be raised.Here's the good news - you can turn those bad days, those bad moments, into teaching moments by modeling for your kiddos how to get through to the other side. Click play to find out how!I know all of this sounds good in theory...if you are struggling to put it into practice, check out our free online community for Mamapreneurs. It's the cheerleading squad you've been looking for!If you enjoyed this episode of the Redefining Supermom Podcast, leave a review on iTunes! Reviews help me to know which content is resonating with you and which to leave in the rear-view mirror...so visit the Redefining Supermom podcast on iTunes and let me know what you think.
Hello beautiful Babies & Dreams Mamas,Let's dive right in to our last part in our three part flashback series. This episode we are diving into how to hold the faith in all seasons in your Biz. The truth is, whether you are just starting out or in it for a hot minute, you will go through seasons of needing to hold the faith, despite what you may be "seeing" in your current reality. If you are enjoying this content- don't forget to share this episode with a friend and/or leave a review so MORE Mamas can find Babies & Dreams!Learn about my newest program Biz Mentorship-> www.mamabizcoach.com/workwithmeApply to work with me-> www.mamabizcoach.com/applySnag my awesome FREEBIES-> www.mamabizcoach.com/freebiesFollow me on the Gram (my favorite space on social)Join my FREE value packed community of Soul-led Mamapreneurs xoxo, Alana
Today's episode is a little different…it's not a an interview or a “tip”. Today, I'm going to be sharing a little bit about my experience with Postpartum Anxiety and how I was moved to tears watching an Avengers movie.I hope you enjoy listening. Let me know if you want more episodes like this in the future.Until next time…TCKS,Lynn______________________________________________________________Want to check out our FREE online community for postpartum Mamapreneurs just like you? Click here for all the details!Connect with Lynn:Instagram: @HappyMamaWellnessFacebook: Happy Mama WellnessConnect with Postpartum Support International on Instagram: @postpartumsupportinternationalClick here to get more information about our Climb Out of the Darkness eventClick here to check out the scene from Avengers Endgame:
Do you ever get in a creative funk…serving the same meals for dinner over and over, mindlessly walking through the day, racking your brain for something different to help you feel connected to your kids? Well, you are NOT alone.Today's episode is all about getting the creative juices flowing and thinking outside the box…but it's a little different than our normal “SHORTS”. My daughter and I found that we LOVE having conversations about protecting the planet and we love recording those conversations even more. So, we started our own podcast…and today you get to hear a replay of our most recent episode. It's outside the box thinking at it's finest.I hope you get inspired by our Let's Save the Planet episode and I hope you get creative about your connection time with your kiddos. I can't wait to hear what you come up with!Until next time...TCKS,Lynn______________________________________________________________Want to check out our FREE online community for work-from-home Mamapreneurs just like you? Click here for all the details! Connect with Lynn:Instagram: @HappyMamaWellnessFacebook: Happy Mama Wellness
One of our family missions is to do whatever we can to help protect Mother Earth and spread awareness of simple changes people can make towards a better future for our kids. I guess you could call this the “homesteading spirit”.Having a real understanding of where our food comes from. A connection to the land and the magic of planting a small seed and harvesting food a few months later is so powerful. Creating a connection to your food and the earth...no matter where you live...fosters a true spirit of gratitude.From food to chores to connecting with your kids - this conversation with Victoria Young, a truly kindred spirit, is so inspiring and motivating...I can't wait for you to meet her and connect with her message.Let's continue the conversation over on Instagram or get additional support inside our free community of Mamapreneurs.Until next time...TCKS,Lynn______________________________________________________________Victoria Young is a pioneering Mama who is creating an off-grid lifestyle for her family. An accounting major, turned esthetician, turned farmer, she never thought of herself as the off-grid living, hay bale slinging type! She likes white clothes and nice makeup, but as it turns out, is also completely at home milking a cow in poop covered overalls. Her goal is to create a life that is simple and sustainable. Combining the wisdom of the past, with all the wonderful things about the present, she believes each one of us can make small changes that can ultimately change the world!Connect with Victoria:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theyounghomestead/YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEMOasId0OC9Dxp6e8yHVGwWebsite: https://www.theyounghomestead.com
This episode is from a training a did a few years back on body positivity in postpartum...but this concept, this reminder, is applicable to EVERYTHING. Our kiddos are ALWAYS watching. Imitating. Learning how to be and move through the world by mimicking us.It's a powerful tool and a huge responsibility. Will you use your powers for good or evil?In Gratitude & With Love,Lynn______________________________________________________________________________Want to check out our FREE online community for work-from-home Mamapreneurs just like you? Click here for all the details!Connect with Lynn:Instagram: @HappyMamaWellnessFacebook: Happy Mama Wellness
Join me this week as we pull our most popular episode from the archives, originally episode #12 "Finding Gratitude in 10 Minutes". This is an oldie but a goodie and will literally shift your perspective into how to manifest MORE of what you want in your life. Wanna rank up? Hit a new income level? Bring in more clients into your Biz with ease? Gratitude is the KEY. Share, subscribe and leave a review so more Mamapreneurs can find Babies & Dreams! For more resources please visit: www.mamabizcoach.com Follow me on the Gram and join my free community Bada$$ Mamapreneurs
There are topics that, as parents, we push away because they are not fun to think about. For example, when my wife and I sat down to write our will I balled my eyes out because if that document were to be enacted it would mean our daughter was an orphan. But it is so important to do these things to make sure our kids are protected.Today's conversation falls under that heading of “things that are SUPER uncomfortable to think about but SO important to move forward with”. Our guest today is Rosalia Rivera, founder of Consent Parenting, and she is going to give us some tips and strategies to help us with the critical conversations surrounding abuse prevention.After you listen, let's continue the conversation over on Instagram or get additional support inside our free community of Mamapreneurs.Until next time...TCKS,Lynn______________________________________________________________Rosalia Rivera is a consent educator, abuse prevention specialist, sexual literacy advocate, TEDx speaker, change agent, and the founder of CONSENTparenting™. She is the host of the AboutCONSENT™ podcast and creator of CONSENTwear™. Rosalia teaches parents, particularly child sexual abuse survivors, how to educate their children on body safety, boundaries, and consent so that they can empower their families to prevent abuse and break intergenerational cycles. Rosalia is on a mission to end child sexual abuse, dismantle shame, and help survivors heal and become thrivers.Rosalia is certified through the Canadian Centre for Child Protections COMMIT TO KIDS® program, and Darkness To Light Stewards of Children® program, as well as the human trafficking prevention training program: OnWatch™ by Safe House Project.Although Rosalia was born in El Salvador and grew up in NY, she now resides in northern Canada with her partner and three young kids.Connect with Rosalia:Website - https://www.consentparenting.com/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/consentparenting/Podcast - https://aboutconsent.com/
Ok - this episode title might sound a little weird, but what I really mean is...it's time to get to know your kids.Get to know them as the amazing, unique, spirited, intelligent little human beings that they are.Doesn't matter how old your kiddo is...whether they are not even talking yet or not ever taking a break from talking, there are ways you can ask them questions to really get to know them. I challenge you to date your kid!In the comments, let us know what age your child is and what one question you'd really like to know the answer to! Let's inspire each other on this journey.In Gratitude & With Love,Lynn_______________________________________________________________________________________________Want to check out our FREE online community for work-from-home Mamapreneurs just like you? Click here for all the details!Connect with Lynn:Instagram: @HappyMamaWellnessFacebook: Happy Mama Wellness
Today's episode we are talking all about productivity for Mamapreneurs and really anyone who is running their own business. Tabitha started as a Mom Blogger helping with tips and tricks when she eventually saw a need for Mom's to actually start putting the action into place - so she started created courses. That led her to coaching as Productivity coaching creating her membership and mastermind where she really helps Mama's build a sustainable business that is build around their life. You will hear Tabitha share her 5 productivity hacks to 10x your growth in business. Tabitha is a Productivity Coach who is passionate about helping new mom entrepreneurs to leverage their time and energy using proven productivity techniques and scalable strategies to crush their business goals without guilt or burnout. She's addicted to bulletproof coffee, personal growth books, and family dance parties. As a blogger, course creator, coach, and mom with a B.A. Psychology and Masters in Business, Tabitha runs her productivity coaching business while raising her son and daughter with her husband in Alaska. Website: www.themamamatters.com IG:@TheMamaMatters Work with me 1:1 - book a discovery call today Also, did you know there are THREE ways you can connect with me outside of the show? #1 - Over on my fave social media platform - Instagram @katrinaalelli #2 - My FREE Facebook group, “Be Rooted Sisterhood” is for women who listen to the show, are looking for a community to grow, uplevel and are passionate about fulfilling their souls purpose. #3 - Questions, comments, topic or show suggestions? Email me over at katrina@katrinalelli.co **Be sure to Subscribe to the show to get updates on new episodes and head on over to ITunes and leave me a 5star review for your chance to win a breakthrough session with me**
One of the questions I get a lot from Mamas is "how do I get my kids to cooperate without having to yell and nag all the time?!?!". One of my recommendations is to create a family team - both in atmosphere and in practice.A family team requires that everyone work together to achieve common goals, that everyone's voice is heard and no one person is more important than another. There are many aspects to this amazing dynamic, but the one I focus on today is using chores to bring the team together.Want more inspiration and insight on creating family teams and parenting without yelling, nagging and discipline? Check out our free online community here.TCKS, Lynn___________________________________________________________________________________________________Want to check out our FREE online community for work-from-home Mamapreneurs just like you? Click here for all the details!Connect with Lynn:Instagram: @HappyMamaWellnessFacebook: Happy Mama Wellness
Hey Mamas! It's time for another Short...and this one comes in at under five minutes! Here are my two best tips for reducing mealtime (especially dinner) tantrums with kids as young as 12 months old!Make sure to join the conversation over on Instagram and share YOUR best tips for reducing big emotions at mealtimes!TCKS,Lynn______________________________________________________________________________________________________Want to check out our FREE online community for work-from-home Mamapreneurs just like you? Click here for all the details!Connect with Lynn:Instagram: @HappyMamaWellnessFacebook: Happy Mama Wellness
Have you ever wanted to start a business but felt like you couldn't because your kids need you or your husband doesn't support it? As moms, we juggle so many things, and it can be hard to believe that you can actually achieve your business dreams while you're at it. Your days are long and exhausting, so you put your dreams off for another day. If this sounds like you, you are probably facing an issue that many moms face- you're putting yourself last on the list. You may think it's the right thing to do for your family, but it's actually the opposite! In this episode, we are talking with Lianne Kim about why prioritizing yourself and your dreams is more beneficial to both yourself and your family. Lianne Kim is a Business Coach and the founder of Mamas & Co. - a community for mama entrepreneurs. She is the host of 'The Business of Thinking Big' podcast and the author of the bestselling book 'Building a Joyful Business'. Lianne is on a mission to help women make a great living on their own terms, doing what they love. Tune in as we talk about having the courage to start your business, taking care of your own mental and physical health, and creating a joyful business and life. Resources Mentioned: Visit Lianne's website Listen to The Business of Thinking Big podcast Connect with Lianne on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn Join her community of Mamapreneurs I would love to connect on Facebook or Instagram! Show notes available at http://amywine.com/episode4
Welcome to our very first C&C Conversations SHORT! In between the conversations we have with amazing women, I'll be giving you my best parenting quick wins, actionable tips and inspiration all in 10 minutes or less!Today's SHORT comes from a training a did a few years back inside our community on patience and empathy. When you're done listening, head on over to Instagram and join the conversation!______________________________________________________________________________________________________Want to check out our FREE online community for work-from-home Mamapreneurs just like you? Click here for all the details!Connect with Lynn:Instagram: @HappyMamaWellnessFacebook: Happy Mama Wellness
Sleigh Gals Virtual Live Women's Workshop was Saturday, December 12th. It was a phenomenal workshop guiding you to leveling up your life and business! In this episode you will learn about:How to choose clothes as an asset in your entrepreneur tool box. Using words to help you describe the highest version of yourself and using that to dress yourself up.How you can elevate yourself by choosing to choose a different high standard for yourself in what you wear for your business.ABOUT STEPHANIE GILSTRAP:Stephanie is a Women's Wardrobe Coach that helps mamapreneurs feel sexy, sassy and sophisticated so they can stand in their power to boost sales. She is the founder of Mom2MILF Style Method, her signature 60-day wardrobe mentorship, and Daily Style Upgrade, her daily Outfit Blueprint membership program.Follow Stephanie on IG Ready to LEVEL UP your business? Text: BUSINESS to (323) 524-9857 to become a Founding Member of my new 12 week Business Coaching Program for women!Resources:The Get Up GirlJoanna Vargas on InstagramJoanna Vargas on FacebookTikTok @joannavargasofficialJoin my monthly online academy: LIVE FULLY ACADEMYOperation Underground Railroad – OURRescue.orgLearn more: Dance Your LifeTEXT: BUSINESS to (323) 524-9857 to get on my VIP lift for my next upcoming business coaching group!
Episode #90: How to Master YouTubeHave you thought about using YouTube to grow your visibility, credibility, and gain new leads? If so, you likely know that there's a lot to know to master this platform. That's why I brought my friend, Quayjo, on the podcast to share his top tips on how to master YouTube. Quayjo has grown his own YouTube channel from zero to over 11,000 subscribers over the last few years and he shares how to grab your audience's attention and keep it. He explains how YouTube actually works, and what people want to watch on the platform, so you can begin to create content people actually want to consume instead of what you think they want to see. Quayjo even shares his proven framework for YouTube videos that get the most clicks and views, and keeps viewers watching longer (which you want!). There's so much to know, but he breaks it down and makes it easy to implement. If you're going to show up on YouTube, don't waste your time. Listen to Quayjo and get off on the right foot!Links mentioned in this podcast:Elementary Chinese on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/elementarychineseFollow on IG @elementarychinese https://www.instagram.com/elementarychinese/YouTube https://www.youtube.com/Sean Cannell https://www.seancannell.com/Pat Flynn https://patflynn.com/James Wedmore https://www.jameswedmoretraining.com/Course: How to be Productive for Mamapreneurs https://www.mamasandco.ca/productiveTubeBuddy https://www.tubebuddy.com/quayjoKeyWordsEverywhere https://keywordseverywhere.com/Amazon https://amzn.to/2YjWvIcAudible https://amzn.to/2YjWvIcBuilt to Last book by Jim Collins https://www.amazon.ca/Built-Last-Successful-Visionary-Companies/dp/0060516402/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=build+to+last+book&qid=1596652344&sr=8-2Amy Porterfield https://www.amyporterfield.com/Rick Mulready https://rickmulready.com/Lindie Botes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjVwBKqRh8ckPWhfD5UDKcgQuayjo's Collab Guide https://betteryoutubeleads.com/collabs
How to Get More DoneAre you living in what I call "Time Scarcity"? Does it feel impossible to get everything on your to-do list done? If so, look no further than this episode right here. I break down my 7 Pillars of Productivity and no surprise here, I start with Mindset. What are your thoughts about time? Is Time your enemy? If so, we have work to do! From there, we move on to getting clear on our own goals or "Desired End Results" as I call them. This step is pivotal to our success. At the same time, we have to understand what things on our to-do list are not helping us achieve our goals. I also talk about the relationship between the results we want to achieve and the resources we have to achieve them.I also cover "Batching" and "Time Blocking" - two very important concepts that will help you become more efficient. If you want to get more done in less time, so that you have more time for the things that really matter... then listen - this episode is GOLD!This is also a preview of my new Mini Course: How to be Productive for Mamapreneurs. If you're struggling to create more time and get more done, you definitely want to check out this course. P.S. I include a special discount for you, my loyal podcast listener. Save $10 on this mini course with the promo code: PODCAST. Links mentioned in this podcast:How to be Productive for Mamapreneurs https://www.mamasandco.ca/productivePromo code for a $10 discount: PODCAST
In this episode I am going to be sharing with you some big changes that are about to happen on Mama Shrink. I have loved doing the Mama Shrink podcast. It has been fulfilling and wonderful sharing advice with people. I’ve also gotten great feedback that it has helped them and that means the world to me. However, in the online world, it’s important to focus on a particular niche. And for the longest time I’ve wanted to serve Mamapreneurs. But, it’s also a flooded market and a very hard market to reach.This is why I’ve decided to switch gears this 2020 and it’s what I’m going to talk about in this episode of Mama Shrink. [02:10] I started to think about where I can niche down into a particular area where I want to help and a couple of things came up for me such as eating disorders and lyme disease but there were also some considerations I had.[06:01] It dawned on me that I needed to focus on helping moms and moms-to-be go through domestic newborn adoption. It felt so right and clear to me because I’ve been through it. I have beautiful boys and a family because of adoption and I feel hopeful about that. There are so many moms-to-be that need help to do that.[07:51] Starting next week, I’m going to rename the podcast to Soulful Adoption, which means a lot to me.[09:40] If you know of anyone who’s going through the adoption process, please have them follow me and subscribe. Each week I’m going to dive in new topics more so domestic newborn adoption because that’s my area of expertise.[13:04] I want to be the real voice of adoption and talk about the hard things that some people aren’t talking about.
Have you downloaded the Mindful Sales Guide yet? Sean's featured! Learn from Sean and 19 other entrepreneurs about how to grow your business in alignment with who you are. This episode is brought to you by Kettlebell Kitchen. They'll send you whole, healthy (and SO DELICIOUS) prepared meals right to your front door. Use code SHINESTRONG for 20% off your first 3 orders.Where to find Sean:Rich Lit Society: Join Sean's book club to learn from him & other experts like Napoleon HillQuote of the Day Podcast: #1 on iTunes for personal development!Sean's websiteLeah's favorite YouTube video from Sean about why you sabotage yourselfWhat Sean and I talked about:You can change your reality by changing your thoughts.Is it possible to make the mental shifts BEFORE you do the work to understand yourself? Sean says YES. What to do when those limiting belief/ negative thoughts come up. How to know when to pivot? When to use grit/push through and when to change plans?>Don’t make it about YOU.Try your hardest not to make decisions in a valley. How to help a friend through their own valley? Sean’s advice: Don’t help unless they specifically ask for it. “Everyone is in a different place in their journey”When you’re in a valley — that despair — when you learn a lot about yourselves. Your survival rate for your bad days is 100%“People just want to be listened to”. Your brain has a tendency to follow your feelings. Your brain will go through withdrawal when you are trying to make a change in your life. Negative thoughts will always come. You have to consciously redirect your thoughts. CHILL. You have to get to the root cause — understand the way you feel about yourself and the negative core beliefs you have. How to be responsible for a life situation you don't have control of — and that you don't necessarily love.“To me” consciousness. Victim consciousness. Choosing to respond in a negative way. “For me/by me” consciousness. How is this working for me? EVERY negative thing that happens to you has good in it.“Where you choose to focus your attention is what dictates how you feel about it” LOOK FOR THE POSITIVES> Shift your attention. your attention changes and your realities change. We can all make that choice. How many opportunities are you missing because you’re looking at your life through the lens of a victim?Real love is loving and supporting someone no natter what they choose. How to have longevity? Be consistent and deliver high quality. Tip for creating a great YouTube video? Watch it with no audio. If you still enjoy it with the sound off, then it’s ready to launch. Support the show (https://www.shinestrong.co/podcast)
Today is a topic near and dear to YGTMama. We are looking at not only identifying as a BOSS but as a BOSS and a MAMA. When you are climbing the corporate ladder it can feel like you have no power over your life, punching in and punching out every day. It's easy to look at entrepreneurs with envy and wonder how on earth they did what they did? Then… when motherhood happens, the task can seem even more daunting. How is it possible to start a business or write that book or do that thing (whatever it is you are passionate about) with tiny humans in the picture? Well, Sabrina figured it out and so did fellow Boss Mama Lianne Kim. Lianne Kim is the Founder of Mamas & Co. an online community of over 300 Mamapreneurs across Canada and beyond. Mamas & Co. aims to help mama entrepreneurs fast-track their business success by giving them direct access to the people, skills, and resources they need to succeed. With two decades of experience in sales and marketing, Lianne is also a business strategist and coach with her company Think Big Sales Consulting. She is wildly passionate about helping female entrepreneurs; she offers coaching, consulting and online courses for every stage of business owner. Her goal is to empower mamas all over the world to create the business and life of their dreams! She herself is also a mama to two kids, Julia and Alex. ‘Boss Mama', ‘Mamapreneur', ‘Mom Boss', these are all catch phrases that identify a massive movement towards women and moms starting their own businesses. Lianne feels that that movement is happening quicker in Canada compared to our neighbours to the south, due to the fact that our maternity leave is longer. Women in Canada now get up to eighteen months off. These months are important for mamas to create a strong bond with their infants. She also thinks this is a big time for self-reflection and questions like - what is my life really all about now? You re-evaluate your role as a mom, a wife, a partner, a friend and a career person. In Lianne's experience, with maternity leave, she had all this time to think about what she really wanted to do with her life. She felt that high school, university, first jobs, second jobs, promotions, husband, and kids all just flew by in a blur of milestones. Most likely this is the case with a lot of moms, so when their priorities shift in that year off, they have time to think and more questions start to surface like - what is my next move? Being a boss does not necessarily mean that you are a boss of people, it is about being the boss of your life, essentially taking control of your own life. What was once important before, may no longer be important now and passions you may have pushed aside when you were younger in order to work at your ‘real job' may start to resurface. Women are taking their power back by being the boss of their own life. They want to be present with their kids but they also want to do something for themselves. Lianne adds to this by sharing personally it was a bit challenging starting a family, at times she wasn't sure if it was going to happen. So when it finally did, it she wondered if she could create her dream family life, what else could she do? At the time she was selling over two million dollars a year in high-end travel as well, she questioned what would happen if she channeled all that work into something she was personally passionate about, what could she make for herself? Finding what you love, so you can do more of what you love, so you can be with your kids more, who you love...this is what it's all about. It's not about balance, it's ever moving, ever evolving. Lianne prefers to use the word ‘fulfillment' instead of balance, as balance is not something that is attainable; being fulfilled is. To Lianne, you're never going to be fulfilled being good at one thing, we want to find those few things that really light us up and run with them.
As I’m sure you’ve noticed, we’ve been talking all about Facebook ads and their potential to help you grow your business this month on the podcast. If there’s anything I’m ridiculously passionate about, it’s using Facebook ads to explode your business growth. I’m on a mission to help as many brilliant mamas realize their potential as possible! I’ve got another amazing case study for you today from LJ Johnson. What I love about her story is that a year ago she didn’t even have a website! She just had an idea in her head. She was passionate about planning trips to Disney on a budget and wanted to help other moms do the same. In January of 2017 LJ started her website, Smart Moms Plan Disney, and in March she launched her first product with a presale. LJ has done more than $30,000 in eBook sales since then. I think that’s pretty crazy for someone who didn’t even have a website a year ago! It’s not often you’ll find someone who starts a blog, and less than six months later brings in five-figure sales stats, but that’s the power of Facebook ads! You can really amplify your business growth. If you’re out there just thinking about a business idea, I think you’ll be completely inspired by LJ’s story. You’ll feel empowered that you can do this, too! Exciting News! The other thing I wanted to mention is that LJ talks about going through my Scholarship Program for FB Brilliance. And I wanted to let you know I’m hosting the Scholarship Program again this year! 5 brilliant, amazing ladies will get to enroll in FB Brilliance for free. And I’m not talking limited access or limited stuff. Nope, they get the whole sh’bang! They get lifetime access to the course + all updates. Access to my weekly coaching calls that happen for the first 8 weeks of the program. Access to the private Facebook group to connect with other amazing Mamapreneurs. Access to my mastermind pairing bonus (yep… everyone will get matched up into an 8-person mastermind this year!). My scholarship students get everything! To be considered for a scholarship, make sure you request to join my private Facebook Group right here. Every day, for 5 days in a row (from September 12-16th) I’ll share a lesson. At the end of the lesson, there will be a simple assignment. Each woman who completes all 5 assignments will be considered for the scholarship. We will pick those 5 winners based on who has done the best job on each assignment. Plus, each lesson and assignment will set you up to be more successful with your own Facebook ads, so it’s a win-win! Last year we had 3 winners. These ladies have been totally motivated, and totally rocking and rolling in their businesses. I loved having the chance to gift this course! (Something else fun...and I don’t even know if I should mention this! But I actually gave everyone who submitted a scholarship application a special discount code for FB Brilliance last year! So if you’re on the fence, you should give the Scholarship Program a shot! It’ll give you a sense of my teaching style and steps you can take to set you up for success.) Ladies, I just can't wait to see you in those lessons! And one more note before we get into the interview. I wanted to say that LJ gives FB Brilliance a pretty rave review. That is totally unsolicited! She just started sharing how much she loves FB Brilliance and how it’s changed her business. I just want you to know I did not try to pull that out of her! She just started sharing, which was so, so sweet. I love that she’s enjoyed the course so much. And I honestly think you will, too. Make sure you’re on our list so you get all the updates about FB Brilliance! 7:05 - Meet LJ LJ Johnson is the founder of SmartMomsPlanDisney.com. She lives in Kentucky with her husband and 4 kids. Her business is not even 1 year old yet, and she’s already done amazing things! I am just so excited at how she’s grown a blog and created a product from scratch this year and you won't believe her sales numbers for that brand new eBook! LJ achieved her insane growth primarily using Facebook ads and I can't wait for you to hear her story. 8:26 - A Business Is Born from a Personal Passion LJ’s business idea was brewing for a while. She knew she wanted to do something Disney-related because her knowledge around doing Disney on a budget was seriously ridiculous! (As in, she and her family had been going to Disney every month, and sometimes twice a month for several years!) LJ was eager to bring friends along for the ride. She discovered Brilliant Business Moms in the Fall of 2016 -- the last time the doors to FB Brilliance were open. In fact, she stumbled upon our 5-Day scholarship program ON Day 5! She watched the entire series after the fact, but almost wrote the scholarship off as she didn’t think she would have time to complete the assignment. LJ’s super amazing husband agreed to wrangle their kids for two days while she worked through the assignments so she could be considered for a scholarship. And that was literally the beginning of her business! When we asked you all to start a business Facebook page so you could run ads, that was the moment LJ had to think of a name for her business! “My business was born in FB Brilliance,” LJ says. 10:25 - Faith, Trust, and Ebook Pixie Dust Those initial business tasks took LJ until the first of the year, which is when she officially launched her business. At first, she was considering becoming a Disney travel agent, but it wasn’t a great fit for her passions. LJ felt the real pressure to make a profit, especially since she was spending a lot of her own money on Facebook ads to build her email list. The idea of writing an eBook came to her in March of 2017. She realized that two of her areas of expertise were managing money and going to Disney World, and her ebook was born: Disney World Within Reach: Meeting The Mouse Without Breaking the Bank. This book was the answer to a question LJ has received hundreds of times: “How do you afford to go to Disney?” LJ always thought she was giving common sense answers, but as we business owners have to remember, what comes naturally to us doesn’t come naturally to everyone else! Disney has improved LJ’s life in so many ways, from getting her finances in line (her family was almost a quarter of a million in debt!) to learning how to make the most of time with her family. 15:00 - Maximizing eBook Sales Through our emails, I recommended my sister-in-law Abby’s Book Boss* resource to LJ. In that course, Abby shares her own eBook launch strategies - such as offering presales and working with affiliates - which LJ took to heart. By creating a product that really helps people and following solid marketing advice, LJ has more than earned back every cent she has invested into her Facebook ads. During just her week of presales, she sold over $11K worth of ebooks! And that was just presales! Those customers hadn’t actually received the final product yet! Within two and a half months of the book going live, LJ made $35K in sales. LJ says she is reinvesting a lot back into her new company, but the income has already outpaced the real estate company she already has! 17:38 - How to Run Presales In February, LJ started a Facebook group, which really works well for her niche. Fans were posting to LJ’s business page asking their Disney planning questions, and LJ was eager to answer them...but she felt uncomfortable answering personal questions in a public place. She had the idea to start a private Facebook group where moms could ask their questions, and it worked well. Facebook did a great job of matching up the perfect members to join Smart Moms Planning Disney. By the time the book pre-sale started, LJ had about 5,000 members in her group, with tons of engagement! LJ told her group an ebook was coming the moment she started writing it! And it worked out great since she got tons of amazing feedback during the writing process. (People were even begging her to finish the book as quickly as possible!) Once LJ was ready to warm up buyers, she introduced the book price at $50. She knew most moms might find $50 for an ebook too much to pay, but she wanted to establish that value in their minds. Plus, when she announced the presale price of $35, everyone was super excited for the deal and eager to buy! LJ’s goal was to sell $3,500 total, but she made that amount in the first day! LJ credits all of her success to the working of God. 22:33 - Favorite Tools to Run a Presale Of course, Facebook is LJ’s #1 tool. She says she never would have connected to her audience without it. Another tool LJ loves is SamCart. This app makes it easy to offer customers other products you have for sale. And in fact, it motived LJ to diversify her product offerings and create several packages for customers to choose from. SamCart includes training that suggests using ScreenFlow or PowerPoint Mac to create a slideshow pitching your products and how they work together. She also purchased a quality microphone to record her voice overs. LJ invested $1,000 to use SamCart for a year, but it paid for itself on her first day of sales. 25:00 - Using Facebook Ads for Affordable Leads LJ ran her first Facebook ad on Christmas Day, but there was a MAJOR glitch. A friend sent her a screenshot which showed that LJ’s landing page was completely messed up and looked awful! Still, those leads were coming in at $2.20 each, which is pretty great considering her error-filled page. LJ quickly turned off the ad and did some troubleshooting. Once she was back online, she started getting leads for as low as $0.15 a day! LJ watched our FB Brilliance course in bits and pieces. But whenever she would hit a dry spot or snag with her ads, she picked back up and watched the next module - which usually solved her problem. Due to her background in real estate, LJ is comfortable with the idea of investing money in order to grow. She was okay to spend money up front (about $2,000 a month for a few months) to build up her email list so they would be ready to buy when the time came. Once LJ started writing her book, she backed off Facebook ads and let the momentum organically continue. These days, she is spending about $200 a month on targeted ads. 28:21 - LJ’s Brilliant Ad LJ’s most successful Facebook ad is her simplest. She tells the story of how her first Disney trip was a total disaster! But she came back home, learned more, and tried again. The second trip was a huge success! Then she directs visitors to her free cheat sheet on a carefully designed landing page. This simple ad is her highest clicked link of all! Despite the fact that she’s really pushing other ads to evergreen blog posts. From the investment she’s put into Facebook ads, LJ already has 10,000 subscribers on her list. That kind of growth is incredible for such a new business! And the proof is in the pudding that LJ’s sales funnel is on point. In fact, she has a recent example of one customer completing her entire sales funnel in the course of a one day! The customer: Signed up for her free cheat sheet Clicked immediately on the delivery email and joined her Facebook group Began engaging with the group, and clicked over to LJ’s popular blog posts While reading her blog, the customer requested LJ’s first ebook chapter for free And by the end of the day, had purchased LJ’s $50 eBook! 31:12 - My New Assignment for LJ Since things are going so well, I have a new experiment for LJ to try: Retargeting ads for the people who ended up on her product landing page but didn't end up buying. She could offer a special bonus or $5 off coupon, or even a customer testimonial ad to recapture those visitors and get the sale. At this point, LJ says she can’t handle more sales. (And I know that’s a great problem to have!) Currently, about 6 out of 10 orders are digital, but taking care of the printing for those few physical orders is a lot. LJ is interested in assembling a team at some point to help her grow. 33:47 - The Magical Story LJ Paints with her Ad So let’s dig into LJ’s ad. It’s so well done! Copy: I know you barely have a second here between taking care of your kids and career. In fact, you’re so busy you don’t think you have time to plan a vacation this year. But you know your kids are only the perfect age for that Disney World magic for so long before the time passes you by. I’m LJ and I understand exactly how you feel. But to be honest, my first trip to Disney wasn’t all that magical. I was so busy, I just showed up in line and stood all day. I had no plans, no reservations, and no idea where anything was. We stood in the heat all day and did very little. I didn’t go back for 3 years. But when Baby #2 started walking, I wanted to go back again. And this time I wanted to be prepared. An obsession was born. I now look back on that next trip with such fondness and feelings of joy. I wouldn’t trade those magical memories of my kids and husband for a million dollars. Since then, I’ve gone to Disney over 20 times. I spent over 100 days at Disney World in the last 2 years. I’ve taken not only my four kids but also people of every age from newborn to school age to grandparents! I’ve stayed at almost every Disney resort, rode every ride, seen most every show, ate at so many of the restaurants. And I’ve started this blog to help other working moms find the magic I found at Disney World. I’ll make it easy for you to plan your trip because I don’t want you to end up like me during my first trip! I even have a free cheat sheet that will give you all the important steps to plan your trip. Click here to sign up and grab my free Disney World Planning Cheat Sheet. → bit.;y/WDWFreeCheatSheet Photo: It’s a fun flat lay, desktop shot. And she has snapshots of Disney World overlaid on the desk, as well as a checklist. Headline: Disney World? You CAN go this year. Tagline: Disney World: Make the Magic Happen in 2017 This ad has so many shares and views, it’s really perfect! 36:50 - BUSINESS MOM POWER! You guys, this is why moms business are going to take over the world! Moms love supporting other moms, and telling other moms about the awesome things they find! And, moms listen to each other. I just love this energy! LJ is also passionate about moms having an outlet, and being able to earn an income from home. (Audio abruptly cuts here due to some technical difficulties we had, bear with us!) 39:00 - Getting Creative with Targeting We see that LJ has an ‘Ear Hat Ad Set’ that is marketed directly to travel agents for them to be affiliates of her book. Pretty smart! Copy: You’re the expert. Your client is looking to you to provide assistance to make their trip to Disney World as magical as possible. They want you to tell them where to eat, where to stay, what they should fast pass, and how to save money. If you’re like most people, you probably value a great recommendation. When someone tells you about a product that makes your life better, you’re grateful to that person and you’ll go out of your way to help them in the future. The word for this is loyalty. Wouldn’t it be great if you could make a great recommendation and earn your client’s loyalty for years to come? And it would be even better if you got paid to make that recommendation! If this sounds intriguing, click here to check it out the program. And the link goes to a smart landing page explaining the affiliate program for LJ’s book. 40:10 - Narrow Your Target Audience With Your Ad What I also love about this is that LJ let her ad do the work of narrowing down her target market. A lot of newbie advertisers try to perfectly pinpoint their audience on Facebook, only to get frustrated that Facebook doesn’t have that exact audience at their disposal. But the thing is, it doesn’t cost a lot for Facebook to show your ad around. Let the very clear message in your ad copy, image, and headline do the narrowing for you. It’s totally okay if thousands of people pass you up on your offer, as long as a few of the right people see it and respond. That’s the power of Facebook! 40:54 - Facebook Ads Are NOT Just For Huge Companies A lot of people think that Facebook ads are only for huge businesses, but I’m here to tell every Brilliant Business Mom that ads are doable for any business of any size! You don’t even have to run your ads every day to see great results. You can have a successful campaign for $50 a month, get new people in your funnel for about 10 Days, turn off your ad, nurture them, measure your results, then tweak from there! 41:30 - A Fabulous ROI When LJ started her real estate company a few years ago, at the time she was really nervous about investing! “Am I really going to spend all this money? I might never get it back!” And thinking about FB Brilliance, LJ says if anyone is on the fence she can attest that the course is a great investment. She says, “This course had everything I needed in it. You gave me the direction for me to head in.” (That is SO sweet and kind. Thank you, LJ! And our interview ends really abruptly here due to technical issues. But stay tuned! We’ve got great things ahead.) 43:30 - Ready To Try Your First Ad?? Did this interview leave you just itching to test Facebook ads?? We have a cheat sheet you can grab before you do: 10 Things You Need to Know Before You Run Your First Ad. It'll save you time, tears, and money! 43:50 - Closing Comments Whew! That was so fun talking to LJ! One thing I wanted to mention, there were a few awkward starts and stops to the interview, and you might have heard baby squeaks in the background. That’s because I was holding Levi while recording, and his schedule was a bit different than mine :) We did have to cut this interview short, and didn’t get a chance to hop back on due to scheduling, but I did want to share LJ’s story! Her success is absolutely crazy. And one thing I wanted to point out is that LJ is not afraid to invest funds up front in her business to get results. You can absolutely do Facebook ads on a budget. But LJ did scale more quickly to see bigger results more quickly. As LJ shared, she comes from a real estate investing background. And in real estate, you’re often putting up large sums of money before seeing a return. And honestly, that’s how a lot of business growth works. We’re almost spoiled to think we don’t have to spend anything and can just start a profitable business from thin air. Yes, we live in an amazing time where we can set up shop on the internet instead of having the huge overhead involved in a storefront or physical place of business. But that doesn't mean starting an online business will be free. There is always a cost to growing your business. The question you have to decide is what expense do you want to trade in: dollars or hours? There isn’t a right or wrong answer. But if you’re ready to trade dollars for quicker growth, I think you’ll love FB Brilliance!
Miki Sturges is a mother to her three boys, wife, and a mom-entrepreneur. She is the founder of Mamapreneurs Club which provides a space for mom-entrepreneurs to be encouraged, inspired, empowered and make connections, also provides resources for those who are pursuing work-at-home business or taking their business online and to the next level. She enjoys online marketing because of its flexibility and reach of the global market. She's involved in local women's group, semi-professional choir, her church and her boys' school while balancing being a mom, wife and a work-at-home entrepreneur. Her ultimate wish is to empower and encourage mom-entrepreneurs to get out of their 'pit' and reach for their higher calling and lead a lifestyle they desire. Miki shares her very personal story of being emotionally and physically abused by her ex-husband and how she came to a point where she said "This is it!" and made a decision to take a step out of the scary situation she was in. She kept years of abuse a secret since she was brought up to keep her troubles inside and not to disgrace her family. She also felt ashamed that she was stuck in such a terrible relationship. She admits that it took many years to finally being able to start sharing her story. Though she is still scared, she decided to share her story in hopes to reach out and empower more women who might be in similar situations. Want to learn more about today's guest, special offer and where you can connect with her? Click here (…)
Shalene Massie is the founder of Rhythm of Birth and Postpartum Journey. She is a doula as well as a birth and postpartum educator. And, she personally gave me fabulous tips for my own delivery and postpartum time surrounding the birth of my baby boy! Today we’ll be chatting about how she grew her online business using Facebook ads. Listen Now 00:45 - A Passion is Born Shalene got started in the birth world when she was living in South Sudan, Africa with her family. She found out she was pregnant and thought, “You know, so many women give birth without the option of medical care. I want to experience birth in a primitive culture.” When she came back to the States, she knew she wanted to hire a doula to assist in her birth. Living in a new culture also made Shalene want to learn as much about birth as she could. She knew she might be called on if someone was in labor - in South Sudan, it’s all hands on deck - and wanted to be as prepared as possible. Unfortunately, she, her husband, and daughter had to evacuate South Sudan due to warfare. But on the plane back, Shalene knew she could carry that passion with her. She knew it was time to start her doula training. Shalene’s family moved back to the states in 2012, and she jumped right in. To date she has attended about 114 births and has been teaching for five years. 2:55 - In-Person Business to Online Business One of Shalene’s greatest business successes is that from the time she started, she’s been able to stay constantly busy with her in-person doula clients and classes. Her doula training process lasted three years, and after that time she needed to decide how to grow her practice. Shalene was at capacity with her in-person clients, so she turned to the online world. Shalene says she actually started backwards. Though she teaches birth classes, she started an online postpartum class. There is a huge gap of information related to the postpartum period, and her class grew like wild! 4:24 - Shalene’s Facebook Ads Strategy A popular way to use Facebook ads is to get new webinar sign ups, which also builds an email list. Shalene did just that for her postpartum class. About four to five months ago, she ran Facebook ads to a webinar signup page. Shalene had a videographer help her create a video ad that she felt was powerful and this really increased the number of people who signed up for her webinar. She was pleased with how the ads were working. Shalene is a student of our FB Brilliance course, and says she learned a TON of information in that course to guide her ad development and lead generation strategy. (Side note: Shalene says that since FB Brilliance, she’s become very geeky when she looks at other websites, wondering, “Are they using Facebook pixels!? Are they targeting me?!” You’ll have to listen to this episode for a great business idea Shalene and I cooked up!) And just a reminder, statistics say only 6% of businesses on Facebook are currently using ads. There’s a huge opportunity out there! 6:54 - Shalene’s Successful Facebook Ad Let’s dive right into Shalene’s ad to see why it was so successful. Ad Copy: Hello pregnant mama! Join a free, live, postpartum planning webinar. (She gets right to the point and says ‘this is who I’m talking to’. That’s one thing that’s so important with ads! Talk ONLY to your ideal customer. Ok, back to the ad!) “In preparing for baby, I spent so much time thinking about the birth that it’s easy to forget about the weeks of change after baby comes home. If you’re expecting, sign up for this webinar pronto! - New Mama” (Confession: that new mama was me!) In this webinar, you’ll learn 5 ways to begin planning for your postpartum transition and life after your baby is born, a secret myth about postpartum, how to feel at peace and minimize the risk of postpartum depression, and 5 things you’ll be so glad to know postpartum. Plus, get a fun, free gift at the end of the webinar. If you can’t make the webinar live, sign up to get the reply sent to your inbox. Click this link to join a tribe of mamas for postpartum planning: (LINK) (There are so many killer strategies Shalene uses in this ad: bolding important words, incentivizing viewers to stay til the end, and adding a sense of mystery.) Headline: Free, live postpartum webinar. And then she has her bit.ly link, and the fabulous video she created along with her videographer. 10:35 - Stats for Shalene’s Ad Shalene has 64 likes, a few hearts, 23 shares, and 8,200 views on this particular video ad. These stats are really solid! Trust me, even ads I run to 100,000 people don’t always get that amount of sharing! If you’re outside of the business space, sometimes you really do have an advantage. People don’t share business webinars with their friend! But if they have a pregnant friend, they’ll share a great free class with them in their feed. 11:42 - Shalene’s Video Ad Shalene’s video opens up with soft, lovely, music and a full-screen logo for her brand, Postpartum Journey. She cuts to scenes of women caring for their newborns, and then text throughout, “Anxious about the postpartum transition…and caring for your baby? Feeling overwhelmed? 50%-80% of new mothers experience some form of anxiety or depression during the postpartum period, and many women find it hard to immediately bond and connect with their newborn.” (That stat REALLY hits the pain point of her ideal customer, doesn’t it!? If someone was on the fence, she’s really reminding them that they need to take time for her class.) And then we see the face of a new mother against a white background. She says, “You’re stronger than you think you are, and more equipped for this than you realize.” And another mother saying, “You can do this. You are so much stronger than you realize. And you’re beautiful, too. The beauty comes from that strength.” Then text on top of a lovely scene of Shalene helping a new mother, “Confidence and guidance in caring for your baby.” Then cut to a mother giving her new baby a bath with a caption that says, “Peace of mind...” followed by more scenes of mothers and newborns, “as you care for your baby, and enjoy your postpartum experience.” Then a shot of a hand tracing an outline, “Preparing your heart.” We see a mother from earlier in the video telling viewers, “Be gentle with yourself.” Then we see Shalene’s lovely face with these words, “You are beautiful and you are strong.” Then a text slide outlining the details of Shalene’s class: Postpartum Plan Nutrition Setting Up Nursery Baby Basics Placenta Encapsulation Stories Encouragement Family Preparation Newborn Care Procedures Postpartum Depression Infant Sleep Consulting Healing and Strengthening after Pregnancy Babymoon Returning to Work Followed by another text slide which reads, “This program is a great way to begin your preparation and learn ways to practically, emotionally, and mentally to prepare for the postpartum transition.” Visit courses.postartumjourney.com to register. WOW! This is a jam-packed video that really conveys the value of what Shelene offers! 13:50 - Creating a Video Ad on a Budget I was so impressed with Shalene’s video, I just had to know how she created it. “It was an exciting endeavour!” she says. Shalene’s videographer worked for Virginia Tech, and lived close to her. Turns out, his wife was pregnant, so they traded services! He also taught her a lot about video editing, so she had skills she could take with her for future business videos. Shalene turned to former clients to act as the stars of her video. And we love her strategy for getting the most out of the videos she recorded. During one longer video shoot she recorded a ‘10 Baby Basics’ videos. She ultimately included this content in one of her courses (genius!) Along with recording the ‘10 Baby Basics’ video, Shalene asked about 10-12 women to come into her makeshift home studio and asked them to record words of validation or encouragement for other mothers. A few scenes of the mothers giving encouragement, as well as clips from her ‘Baby Basics’ footage, made the final cut for Shalene’s video ad. (And you can bet a beautiful montage of those moms made it into her online course!) So to recap, Shalene used several brilliant strategies to create her video ad: Trading services. This way, everyone can let their skills shine and get what they need - it’s brilliant. Thinking ahead to repurposing content. Shalene created course videos by using these generous ladies and their babies, but also took bits and pieces of those videos to create an ad. Something we didn’t mention earlier: Shalene got photo and video release forms signed by all participating clients. 18:11 - Shalene’s Crazy Good Cost Per Lead I love talking numbers, so let’s get to it. (And if you’re on the fence about video ads, this will be the kicker to convince you!) Shalene received 354 webinar signups from a cold audience, which means these were brand new people who had never heard of Shalene or her classes before. She got each of those leads for an average cost per lead of $1.38. These are fabulous stats, guys. And this was the very first ad Shalene ran! Another thing to point out: Sometimes the number of leads you get can increase over the following week or so. Even with the campaign off you can get a few more along the way from people sharing the post or tagging their friends. Pretty cool! 20:40 - Targeting Audiences Let’s dive into the audiences Shalene targeted for her ads. BabyCenter is an app and website for new and expecting parents. Shalene targeted fans and people with an “interest” in this website. Note: When you target a particular website interest on Facebook, you’re not just reaching everyone who ever liked that Facebook page, Facebook is so genius they’ll be sure to show your ad to people who have also visited that website very recently too. Other interests Shalene targeted: the book What to Expect When You’re Expecting, and the general interest of ‘Natural Childbirth’. Another brilliant move by Shalene: She created a webinar lookalike audience. To quickly define, a webinar lookalike is a Facebook audience created by users who look similar to your webinar attendees. You can create one by uploading your list of webinar signups in the audiences section of Power Editor. Surprisingly though, Shalene’s webinar lookalike didn’t generate leads! She reached about 663 people but had no signups. Like any smart business owner, Shalene quickly pivoted her strategy, turned off that ad set, and focused on ad sets that were generating affordable leads. A quick note if you’re discouraged that you don’t have a big enough audience to create an effective lookalike, don’t despair! You can create a strong lookalike audience by creating a lookalike of your customers. This audience can be small but mighty ecause you already know those people are interested in your products and not just freebie seekers. And chances are, people similar to them will also be interested in purchasing from you too! Shalene also targeted the online app and community The Bump. And an especially brilliant ad set that she created with the help of a friend: Her friend suggested to target people looking at psychological-based material on Facebook, and add in the filter of pregnancy. This is so smart because Shalene’s course is largely geared toward moms wanting to avoid postpartum depression and other psychological complications after birth. Such a smart strategy! Finally, Shalene created a super broad audience to target of pregnant women. She then narrowed this audience to: Women living in the United States Ages 24-35 Who make at least $50K per year Then Shalene excluded people matching one of the following criteria: Already had children New parents Parents with toddlers Parents with preschoolers Parents with adult children She did this to reach women who were expecting a baby for the very first time, but hadn’t had that baby just yet. Even with this narrowed audience, Shalene’s potential reach was 3.4 million people! Bottom line, your business shouldn’t have any trouble finding audiences to target! The sky is the limit when it comes to who you can reach on Facebook (and why shouldn’t it be with more than 2 billion active monthly users?!) 28:20 - How did the Audience Targeting Go? As we mentioned previously, Shalene’s lookalike audience did not produce any leads. From the leads she did receive, Shalene paid anywhere from $1.26 per lead at her lowest (from The Bump US ad set) up to $4.66 per lead (from Natural Childbirth General Interest). This range does have a huge variation, but it’s actually very good! Shalene’s ad and copy are very compelling. It’s easy for a new Facebook advertiser to try 5 different ad sets, but maybe none of them work. And it’s not that the ad itself isn’t good, it’s just that some audiences don’t respond. One of the biggest factors that will determine your success with Facebook ads is your ability to continue testing new audiences to find the biggest winners! For future ads, Shalene asked her current clients what top apps or pages they follow, and will target those audiences. SO smart! 31:22 - Setting an Ads Budget Shalene’s ads started on just $5 per day for each ad set. (To refresh: Each audience she targeted hangs out in its own ad set) and she increased her ad set budget from there as her ads performed well. Once Shalene identified those top ad sets, she came up with a budget that felt comfortable to her and stuck with it. Drawing in attendees to her webinar through ads worked well, but Shalene learned an important nuance to her ads strategy: She set her campaign too far in advice for the webinar in hopes of getting more attendees. Shalene discovered that she needed to narrow the time frame between sign up and webinar. To prove the point, her very first webinar had 100 signups and 20 live viewers. The next webinar, with the longer lead time, had 300 signups but only 10 live viewers. With a longer time span between signup and webinar date, people were more likely to forget about her class! A valuable lesson learned. Shalene says she’ll only do a 7-10 day window for future webinar ads. (Just a side note here: Even a year ago it was easier to get live viewers to my webinars! The online business world is constantly changing and competing for people’s time and attention continues to get more difficult, but being committed to experiment and adjust as needed will help you to succeed.) 33:35 - A BIG Lesson Learned While Shalene’s ads were on point, she didn’t see the sales numbers she was hoping for after her webinars. The reason? Her site wasn’t truly optimized for conversions. Shalene didn’t have a video about her or her courses on any of the pages. So while she got a decent amount of traffic, people didn’t buy because they didn’t know enough about Shalene. In the last 6 months she’s really taken the lead on strengthening her business in this area! She recorded a ton of sales, welcome, and thank you videos. Now, Shalene’s site is much more inviting to potential customers. (At BBM, we are constantly tweaking our site and our pre and post webinar sequences. There is so much to that! It’s a conscious and continuous process.) Simply put, there’s more to the sale than a Facebook ad to get an email subscriber. Of the people who attended Shalene’s webinar, she had a 10% conversion rate. That’s truly a fabulous rate! But now she’s got to work on getting people to show up live and tightening up her site for even more sales. 37:30 - How Shalene Serves Clients and Her Family Well One of the best decisions Shalene ever made was to hire a nanny. Having a nanny on retainer is THE reason Shalene says she can meet clients during the day, and live an on-call lifestyle. She used to pray and be on pins and needles that her clients would deliver in the evenings when her husband got home. And now, she doesn’t worry a bit! Shalene did increase her fees to account for this expense, but she thinks it’s an absolute necessity for Mamapreneurs, particularly if you’re serving clients. Add this expense into your business budget for peace of mind. 39:50 - Plans for New Ad Campaigns? I seriously can’t wait to see how Shalene’s next Facebook Ad Campaign goes when she tweaks her entire sales system! She says she may not use a webinar as a freebie, but has a huge library of resources to offer via Facebook ads. She’s working with a business coach this month to answer those very questions. We are so excited for Shalene’s testing of sales funnels. (We’re also testing new funnels constantly!) We can’t wait to see how her growth mindset, continuous testing, and heart for pregnant and new Moms helps her to scale her business over the next year! 42:10 - Shalene’s Adorable Mom Moment It means so much to Shalene that her husband and daughters really support what she does. Especially with the crazy, on-call life of a doula. In fact, her family was so supportive they hustled to get her to a Christmas Day birth! You’ll have to tune in to hear how this whirlwind story turns out. Connect with Shalene PostpartumJourney.com 15% OFF Discount Code: BrilliantPP A Free Labor Land Guide: bit.ly/laborprep
Goodness! I always feel like I have so much content to teach you all, that I constantly want to do solo episodes. I almost feel greedy to take over the podcast schedule...but not THAT greedy!!! Let’s get to it! Listen Now 0:30 - The Struggle We All Face The constant struggle we all face is getting more sales.Of course we need to make sales (we’re running businesses!) but we don't want to get the sale by being annoying or manipulative. I often hear Mamapreneurs say, “I’m just not that great at marketing.” or “Selling just isn’t my strong suit.” And they almost use those phrases to excuse away the fact that their product sales just aren’t great. Here’s the thing. You don’t have to be great at marketing or selling to see great results! What I want for you is to create an amazing, fabulous new product. I want you to structure a product launch that makes your audience crazy excited, gets them to show up, and leads them to buy your new product in crazy numbers. And you feel GREAT because you haven’t pressured them, you’ve not once been pushy or manipulative. But you can only accomplish this goal by having an organized process in place that helps you launch your product well. 2:30 - Big Business Misconception One of the biggest misconceptions in business is when business owners say, “I’ll create this awesome product. I know my audience wants it.” But they don't follow through to part two. Creating a product is great! But that’s only one part of the equation. You still have to build excitement for that fabulous product and give your potential customers a reason to come and buy NOW. People will always have a reason to not buy immediately. That won’t help you or your business! And frankly, it won’t help your customers because you’ve got something fabulous for them and they need it in their hands as soon as possible! In this episode, we’re going to talk about 3 ways you can get your audience excited about your new product. 3:36 - #1 Hint at What’s Coming The first way you can get people excited about your new product is to hint at what’s coming. Use the principle of curiosity and pique the interest of your customers. You want people to know you’ve got something secret you’re working on. You’re testing and experimenting behind the scenes, and something exciting is happening. People love that sense of intrigue! Ways you can do this: Share a photo of your computer screen. Maybe you cover most of the screen and show just a glimpse of the landing page you’re working on or your new course. Share shots of sketches, or bits of a new material you’re working with. Instagram stories are a great way to show behind-the-scenes of your shop. Use the P.S. line in your emails to hint at what’s head. (P.S. I’m working on something extra special, more news next month!) A fun twist to building curiosity: ask your customers what they think the new product might be! But the big rule is this: DON’T GIVE THE WHOLE THING AWAY AT ONCE! Most people spend so much time creating the product, but they put no time or energy into getting people ready to enjoy their product. You can’t work, work, work, and then - Surprise! - give your audience this product they weren’t ready for. You’re almost catching them off guard. Use the weeks, or even months, before your product comes out to prep your audience for the excitement ahead. 6:01 - #2 Get Your Audience Involved You can actually get your audience involved in the creation of your product, and that goes a long way towards building excitement. You want customers to feel like they’ve had a part in creating the product which gives them a sense of pride and ownership in your business. It might seem counterintuitive to the previous point, but both methods can happen at different stages in your customer journey. And if you time it correctly, your audience may not even remember exactly what you asked their input over by the time you build curiosity about the upcoming launch. We’ve got several ways for you to get customers involved - and invested - in your product creation: Use a free survey tool like Google Forms to run an audience survey. While there are other paid options, like SurveyMonkey, you’ll actually have a good bit of options without spending money. A fun way to integrate social media and surveys is to use the app Polls for Pages by Facebook. Just search ‘Polls for Pages’ using the Facebook search bar. You’ll have the ability to ask practically any type of survey question you can think of, powered free of charge to you by Facebook. (Hint: Brilliant Business Moms did this back in June! What we heard from you is that you needed cost-effective tools to help you grow your business. And you needed time effective tools, since you’re busy ladies. In our Polls of Pages survey, we also asked what you wanted to learn about, and the highest voted topic was social media. That’s how we created our latest class, How To Be Brilliant On Social Media! This class was a huge hit because we delivered information our customers directly asked for.) When my sister and I wrote our first book, Time Management Mama, we involved the community at every level of development. We constantly asked in our Facebook group for advice and tips from our audience, and we included that collective wisdom in our book. This type of crowdsourcing really got people invested and willing to share with friends Another strategy we’ve used is to invite our customers to vote on covers of both our book and yearly planner. Inviting customers to vote on how your product looks is a simple and fun way to include them! You can ask their opinions about anything from covers, to packaging, to style. 11:30 - #3 Give Samples To Loyal Customers and Influencers Ahead of Time Giving an early look or sample of your product to influencers or loyal customers who always rave about your business is a really smart move. Oftentimes, you’ll see this happening with book releases. An author almost always sends out advanced release copies of her book to a group of people she knows will post great pictures and honest reviews of the upcoming release. (Which also taps into the building curiosity we talked about in #1!) People want to be in on the secret. You can use this strategy with any physical product, or online course, as well. 13:25 - Surprise! A 4th Way To Get People Excited! I know I said I’d give you three ways to launch your product, but I’m so excited I’ve got a fourth! This may seem like a no-brainer, but make your launch date solid, and start mentioning it several weeks ahead of time if you can. What I often see happen is a business owner gets the first few tips right, they have their product in the hands of influencers and have been hinting at it, but they’ll say things like ‘Coming Soon!’ or ‘Coming Next Month!’ That guesstimate is way less powerful than giving people an actual date. You want them to put a date on a calendar. Make your launch an event, and get people ready and waiting to grab your new thing! When you open the cart, you want customers who are ready to go and rushing to the page the day your product is live. And as you can guess, there’s a lot more I can teach on the subject of launches! 15:30 - Introducing Our Newest Mini-Class I’m happy to announce our newest mini class is here! Last month we did a live class, How To Be Brilliant On Social Media, and it got rave reviews. This month our mini-class is: Brilliant Product Launches: Throw your Product the Party it Deserves + Earn Passionate Customers in the Process And, as of today, the cart is open! You can get your ticket for $15. The class will be held LIVE on Thursday, August 24th at 6pm PT and 9pm ET. If you can’t show up live, still snag your ticket before Thursday, August 24th because we’ll be selling replays after that for $27. When you grab your ticket now, you’ll get access to the class and bonuses forever! bit.ly/bbmlaunchclass In Brilliant Product Launches you'll learn: - How Launching a New Product is just like Christmas (plus how to ensure you're not coming across like the grinch!) - How to Build Excitement and FREE marketing around your product. - How to use Simple Psychology to Give your Customers just what they want - How to Launch in a Way that has your Customers Thanking You (instead of running away in horror!) (This happens to us at BBM every time!) - Grab Plug and Play Strategies that you can use to Build Buzz so you'll have a Launch toolbox at your fingertips (I don’t want to give you 20 exact ways to launch a product. That’s actually a lie! There are lots of ways to do it, and you have to figure out what works for you and your audience. We’ll teach you principles, but you won’t feel frustrated over not being able to jump through tons of hoops.) - Get Real Life Examples of my Own Product Launches and their results (Even the ones that didn’t do well!) Plus, we’ve got some wonderful bonuses for you: Email swipe copy for all different kinds of products from all price ranges Email templates to know what to say and when to help you get the sale Landing page template to know how to show off your product in the very best light Product launch checklists so you can know how to prepare for your launch, including: photoshoots, the graphics you need to create, what landing pages you need to create, and so on We hope to see you in class! 22:30 - What Our Past Students Are Saying Our social media class received some rave reviews, and I’ll share a few with you. “I really loved the class. I’ve done a lot of research on social media, so I thought I knew a lot, but you really broke it down and the lightbulbs started to go off for me.” Jamie “Class was fantastic and chock full of goodness and goodies as always.” An Anonymous Student It means so much to me that this last student said our class was great ‘as always’! We work really hard around here to be so confident that our products will wow you, our refund policy is rock solid. If you’re not amazed, we don’t feel right keeping your money. Period. Thanks for turning into this episode. I hope we’ll see you in class! Brilliant Product Launches - Throw your Product the Party it Deserves + Earn Passionate Customers in the Process bit.ly/bbmlaunchclass
Have you written off Facebook or Instagram ads as “just not for you”? I want to encourage you to take a look at ads with fresh eyes this month as we explore how many different types of Mamapreneurs are using them to build their businesses. You’ll hear from Etsy sellers, designers and membership site owners, bloggers and eBook writers, and course creators. All of them are scrappy Mamapreneurs working with tight budgets - just like you! And all of them are finding success with Facebook and Instagram ads. On this episode, we’ll hear from Melissa Kaiserman, who’s using Facebook and Instagram ads to bring in more sales for her Handmade Cash Envelope Organizers. Melissa sells an affordably-priced product, and she’s able to bring in brand new people to her shop and make profitable sales. Press play on the podcast player below to learn how you can make sales using ads too! Listen Now If you've been around Brilliant Business Moms for long, you probably know Melissa Kaiserman. She’s basically an honorary team member of Brilliant Business Moms and an active member of our Facebook group -- always ready to answer questions and help people out. It’s been way too long since we had her on the show and we're so glad she's here today. (Three years, can you believe it!?) Melissa is the Etsy shop owner of A Time for Everything, where she sells amazing cash wallet systems for adults and kids. She’s also the founder of Makery Space, an online business providing practical help for Etsy Sellers. Follow her on Facebook to watch her wonderful weekly show, Etsy + 1. She’s a total pro when it comes to selling on Etsy successfully. Since most of you know Melissa already, let’s dive right in. 1:20 - Using Facebook Ads in Her Business Melissa enrolled in FB Brilliance but had a slow start to actually running her own ads. Her fear of getting something wrong, and hesitancy to do the work knowing it would require tweaking, stopped her for several months. But in the summer of 2016, she decided to dive in. The very first campaign she ran, she targeted interests that she thought would be a good match for her product. She knew people who followed organizational blogs would be her ideal target market. Interestingly, not as many budget-conscious folks who follow Dave Ramsey or frugal blogs buy her products, since they’re not big spenders. Melissa’s campaign targeting organizational groups did okay, giving her a cost per click in the $0.20 range. Then she decided to do a lookalike audience of her email list. She had been building her list for a while with content centered around living on a budget and, naturally, her blog matched her shop well. Once she targeted a lookalike audience, Melissa’s cost per click went down to $0.08! “This is a lot smarter way to target my ad set!” she thought, rather than focusing on a general interest. Finding that perfect combination is all part of the learning process. And thanks to Melissa’s commitment to test and not give up, one of her biggest wins was right ahead. She decided to do a Christmas campaign and then she decided she would use her customers as a lookalike audience. She downloaded her orders from Etsy and uploaded the customers to Facebook and Facebook was then able to create a lookalike audience. This audience was even more targeted than an email list since it was created from the emails of actual purchasers. Her cost per click in that campaign was around $0.04! And to cold traffic! You guys, that’s crazy! 4:00 - Defining a Lookalike Audience Let’s stop for a moment and define what a lookalike audience is, for those who may not know. To build a lookalike audience, you give Facebook a piece of data, for example, Melissa’s customer list, and what Facebook does is take the people you have and go find you about a million other people on Facebook who are really similar to that initial bunch. Then, Facebook shows your ad to those similar people. You can see why lookalike audiences are so powerful! 4:50 - Womp, Womp. A Few Bummers! With Etsy, you can’t directly track how people get to your shop. (Although, following our advice, she sent people to a page on her blog and then redirected to her Etsy shop.) However, Melissa could see her shop sales and traffic increase during the time frame her ads ran, and she realized “here absolutely was a correlation, even though she couldn’t pinpoint one for one.” Another slight bummer, Melissa noticed her cost per click did go back up after the first of the year. It was hard to get back to that $0.04 to $0.08 cost per click range. Her current campaign averages $0.09 per click. Also using lookalike audiences, Melissa ran another set in the Spring that received about $0.12 a click. But still, Melissa is happy with the performance of her lookalike audiences! Facebook knows what it’s doing! 6:58 - Melissa's Successful Ads Let’s dive in and look at some of the successful ads Melissa ran to drive traffic to her site at an amazing rate. In this slideshow video ad, Melissa focused on her bread-and-butter cash wallet system. She showed a selection of those wallets in the slideshow. Her content appealed to the concept: “Are you trying to find the right envelope in your purse, but it’s a mess? Try something that’s pretty and will last for years!” For those listening, we’ll describe the ad below. Ad: During the ad she shows the cash envelope at different angles, and at the end, she uses the tagline, “Find the beauty in budgeting.” Body: Does living on a cash budget have you rummaging in your purse at the register for the right, beat-up, paper envelope? Find the beauty in budgeting with this handmade, laminated, cotton envelope system wallet that’s lovely, durable, and will last for years. Headline: Organize your budget with a cash envelope system wallet. Coupon Code: For Free US Shipping, Use the Code: FACEBOOK (But Melissa tells us that only one person has ever redeemed that coupon code! Isn’t that interesting!?) 9:38 - What Program did Melissa Use to Make a Video Ad? Melissa just used the native slideshow creator within Power Editor. That’s how easy it is to make an ad! Have fabulous product photos, upload them to Facebook, and let them do the heavy lifting for you. 10:08 - What Sales can She Attribute to Her Ad? The only time she ever tried to figure a sales percent increase was from her ad campaign from last August. During that time period, she saw a 63% increase in sales from the same time frame a year prior. Summer can be pretty slow for Etsy shops unless the shop is seasonally focused. What a great strategy to run ads to create sales during a slow time! The ad ran for just 5 days and had tremendous success. Moody Sisters Skincare also used ads to overcome their summer slump, resulting in their best month ever! To go from a very slow month to the best is pretty cool! You really can get started at $5 a day. 12:30 - ROI I know these questions are a bit theoretical, but I love asking them! Even if you can’t use the Facebook pixel on Etsy, you can still do detective work and see how it’s helping your shop. Especially if you're getting affordable clicks like Melissa! So, doing guesswork while looking at her Etsy sales, Melissa compared the difference in sales from the same time period in previous years. That’s where she came up with that 63% increase we mentioned earlier. Her return on investment was 5 times what she spent on ads, which was $50. And, half of her ad sets were the organizing interest sets that weren’t as effective. The other half was her highly effective lookalike audience. Because this particular ad was so effective, Melissa has kept the same ad and changed the copy a bit as needed. For example, at Christmas, she might mention how her wallets are a great gift. She also changed her coupon to be more versatile and simple. Melissa now uses the same ad and ad set repeatedly and just runs it when she wants some more affordable traffic with targeted potential customers. Can you see why ads are so fun!? Melissa has received some criticism for not spending money on promoted listings. In general, her Etsy relevancy has always been pretty good and she shows up in search. For Melissa, why would she spend all her ad budget to get people already on Etsy to her shop? It’s more worthwhile to find people who haven’t gotten there yet and send them over. 15:56 - Pattern by Etsy and the Facebook Pixel I wanted to talk some about Pattern, Etsy’s new selling platform, and the Facebook pixel. Melissa has the scoop! She recently started a free trial of Pattern. In the beginning, she wanted to try out Pattern but didn’t see great benefits right away. At this point, the platform has gone through a few iterations, and Melissa can see the benefits. Someone who can’t manage inventory or shipping for more than one shop would probably enjoy Pattern. You can send people to a domain without the distraction of Etsy. It’s your own space, in a way, but still connected to Etsy. Everything from inventory to orders to shipping is managed in one spot. As of this recording, it is possible to install the Facebook pixel on Pattern. You can’t do the standard event code, but you can use your Pixel ID code. Pattern also allows for Google Analytics tracking, which is a huge advantage! If you have a Pattern shop, you could send people there directly and not to Etsy through a redirect, giving you a clearer picture of what’s happening. Plus, you can get back in front of those who haven’t bought yet with retargeting ads! 18:29 - The Etsy Scoop Melissa is our Go-To Etsy Expert! We had to get her take on what’s new at Etsy. “The main thing right now is that there’s a ton of testing and experimenting happening,” she says. Melissa cites tons of changes coming from Etsy since about February of this year, including: A New Shop Manager New Stats Yes Checkout even a CEO Turnover! Through all the testing, Melissa’s best advice is to be patient and hang in there. Don’t panic and don’t go changing a bunch of things. Often Melissa says she’ll see something tested and then hear people making definitive statements about a change Etsy made. Don’t panic over theories! Keep doing what you're doing that’s working well. Sometimes you can make small changes, but don’t stress about them. For instance, Attributes is a new factor Etsy added that affects relevancy. This feature is actively being tested and constantly changes. They haven’t made any permanent changes, but you can choose attributes that might naturally fit the listing. Don’t stress! This is exactly the kind of stuff she addresses in her Etsy + 1 show... it’s on Thursdays at noon Pacific. She addresses Etsy changes, her thoughts about it, and practical applications. Like Makery Space on Facebook to catch the show. (Isn’t Melissa totally an encyclopedia of information!?) 23:16 - Melissa’s Adorable Mom Moment Right before recording, Melissa had a funny moment! Turns out that one of her teenagers with YouTube ambitions had swiped her recording equipment, and Melissa was scrambling to find the pieces before our interview!
Terra Bohlmann is the eWomenNetwork Managing Director of the Year. She is also the queen of systems and automation who helps women entrepreneurs stop being busy and start being in business. Terra offers some great tips on how to prioritize your to-do list, how to block your time and how "Mamapreneurs" can overcome the guilt around balancing their business with their family life. Also, you'll find out what how your former job in corporate America can do wonders for your business.
What if you could expand your business by putting yourself in a box and reaching more people? It may sound like science fiction, but in many ways, Lisa has found a way to do this very thing! It comes as no surprise that a professional organizer and productivity nut would find many unique ways to reach more people without spending more time to do it. On the Podcast 00:54 - 9 Businesses with One Thing in Common04:03 - Becoming a Pro06:12 - There are a Million Ways to Monetize!08:16 - Lisa in a Box!10:29 - 3 Keys to Lisa's Success13:22 - Think Outside the Box with Outsourcing19:12 - Validation as Mamapreneurs21:17 - Organization for Mamapreneurs23:55 - The Sunday Basket25:40 - How Blogging Brings Clarity30:54 - A Simple Method for Efficient Blogging35:19 - Paying for Emails?40:45 - Bloggers can Sell on Etsy too!42:20 - Lisa's App47:01 - Lisa's Awesome Mom Moment Press play on the podcast player below to hear Lisa's best organization tips and to learn how she helps more people in less time with her business, Organize365. 9 Businesses with One Thing in Common Lisa comes from a long line of entrepreneurs. Her great-grandmother went to college well before that was the norm for women and ultimately owned her own floral shop! Her dad's side of the family had a similar bent towards owning their own businesses. There was never any question that Lisa would go to college, but she knew that in the end she'd be an entrepreneur. Lisa viewed college not as a way to get her ideal job (she could create that all on her own!) but to get her MRS. degree. Yep, she knows it's not politically correct and confesses that she should have come of age in the fifties! Lisa was a teacher before she had kids, but she also did direct sales. Once her children came along, she quit her teaching but continued on with direct sales. She then added tutoring, cleaning houses, and scrapbooking to her list of entrepreneurial endeavors! Lisa's business ventures got so crazy that at one point she had 9 schedule C's on her tax return! (My head is spinning just thinking about it!) Finally, in 2012 after a really rough time period for her immediate and extended family, Lisa sat down to think about what she really wanted to do. She knew she was great at sales, but the question was, what did she want to sell? Where did her gifts and passions lie? Lisa found the common thread in all of her business pursuits: organization! She got her teaching job because her co-teacher was so disorganized they needed Lisa to come in and organize the classroom. She then went on to organize the whole school! Lisa's scrapbooking business was so productive for her and her clients because she helped them get organized first. Lisa even wrote an e-book on direct sales called: How to Organize the Business of Direct Sales. She had it! Lisa starting a professional organizing business and launched her website Organize365 in January of 2012. Becoming a Pro Lisa knew she was good at teaching and coaching, so she used that skill to create great content on her blog that would help others. Even though she was passionate about helping others get organized, Lisa still hadn't realized she was "expert enough" to call herself a professional and get clients. Instead, she was making money by doing direct sales and hosting parties for organizational supplies. Lisa's house parties were huge, and she couldn't figure out why so many people wanted to attend just to buy some plastic bins! Her friend said, "Everyone wants to know what a professional organizer has to say!" It finally dawned on Lisa that she was a pro at this, and she'd better start acting like it. In April of 2012 Lisa started doing professional organizing full-time and her business was profitable right away. In January of 2013, Lisa added her first team member to her in-home organizing team. In the Fall of 2013, she hired another person to work in her business, and she's hired several other team members since then. There are a Million Ways to Monetize! It's easy to look at other bloggers and think that replicating their business model will work for us. This isn't always the case! We each have different strengths, different tools at our disposal, and a different audience we're serving. Lisa quickly grew her in-person organization business, but she wanted to monetize her blog too. She saw lots of bloggers making money from couponing, advertising, and working with brands. She tried these methods a bit, but they didn't seem to work well for Lisa's audience or her skill set. She realized that she's better as a teacher, so she created more e-books to sell. In 2012, Lisa wrote 10 steps to organize paper. Next, she wrote an e-book about her Sunday basket. Then Lisa got the rights back to her first published book called the ABC's of the Bible. Continuing with her model of teaching, Lisa added a podcast just over a year ago.(In true Lisa-style, she couldn't have just one, Lisa has 3! Successful Direct Sales, Organize365, and Professional Organizer's Think Tank.) And finally, Lisa maintained her skill at direct sales, but she took a different, more modern approach. Rather than host home parties and assembling teams of sales people, Lisa used these great companies as affiliates on her blog. Lisa in a Box! If you're a great teacher or coach, I bet some of your clients have wished they could package you up in a box, order you online, and have you right there with them! Well, Lisa has done just that with her first physical product! It's called Get All Your Papers Organized in One Weekend. Lisa combines the knowledge you need to get started, the motivation in the form of her walking you through each step via audio CD, and the tools needed shipped right to you. There are quick-start guides so you don't have to read the full e-books if you don't want to, 3 sets of slash pockets and 2 ONE clips (both of these are a big part of Lisa's organizational system, so you don't have to hunt them down at the store), Sunday planning printables, and Organize 365 printables. Could you come up with a way to help your long-distance customers by packaging yourself in a box? I bet you could! 3 Keys to Lisa's Success Lisa points to 3 key strategies that help her grow her business and keep it profitable. Create a team! Lisa has several great team members who work for her. One person edits everything Lisa does. (She confessed that she can't spell and doesn't understand the rules of grammar!) Then Lisa hired someone to take over her Pinterest account. Can you believe that Lisa hasn't pinned a single thing from her account that has over 20,000 followers? Lisa hired someone to do all of that for her! Lisa also has someone who does everything for her podcast. She'll sit down and record 5 episodes in two hours, then send them off to Amanda who edits and does everything else! Find your money-maker. For Lisa, being a professional organizer has been the most profitable endeavor, and she was able to make money quickly. That one profitable branch of her business can easily fund everything else she's done Whatever you focus on expands! You can't focus on 10 things at once, so you'll have to pick which aspects of your business you want to grow the most. Right now she's focusing on her paper organizing kit, so of course, that's what's making the most money right now.Lisa focuses on one big thing each month and then four smaller things. For example, next week Lisa is focused on getting her products into the Amazon store and figuring out shipping. Next week, she'll work on her 31 organizing videos for October. She's uploading them directly to Facebook each day to see if she can grow her Facebook following from 7,000 to 20,000 fans. In November, Lisa won't focus on Facebook as much. She likes to go really deep on a tiny thing and then analyze things a few months later to see what aspects of her business are worth the continued investment. (Lisa's strategy for managing her time and new business ventures sounds so similar to Rachel Coley's. Sarah and I both agree that it's a great approach, and we use it for our business too! We can't do it all.. as much as we'd like to!) Think Outside the Box with Outsourcing Lisa highly recommends the book, Virtual Freedom by Chris Ducker. In the book, Chris tells readers to make 3 lists. Write down the things you hate doing. (This could be cutting the grass, cleaning your house, or editing your blog posts.) Write down the things you're struggling to do on your own. (Perhaps building your website or designing your logo.) Write down the things you feel, as a business owner, that you shouldn't be doing on a day-to-day basis. (Chris says this list is the most important! It could be editing your photos or posting on social media. Maybe it's shipping your orders out the door. Even if you enjoy doing these things, your time may be better spent elsewhere to grow your business.) Lisa is a productivity nut! She wants to squeeze an extra task out of the hour and an extra minute out of every hour! Lisa says that mompreneurs often miss important things they can outsource that would give them more time for their business. She has a list of 10 household tasks you can outsource. You might feel guilty about this at first, but you have to think outside the box. If you outsource cleaning your house for $60-120 a week, you'd save yourself 5 hours a week of work. So Lisa looks at it this way: can she make at least $120 in that 5 hours of extra time? The answer for her is an absolute yes because she can work with a home organization client for $300 during that time. Ask yourself, "How much does it cost me to do that task, and how much does it cost someone else to do that task?" Another creative outsourcing solution: Lisa says, "don't outsource your parenting," but she does recommend getting help with the kids when they're little. Lisa used to hire a nanny on Wednesdays from 8 AM to 6 PM. Lisa was able to get 10 hours of productive, quiet work time for just $120. That was totally worth it! And in 10 hours of dedicated time, Lisa was able to plow through a ton of work versus working every naptime for 1.5 hours each day and feeling like you're not getting anywhere. If you don't have any funds for a sitter, consider swapping with a friend. You take her kids one day a week, and she takes yours on another. Then, you both get dedicated work time, and your kids have fun with their friends! How to make the most of your work time: Lisa recommends creating a work basket. As you think of tasks to do for your business, write them down and put them in your work basket. If you think of something to tell your business partner, just write it down and put it in the basket. Emails you have to respond to? Put them in the work basket! Then, when you've got your dedicated chunk of time, you know just what to tackle without getting sidetracked or distracted. You can plow through those little to-do's much faster than you realize when they're all in one place waiting for you. Validation as Mamapreneurs Another important mental aspect of having a dedicated time to work is that it gives your job some validation. It's earned a place on your calendar. You've made room for it. It's not just a casual gig anymore. Sarah and I had our own esoteric discussion here about validation as Mamapreneurs. When Sarah filled out the paperwork for her daughter's orthodontist appointment, she put homemaker as her occupation. But she thought to herself today, "I should put self-employed!" I agree, and I laughed and confessed that I've put "self-employed" on every bit of paperwork I get the moment we decided to launch our podcast! It often takes quite a while (and maybe it will never happen!) for others to recognize your home business as valid, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't recognize it as such. (It's valid, brilliant business mom! We believe in you!) Organization for Mamapreneurs Lisa says it's so important for Mamapreneurs to write down their biggest goal for the week, and then no more than 3 top goals for each day for the home and for their business. She's created a free printable for you to try to organize those top tasks as well as get your week organized each Sunday! When you start planning your top goals, you'll realize that email and social media don't often make the list, but without a plan, those tasks easily creep into the first place spot each day. Lisa also blocks off one work day each week to spend 6-8 hours on something that will grow her business to another level. So, for example, getting her products on Amazon, or creating new videos or a new product. The Sunday Basket Lisa's main method for organizing paper involves something called, "The Sunday Basket. It's a basket, box or bag that you keep on your kitchen counter. Every bit of paper that you receive, along with other simple to-do's goes into this basket. For example, a bill that doesn't need to be paid right that second, paperwork from the kids' school, an item to return to Walmart. On Sunday after the kids are in bed, take out every single thing, touch it and ask, "can this wait until next Sunday or does it need to be done this week?" Everything that must be done that week should have a plan for action. In this way, all of your paperwork and to-do's are in one, manageable place, and you only tackle the things that need to be tackled, without forgetting anything along the way. How Blogging Brings Clarity Once you start blogging regularly, you'll quickly realize that it can clarify what you're good at and what your readers respond to. Lisa quickly realized that she was constantly talking about organizing paperwork, and her audience really responded. A bonus of this is that Lisa ranks really high in Google for terms related to organizing paper because no one talks about it! People discuss going paperless or they simply pretend all that paper doesn't exist. Lisa has dug deep when it comes to organizing paper. Here's what she recommends: Gather up every piece of paper from your whole house. The papers on your nightstand. Your kids' art work, receipts...everything! Put it all into a laundry basket (or two!) Lisa says that people generally start with 2 full laundry baskets and by week 6-8 of organizing their paper they get their Sunday Basket down to a manageable size. Tackle a new paper challenge with Lisa each week. She'll walk you through all the different items you'll find in your basket: what to do with cash, projects, receipts, and more. Keep going. Lisa gets that no one wants to do paper! It's hard for her to get clients to do it even when she's standing right there with them! But if you can get a handle on the kitchen counter paperwork, you'll feel like Supermom! It's worth it! A Simple Method for Efficient Blogging When Lisa started blogging in January of 2012, all she knew was that she needed to be consistent, she needed to have a niche, and she needed to create content. She came up with the idea of a series in order to be consistent and help others get organized right along with her. The challenge is called: 40 Weeks, One Whole House. Lisa divided her house into 40 zones, and she tackled a different zone each week. The next year, Lisa did the challenge with her readers again, but this time she hired a professional photographer to take better photos of her work. The year after that, Lisa did the 40-week challenge again but this time she added a podcast so her readers could hear her talking as though she was right there with them helping them organize their homes.Lisa says it takes going through the challenge about 3 times to really make your home look great! Sarah and I both LOVED this genius strategy of creating awesome, helpful content but just adding a bit more each year. Lisa says there are only so many ways you can organize a laundry room. So rather than write 16 fluffy blog posts on the topic, she writes one killer post that motivates her readers to take action.Is there an insanely helpful series you can create for your readers and then repeat on your blog, year-after-year? Paying for Emails? This year, Lisa decided to offer her 40-week challenge as an email auto-responder series as an added help for her readers. The problem was, she was using Mailchimp, and when she received new participants, they could start at week 1, but they couldn't skip ahead and join the whole group of challengers if they wanted to.Lisa decided to switch to InfusionSoft which offers both options for a new subscriber. Then, no matter where someone signed up, everyone will be back at week 1 together the next Fall. Because Infusionsoft is quite expensive, Lisa knew she had to justify this expense. She charges a one-time fee of $40 for the 40-week email series. Once you pay for the series, you'll get it forever until you unsubscribe.Lisa knew if she could sell just 5-10 of these email subscriptions each month, that would pay for Infusionsoft. She's more than met that goal! She's not getting hundreds of sales, but the people who do sign up really love it. Everything they need for each week's challenge is all in one place, and they just click the link in their inbox. Bloggers can Sell on Etsy too! Lisa's not a handmade maven, but she does have a lot of digital products (and a physical one now too!) that she wanted to sell all in one place. Lisa decided to open an Etsy shop as the hub for her products.Her shop, Organize365, has been open since May of 2014 and she's had over 700 sales to date. Some of Lisa's products cost over $90 too! If you're a blogger struggling to create a beautiful storefront for your products, consider opening an Etsy shop and linking right to it from your blog. It's so easy to get started, and Etsy makes the shopper experience a bit more user-friendly and streamlined than many of the cheaper apps you could use on your own site. If you're a coach or expert in a given field, Etsy can be the perfect place to make more passive income. Lisa took all of her coaching and teaching knowledge and turned it into digital products. Not everyone can afford to use her as a coach, and not everyone lives close enough to have Lisa organize their home in person, but with digital products and Etsy, Lisa can serve her audience in more ways. Lisa's App Lisa is always looking for ways to better serve her audience and make life easier for them. In the Spring of 2015, she decided to have an app developed for her 40-week organizing challenge. Lisa paid $2,000 for the app and pays $50/month for hosting. Her app is available for both android and ios. Inside the app, Lisa's challengers can find the podcast and blog post related to that week's challenge without searching and without being distracted by all the other content on her site. The coolest thing about this app? Lisa can send out push notifications whenever she wants! She can tell people, "hey it's week four, tell me if you're going to sell or donate your items this week!" Their app will show a red circle to let them know there's something new to see. From the app, Lisa's challengers can link straight into her Facebook group and chat with each other. LIsa says, "it's so hard to organize your house by yourself. The community aspect really helps." How's the app going? Lisa says she has about 3,000 users right now, and they're equally split between android and ios. She's still not sure if the app itself will be a revenue generator or not. At this point, she doesn't charge for it. Right now, the app is just serving her current audience better and allowing her to connect with them in a new way. Lisa believes that all of the 3,000 users were people who were already on her email list or listening to her podcast. They haven't found her organically at this point, but the app has only been out for 6 weeks. We can't wait to see how the app continues to grow and serve her audience! What a cool idea! Lisa's Awesome Mom Moment When your teenage son respects what you do, you know you're on the right track! Tune in to hear what Lisa's son told her recently! Stay in Touch with Lisa! Lisa has created a special page just for Brilliant Business Moms Listeners. It has the Sunday basket printables to help you organize your week and a checklist for anyone interested in becoming a professional organizer.Head to Organize365.com/brilliant Other links mentioned in the episode: Our super secret freebies page for our email subscribers.
What if you could create beautiful photos... of 100 products...in minutes? No, you're not dreaming! Using Photoshop and Smart Objects makes it possible. Sarah Guillot has worked with these tools for years as a User Experience Architect (how cool does that job sound?!) and now she has her own side gig helping Mamapreneurs like you and me use Photoshop for business to make our lives easier and faster. On the Podcast 00:52 - Architecture for Users04:26 - Solving a Real Problem Inside a Make-Believe World08:57 - Not all Mock-ups are Made Equal14:02 - What Makes an Object Smart?24:12 - Photoshop Perks29:23 - Help for Photoshop Newbies31:44 - Silhouette Studio34:00 - Sunshine Sticker Co.38:24 - It's only a Season39:57 - The Most Requested Podcast (for 5-7 year-olds!) Architecture for Users In October of 2014, Sarah Guillot launched her first side gig. But she's still working full time during the day as a User Experience Architect (UX Architect for short) Essentially, Sarah helps big companies like Microsoft, Amazon, and GoDaddy figure out how to create the best possible experience for users traveling through their website. She works on user flows, wire frames (a demonstration of how a website will look and function) and works on landing pages to optimize them for sales or other conversions. Despite her brilliant day job and experience with the online world, Sarah says she had all sorts of fears that held her back when it came to starting her own business. There were so many unknowns she'd never dealt with before - getting a business license, figuring out taxes, and lots of other little details.Although friends have been raving about Sarah's crafty presents for years and encouraging her to open an Etsy shop, she didn't drum up the courage to do it until her kids came along. Sarah has two little girls, age 5 and 7 years old, and she knows how precious her time with them is. She wants more time at home with them and less time answering to a manager! In October of 2014 Sarah purchased an online course for writing and publishing e-books. She followed it step-by-step until she learned about marketing her book and getting reviews. Unfortunately, Sarah felt that the course creator was encouraging her to get reviews in a way she thought was unethical. So Sarah didn't have the huge book launch she wanted, but she did get her books out into the world. After that iffy experience, Sarah shifted directions and started making printables in the Fall of 2014. She thought it was the perfect time to jump on board since everyone would be buying Christmas printables to decorate their homes. Despite her best efforts, over the next six months Sarah wasn't getting much traction on her printable sales. The niche is so crowded already, and there are many beautiful ones available for free online. Sarah realized she'd have to drive a ton of traffic to her shop to really make a living selling printables. In the meantime, Sarah realized there was a big problem in her niche that she could solve! (Ever notice how the path to business success isn't always straight and smooth? Sometimes it takes a bit of trial and error to find the right niche, or a problem that demands a solution. Don't give up, Brilliant Business Mom!) Solving a Real Problem Inside a Make-Believe World When Sarah was setting up her printables shop, she used Photoshop to make mock-ups so she could quickly and easily show case her printables. Sarah quickly realized that there are many Etsy sellers in all sorts of field who can benefit from mock-ups to showcase their work in a realistic way. So What's a Mock-up? A mock-up means taking an image, such as a frame, mug, book, or t-shirt (often with beautiful props alongside it!) and putting your digital design right onto that image to show how your designs or creations will look in real life. Mock-ups are perfect for T-shirt designers or drinkware designers who don't want to do a photo shoot for every new design they create. They use their digital design (without even making the product) and place it onto the beautifully styled photography scene. Not all Mock-ups are Made Equal Sarah looked around at the styled stock photos currently available and realized there was a big gap for sellers who create more unique items. There aren't nearly as many mock-ups for products that don't go into a frame. Mason Jar Mug sellers, glass sellers, mug sellers, and other vinyl decal sellers didn't have as many beautiful photos to choose from, and if they did find a great photo, they weren't sure how to get their designs into the photo and have them look natural. One great way Sarah researched this niche and knew which problem to solve was by participating and listening in many Facebook groups. Sarah joined many groups for Etsy sellers and noticed that 5-10 people every day were asking about mock-ups. They'd wonder, "How do I make a mock-up? What are mock-ups good for? Who can find styled stock photos that fit my product?" Sarah began solving their problems and answering their questions by recording Youtube tutorial videos and posting them on her blog. Finally, Sarah created a Mock-up Design Essentials Course. The course has short videos that add up to about an hour of tutorials along with photoshop template files that have pre-styled scenes. The Differentiator Sarah differentiates herself from other styled stock photo sellers in two key ways. She offers tutorial videos so that a seller can turn any lovely stock photo into a smart object where their designs can be easily overlaid. So, they're empowered to be as creative and unique as they want to be! Sarah's templates all include smart objects, so the colors and placement of the objects in her scenes can be altered. You can't do this with a regular stock photo! What Makes an Object Smart? So... we're pretty sure these objects in photoshop don't have an IQ of 145. What makes them smart?A smart object turns a layer in Photoshop into something that can easily accept a new design element without changing its basic structure. (Sounds a little confusing, right?! It's easier to give an example than to talk about smart objects in theory.) Here we go! If you have a styled scene full of cute little desk accessories and you want to lay your printable (pretty piece of paper in digital form) on top of a desk, this is very tricky to do because the angle of the image will be quite different than your flat-rectangled printable. You'll have to stretch, tweak, and mess with Photoshop for a while to get your printable design to look just right laying on the desk in the photo. But that's not the case if you turn that piece of paper into a smart object. THEN, adding your printable design to the desk goes like this: Double click on the smart object layer in Photoshop A new tab will open up. You'll see a blank rectangle on this tab. You can past your printable design onto this rectangle. Hit save and close the tab. Your printable is automatically placed into the image on the table at exactly the right angle. No weird distortions necessary! Smart objects are perfect in this instance for two reasons. Not everyone knows how to stretch and distort the perspective of an image to make it look natural in a photo. Smart objects allow you to work much faster. You can take 100 of your fabulous designs and plug them into your beautiful styled photo scene in no time. Voila! 100 new listings are ready to go in your Etsy shop, and to your customer, they look just as they would if they were photographed in real life. An added benefit to using smart objects: You can also use one smart across multiple Photoshop files. So then, if that object needs to be changed, Photoshop will automatically change all the other files that include that object for you. Again, let's use an example so this makes more sense! If you're designing a website with a team of people and everyone is using the same header. (It's a smart object) Then one day someone says "we're going to change the header color" The team doesn't have to go in and edit 100 files that all include that header. They simply change the smart object for the header, and all the other files are automatically updated. (Is it just me or does that sound amazing?!) To create a smart object, take that layer you want to turn into a smart object and save it as a.psb (This is the extension for a smart object versus .psd which is the typical photoshop file extension.)Now, when that object is altered and saved, it's updated everywhere it's used. For more help, you can check out all of Sarah's free video tutorials right here. (If you're wondering if Adobe is worth the price, you should know that you can get a 1 month free trial, and after that you can get Photoshop and Lightroom for $10/month. We're not affiliates, we just use Adobe products regularly. Check out our interview with Kim VanSlambrook to hear how she uses Lightroom to save her loads of time when she takes real product photos.) Photoshop Perks So how does Photoshop stack up to the other great photo editing tools out there, like Canva and Picmonkey? Sarah hasn't used Picmonkey in a while, but Beth Anne says adding your own fonts is easy, and arranging transparent pngs to get the perfect graphic design is a cinch. Canva is great for typography. They have so many creative templates that you can plug your headlines into. They also have social media image sizes ready to go so you can save time. Photoshop has some unique features that you can't find anywhere else. For one thing, their color correction tools are powerful, and you can color correct just one aspect of your photo while leaving everything else the same. Working with layers in photoshop also means you can customize which aspect of your photo you edit, and you can shift layers around (like the png overlays I use in picmonkey). Photoshop has powerful editing tools for other aspects of a photo as well, such as smoothing out blemishes, adding shadows, or erasing something. Adobe products also work nicely together, so if you use Illustrator for graphic design, you can drag layers over into Photoshop for more editing. If you're not sold yet, Smart Objects will put you over the edge. No other photo editing tool on the market can so quickly and easily take your design and place it perfectly on the right object in a photo. Help for Photoshop Newbies Sarah Korhnak mentioned in the interview that she probably wouldn't give Photoshop a try, because it just seemed way too complicated, and Picmonkey works great for her! But... she may have been persuaded. Sarah Guillot says the beauty of Photoshop is that you don't have to know how to use every single feature in order to benefit from the program. Sarah's course teaches sellers just what they need to know. You can get started and save yourself tons of time while simply ignoring the 100 other tools that you don't need at the moment. For her course, Sarah focuses on helping sellers get their designs out the Silhouette program and into Photoshop, how to add those design to your smart object, and how to change colors, shift objects around in the mock-up scene. Silhouette Studio One of the most common groups of people who can benefit from Photoshop Mock-ups are those designers who use a Silhouette. What exactly is Silhouette, and what can it do? Silhouette Studio is the name of the design program that accompanies Silhouette printers. The Silhouette Cameo is a printer that can print 12 by 12 inch sheets of vinyl designs, stickers, or other items. The Silhouette Portrait is a smaller printer that can work with letter-sized sheets of material.Sarah says that Silhouette Studio tries to mimic Adobe a little bit. She says it's not too difficult to figure out the basics of designing with Silhouette, but even as an experienced designer she often turns to Youtube to learn a new trick! A Silhouette costs about $200 to $250 for the machine and a few tools to print designs. Sunshine Sticker Co. One of the things we love about Brilliant Business Moms are the genuine friendships we make with brilliant women who are growing businesses. Our private Facebook group is such a positive, encouraging place, and for many women, it can be a jumping off point for developing their own masterminds or partnerships. Sarah Guillot and Ashley Monda met through our private Facebook group and teamed up with a few other women to form a Mastermind. They hold weekly Google Hangouts to encourage each other. When Sarah came up with her idea to help Etsy sellers with photography mock-ups, she turned to Ashley for feedback, because Ashley uses her Silhouette often to make party supplies. After getting to know each other well, they both came up with the idea to get into the planner sticker market. (Planner stickers are huge these days!) Sarah could bring her design skills to the table, and Ashley could print and ship the stickers. The more these ladies researched their new idea, the more excited they got. They got together on Google hangout and said, "Wait... are we really going to do this?" The answer...."Yes!" Sarah and Ashley have never met in person, but their planner sticker business, Sunshine Sticker Co. has already launched! Sarah says she already knew Ashley well and developed a friendship with her. She knows all about her family, her business, and she knew Ashley had a great work ethic. They both live in Washington state, so in-person meetings are possible down the road. We're so excited for Ashley and Sarah and can't wait to see how their business grows! It's only a Season Sarah is in an interesting place right now when it comes to combining business and motherhood. She's still working full-time, and she's also working like crazy to grow her new businesses. She doesn't want to work 40 hours a week for someone else forever, but.... right now she's working 80 hours per week trying to grow her biz and work her day job! Sarah is often up past midnight working hard on her business. She says it's a lot of juggling, and some days it just feels like way too much to take on. But Sarah is keeping the end goal in mind. It's just a season, and working 80 hours per week isn't the way her life will run forever. (You got this, Sarah! We can't wait to see you kiss that day job goodbye!) Sarah with her adorable family. The Preferred Podcast for 5-7 Year-Olds! This funny mom moment made our day! Sarah says she listens to a lot of podcasts while she drives her girls to school. Among her favorites are Pat Flynn, Flipped Lifestyle, and Brilliant Business Moms. She didn't realize how much her girls were paying attention to what was said until one of them asked if she could start a business someday. Sarah said, "Sure!" Here comes the best part: Sarah turned on Pat Flynn one day and her daughter said, "I want to listen to that other podcast ..you know ..the mom podcast!" Pat Flynn, we love you, but apparently Brilliant Business Moms is a little more popular among the elementary school crowd :) (Pssst - that's not the first time we've been requested by little kiddos. Cheri Tracy's girls love us too. How fun!) Stay in Touch with Sarah! SarahDesign.comInstagram: @SarahDesignMockupsSunshineStickerCo.comInstagram: @SunshineStickerCo
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