Podcast appearances and mentions of melanie duncan

Join host Gary Lipovetsky, the renowned serial entrepreneur, business partner, and husband to social media celebrity Valeria Lipovetsky, in this captivating podcast "RISE, Life Stories of Accomplished Individuals". Gary not only delves deep into the lives of notable figures to extract their fascinating origin stories and the hurdles they faced, but he also meticulously draws out the specific knowledge and expertise they hold in their respective fields. Through in-depth interviews, Gary unravels the secrets to their achievements and highlights the value of their unique experiences and insights. Tune in to gain invaluable wisdom from these remarkable individuals and be inspired to reach new heights of success.Welcome to our latest episode of RISE where we dive deep into the world of entrepreneurship with the remarkable Melanie Duncan! Join us as we embark on an insightful journey with Melanie Duncan, a seasoned entrepreneur, business strategist, and advocate for women in business, as she shares her invaluable wisdom and experiences. Get to know Melanie Duncan and her inspiring entrepreneurial journey, including the rise of Truvani and its journey into the retail market. Discover Melanie's vision for the future of Truvani and its impact on the health and wellness industry. Gain insights into effective brand marketing strategies from Melanie's expertise and the delicate balance of being a mother and a successful entrepreneur, as well as the dynamics of working with a spouse in the business realm and the secrets to success. Explore the strategies and considerations behind expanding a business into mainstream retail markets. Tune in to gain valuable insights, practical tips, and inspiration from Melanie Duncan's wealth of entrepreneurial knowledge! Gary Lipovetsky: https://www.instagram.com/garylipovetsky/Melanie Duncan: https://www.instagram.com/melanieduncan77/

Isaac, Macca and Paul talk to Melanie Duncan from ISANA: International Education Association in the studio and on the phone they spoke to Molina Asthana, National President, Asian Australian Lawyers... LEARN MORE The post Saturday 15th July, 2023, Isaac Chong; International Students Facing Reduced Working Hours with Melanie Duncan and Molina Asthana appeared first on Saturday Magazine.

Real life update from me. First, I wanna say thank you for continuing to listen to this podcast, showing up in my community, emailing me, and all the things. This whole "put yourself out there and help people thing" can be nerve-wracking, but I'm so grateful for your support! I also have received a ton of inquiries from designers who didn't know if Conversion Design School™ was for them, and who just wanted to work with me privately - so if you're interested, send me a DM on Instagram over @melissaburkheimer. Slowing Down + Integrating I've been promoting, creating content, delivering, updating, coaching, researching and doing all the things for this new program I created called Conversion Design School™. So pretty much a non-stop hustle mode since October of last year, and I'm taking this week and February to slow down, finish sales pages I'm working on, mentor the students in Conversion Design School™ and those in my VIP mastermind, teach a few college classes, update my website, and explore who my next hire should be. And yes, for me that is slowing down. :) I'm also going to the gym more, sleeping more, writing down my goals every day, meditating, slow walking with Andy, seeing my chiropractor, and making my mind and body a major priority this year. We received some sad news in my family, which prompted me to get my butt in gear. I'm not going to talk about it on the podcast I decided but if you're curious, send me a DM on Instagram and I'm happy to talk about it. And as Kate Northrup says, Body first, Business second. I've been connecting with designers all over the world these last few months on my Designer Business Classes, in my FB group, and via Instagram DM. Most of the classes I teach like that are live, so it's a joy to actually talk to designers live and hear their stories and help them get to the next level. One question that stood out to me in a conversation in my free community was about choosing a direction, and then feeling guilty for choosing one and not acknowledging the other things you want to do. How I created Conversion Design School™ (The Story + Timeline) I've also been getting a lot of questions about how I got the idea and then created Conversion Design School™, and I thought I'd share how it started, and how you can choose a new business direction and bring it to life. After 2 years of freelance designing for pretty much anyone locally who would pay me, I came across a webinar someone Tweeted that Amy Porterfield was hosting. I signed up. That next year (it was 2013) I bought from peeps like Melanie Duncan, Amy Porterfield, Marie Forleo, Erika Lyremark and Elizabeth DiAlto because I was totally fascinated with how they marketed themselves. Amy Porterfield's program was a FB Marketing Lab, and she liked my FB page. I thought I was sooooo cool, so I shared a photo of her liking my page on social media. A dude named Sean Malarkey liked that photo. I sent a FB friend request with no other intention. Fast forward about 6 months, he posted on FB that he needed a graphic designer. I raised my hand, and got 1 of 2 available gigs. That gig was a sales page for Amy Porterfield's FBInfluence. Sean was behind-the-scenes of people like Amy Porterfield, Lewis Howes and James Wedmore in launching their courses back in the early 2010's. Two months later, James Wedmore hired me to help him with sales pages when I raised my hand for a hot seat on one of the coaching calls in a monthly membership program he had. My problem for the hot seat: “I'm working with clients who pay me when they need work, but now I'm working on this sales page. Should I fire my other clients?" I was then referred to everyone in James's rolodex, and then he hired me to manage his launches. I didn't know project management was a skill (I thought everyone wanted to plan their life on Friday nights. It turns out they don't.) With no marketing and no sales page for my new sales page design service, I stayed busy doing sales pages. My clients loved me because my designs were beautiful but also focused on getting the conversion, fitting into the customer journey, because I did what I said I was going to. I made their life easy. Managing launches and creating sales pages came naturally to me, and I realized that thought leaders like James and Amy were hella focused on seeing success with their launches, not stressing about their brand design. Fast forward to 2019, I was running my own launches, mentoring designers, and had launched a podcast for designers. When I was interviewed on another podcast for designers in February 2019, it ended up being all about conversion design, and that's when I knew I had to create a program showing businesses how to build designs focuses on data, customer experience, the conversion and top-notch UX. People begged me for years to create a sales page course, but I refused because I knew I couldn't just teach about sales page design. Conversion Design School™ was created as a result of that podcast, my experience, people begging me for a course, and me interviewing Erika Lyremark on my podcast. Erika came on my podcast cause I was invited to pitch someone for a branding project who had been on The Oprah Show. I didn't get that gig. I finished Erika's program on September 13, 2019, launched Conversion Design School™ in October 2019, and the rest is history. Funny thing, while I was building/launching Conversion Design School™, Sean came back to me 6 years later and asked me to build him another sales page. Throughout this last year I've gotten really clear about what direction I want to take, and it's taken years of practice, yucky clients, amazing clients, projects that wow'ed, and commitment to get here. When you know which direction you want to take, it's easy to choose your next step. Pivot to January 2020. I was tagged in a post in a local FB group for marketers for a freelance design project. I was the first one tagged - and sent over a proposal, despite it being completely out of scope for what I WANT to do. And, in the inquiry process, the client (which is a credit union) mentioned several times they had a limited budget. (Eye roll.) I did not get the project. Just another sign that I'm going in the right direction, and the higher powers (whatever you believe) took care of it for me. Decide what you want. It will come your way. Here are 5 things you can do to jumpstart your design business and pick your new direction today. 1. Make a list of ALL the things you want to do. Everything. Just put it somewhere so it's written down and out of your brain. Circle the top 3-5 that seem doable or are in your heart. Then, narrow it down again. You may need to take a break during this process. And that's okay. Pick 1-2. 2. Declutter your life as much as possible. Clean up your computer files. Google Drive. Your closet. Your fridge. Your entry way. Your desk. Your car. Everything. You may be wondering why. Every mindset course I've ever taken (there are a lot) has you declutter as a first step for every level of clear growth. We're just creating space for new awesomeness in your life. 3. Create a plan to start this new thing. Give yourself plenty of time to get it done. It took me 9 or so months to actually birth Conversion Design School™, and I'll probably be working on selling it a lot this year. I like to give myself 90 days to complete a new goal. Break it down into 4 phases: 1. Offer creation 2. Offer testing 3. Offer delivery/feedback 4. Offer update Decide if you need to hire someone to help you. I took Erika Lyremark's TripleXpert program in late fall of 2019, and I'm in it again to create a new offer. I have a lot of students in Conversion Design School™ not sure how to choose a direction, so I added a bonus call with me today to help them choose. If you want extra support from me, send me a DM and we can talk about a few opportunities available for us to work together. 4. Take some time to debrief or as my friend Sage Polaris says, integrate. This week I'm measuring my results from my last Conversion Design School™ promo to see the best strategy for launching it again. One thing I know for sure is that it's going to be huge, but I want my next promo to be more spacious. And again, if you wanted to explore working with me privately this year, and if you're interested, send me a DM on Instagram over @melissaburkheimer. And if you wanna be brave, send me a DM on Instagram over at Melissa Burkheimer and tell me what you learned from this episode or even just what your new direction is! I'm rooting for you!  

Comparison of 4 Different Mentoring Membership Type of Programs for Online Entrepreneurs : 1) DM by Ryan Deiss 2) Business Class by Melanie Duncan 3) SMU by Rachel Pedersen & 4) TBL by Kimberly Ann J

You may *think* it could be de-motivating to listen to a mama who’s already built her (Insta-perfect) multimillion-dollar empires to baller status. Let me assure you: It’s anything BUT. If you’re anything like me, listening to this episode will light a FIRE under your booty bum, empowering you to take a step back and CHOOSE to design a business that truly supports the lifestyle you want for yourself and your family. It’s a must-listen, all the way to the end. ENJOY! SHOW NOTES: www.naptimeempires.com FB GROUP: www.naptimeempires.com/facebook  

You may *think* it could be de-motivating to listen to a mama who's already built her (Insta-perfect) multimillion-dollar empires to baller status. Let me assure you: It's anything BUT. If you're anything like me, listening to this episode will light a FIRE under your booty bum, empowering you to take a step back and CHOOSE to design a business that truly supports the lifestyle you want for yourself and your family. It's a must-listen, all the way to the end. ENJOY! SHOW NOTES: www.naptimeempires.com/016 INSTA: http://instagram.com/nikkielledgebrown FB GROUP: http://naptimeempires.com/facebook   MUSIC: "So Far So Close" by Jahzzar is licensed under an Attribution-ShareAlike License.Would you like to deliver your own private podcast feed to your audience? Sign up for a free trial today at Hello Audio.

Routines, Nannies, and letting go while still working hard with Melanie Duncan. In this episode of the Boss Mom Podcast, Melanie and Dana explore what it looks like to start a business and grow multi-million dollar companies. Sponsored by the delicious Prep Dish!   Subscribe to the podcast in iTunes:  In this episode you’ll hear: How Melanie started her businesses before her baby was born. Making strategic choices while pregnant and preparing for the baby. Prioritizing a business with having babies. Working after becoming a mother. Transitioning in business. Melanie's tips with handling overwhelm. Motivation from Melanie. Our Podcast Sponsor: Prepdish.com is a subscription based meal prep service. The creator of PrepDish, Allison, is a chef, nutritionist and registered dietitian. There are two options for meals, gluten free and paleo. When you sign up, you’ll receive an email every week with a grocery list and instructions for prepping your meals ahead of time. After only 2 hours of prepping on the weekend, you’ll have all of your meals ready for the entire week. You’ll save time and have amazingly delicious meals like Smoky Paprika Chicken Legs with Roasted Carrots, Parsnips & Fennel or Turkey & Zucchini Lasagna. And, Allison is offering listeners a free 2-week trial to all Boss Moms. You can’t beat that. Check out PrepDish.com/bossmom for this amazing deal! For the free 2-week trial, use code Bossmom. Recommended links and resources: Boss Mom Facebook Community Bringing up Bebe Luxury Monograms Amy Porterfield Marie Forleo Derek Halpern Tone It Up 5 Minute Journal Can I quote you on that?  I wish I would have planned for my pregnancy more in my business. - Melanie I am making strategic choices for what I want my business to look like. - Melanie My daughter, as a baby, is not going to remember if I change every single poopy diaper. I don't think as a mom, you should ever feel guilty about taking time to take care of yourself! - Melanie 80% of the profits in our business are probably coming from 20% of our work. - Melanie I created the programs I wished I had when I got started in entrepreneurship. - Melanie In building a brand, I had to realize how to foster relationships and trust in people. - Melanie The brand showcases all the things I can do because I've built my business. - Melanie It's important to surround yourself with people doing bigger and better things in life. - Melanie What are the core things in my business? If I stray from those, I will experience overwhelm. - Melanie Give yourself grace and gratitude at the beginning and end of the day. - Dana It's good to have something specific in life and business to keep you motivated. - Melanie Give yourself grace as both a mother and an entrepreneur, and know that's enough. - Melanie More about our guest, Melanie Duncan. Melanie Duncan's diverse and comprehensive background is what sets her apart and provides a solid foundation in all that she do. Over the last several years, she have started multi-million dollar businesses in a variety of industries from fashion and home decor to online education. Because of this she is able to guide entrepreneurs towards growth in all kinds of industries from a place of practical, real life experience - and get people BIG results. To find out more about Melanie, visit her website. Website / Facebook / Twitter / Instagram Connect with Dana: Instagram / The Boss Mom Facebook community (her total happy place) We love hearing from you guys! If you’ve got a question about today’s episode or want to leave us some inbox love, you can email us at hello@boss-mom.com Or, you can always find both Dana hanging out in our Boss Mom Facebook Community.  We would LOVE it if you’d leave a podcast rating or review on iTunes. We also know it can be kind of tricky to figure out. Here are a few step by step instructions on how to leave an iTunes rating or review for a podcast from your iPhone or iPad Launch Apple’s Podcast app. Tap the Search tab. Enter the name of the podcast you want to rate or review. Tap the blue Search key at the bottom right. Tap the album art for the podcast. Tap the Reviews tab. Tap Write a Review at the bottom. Enter your iTunes password to login. Tap the Stars to leave a rating. Enter title text and content to leave a review. Tap Send.

Tara jams this week with Melanie Duncan, a serial entrepreneur with a variety of businesses from apparel to customized home decor. Melanie now runs a multiple seven-figure empire with her husband Devin, and they live the ‘work from wherever’ lifestyle that so many dream of. Melanie has also translated her passion and experience into her […] The post Episode 049 – Structuring Life & Business for Success with Melanie Duncan appeared first on What Works.

Chris Evans, cofounder of Traffic and Funnels. Surrounded by incredible entrepreneurs, Chris decided that it was his time to build a success empire. His business Traffic and Funnels has taken a smart approach to business: They have focused on their strengths to get revenue, and now they are ready to expand. Famous Five: Favorite Book? – King Icahn What CEO do you follow? — Trump and Zuckerberg Favorite online tool? — Slack Do you get 8 hours of sleep? — Yes If you could let your 20 year old self know one thing, what would it be? – Find and invest in a mentor Time Stamped Show Notes: 01:35 – Nathan introduces Chris 01:55 – Chris worked with a lot of amazing entrepreneurs and decided to build his own empire 02:40 – He helps experts built client acquisition systems 03:00 – 1 $5500 product, and an upsell 03:25 – Traffic and Funnels is a slick website 03:40 – The numbers 03:50 -- $660000 in revenue for 2016 so far 04:30 – The problem with paid marketing 04:50 – Understanding the market and validating the product 05:15 – The biggest mistake is not understanding that market. 05:40 – The higher value products had a larger margin for error 06:00 – Cost to acquire a client is $400 to $700 06:15 – Solid revenue goals 06:40 – Advice for the info-product space 07:00 – Have clarity 07:30 – You need a target and a specialization 07:50 – Track your numbers and know what you need to break even 08:00 – How do you think about stages for scaling? 08:25 – The revenue must keep up with the spending. 08:50 – Know your business model and your plan. 09:10 – Work your way backwards. 09:25 – Take out any emotion. 09:45 – An evergreen business 10:00 – A launch-style business is more stressful up front 10:20 – You have to be smart and build credibility. 10:50 – Why this model? 11:10 – To build up a kiddy and launch their own evergreen info product 11:35 – Starting with their biggest strength 11:45 – Building stability and growing 12:10 – Taking on more employees does not scare him. 12:30 – They can get through adversity. 12:44 – Go to trafficandfunnels.com and Facebook.com/chrisaevans 14:55 – The Famous Five 3 Key Points: Start with your biggest strength until your business has stability. Create a plan and work your way backwards. Understand the market and validate your product. Resources Mentioned: Host Gator – The site Nathan uses to buy his domain names and hosting for cheapest price possible. Freshbooks - The site Nathan uses to manage his invoices and accounts. Leadpages – The drag and drop tool Nathan uses to quickly create his webinar landing pages which convert at 35%+ Audible – Nathan uses Audible when he's driving from Austin to San Antonio (1.5 hour drive) to listen to audio books. King Ichahn - Chris’ favorite business book Slack – Chris’ favorite online tool Toptal – Great for people to get access to software developers Show Notes provided by Mallard Creatives

When it comes to creating sales pages, does it ever make you feel like you are back in school muddling through your worst subject (for me, math!)? Today we are back in class, but lucky for me, I’ve got the teacher of the year (and also my dear friend) Melanie Duncan leading the way. Today, you will learn the five elements that MUST be included in all sales pages. These will guide you through creating the right copy, attracting the right audience and most important, converting these leads into sales. Before we get too far, I want to tell you about the incredible freebie I have for you on this. I’m sharing actual screengrabs from my most successful sales pages—a show and tell kind of guide you can use to create your own sales pages. Get that cheat sheet here. EPISODE FREEBIE Get Amy's Free Personal Tips: Dissecting the Science of What Makes a Brilliant Sales Page FREE DOWNLOAD Your sales page should showcase the value in your product and take your buyers on a journey. You want every single word and every single image to resonate with your perfect ideal customer. With the five elements Melanie and I lay out for you here, you can create a template that will guide you through the process. Here are some of the questions we are going to dive into: What is the most crucial part of any sales page? Do I know what imagery will compel my audience to buy? What types of testimonials do I need to curate? What are my product’s benefits and features? How long should my sales page be? Remember, you’re not going to create a new sales page in one sitting, but I promise if you take the time to create your template using this formula, you will get outstanding results and never again will feel stuck creating your sales pages. Let’s do this!

As you are building up your business and starting to see some solid success, sooner or later you're going to arrive at a certain point. A point where you, as the founder, brand visionary and chief hustler, cannot do everything alone. This is the moment where you need to hire some people. Not just anyone will do, of course. You need to build out a dream team inside of your business so that you can spend more time in your areas of genius, the areas that you really excel, the areas that you love to spend time in where your skill set is the strongest, so that you can make a bigger impact for your audience and on your bottom line. There is nobody I know who is better at this dream team creation thing than my friend Melanie Duncan. The first thing you should know about Melanie is that she runs a multiple-seven figure empire. In other words, she's an authority on this whole online entrepreneurship thing. The second thing you should know is that the ways she's developed her business are, in large part, the result of her amazing hiring system. She has a process for hiring that is extremely unique--it takes quite a lot of effort and focus, but it's allowed her to find amazing people that are the perfect fit to support her business. And let's be honest, when you love the people you work with, everything seems flow a whole lot better on all fronts. But what's even more to the point is how her hiring system has also changed her perspective on hiring. I’ve seen her go through the transition of hating to hire to absolutely loving the hiring process. And as we all know, loving an IMPORTANT process you used to hate is a cornerstone of achieving the success you want. If you're ready to dive into Melanie's amazing system, click here to listen to the full episode now. Below, I've got the bullet-point version to get you primed for what you're about to learn. Make a Dream Team List The first place to start is identifying what you need/want help with. Melanie says not to start with your limitations--instead, imagine what positions you'd create and fill if money, time and managing were no objection. "One of the harsh realities of being a business owner is you end up doing a lot of the work that you really don’t want to do. And just because you can be doing everything in your business doesn’t mean you should be doing everything." Create a Revenue Goal This anchors your hiring to a concrete need for your business. Your revenue goal lets you know what you need from the new position, how soon you need it, and how much you can invest into it up front. "A lot of times the growth of your business is correlated to adding more people to your team. A lot of times your business will grow as you grow your team because it starts opening up more bandwidth for you to be focusing on the things that only you can do and really excelling at them." Hire with a Sales Page When you're looking for top-level talent, you need to create a top-level advertisement to attract them to the position. Melanie's "help wanted" ads are as beautiful, polished and persuasive as any sales page she creates for her products and services. This is what draws the right people to apply for her dream team. Hire to Fit It sounds elementary, but you really need to find the right person with the right skills and the right attitude for your position. In other words, you can't simply hire an amazing person and adapt them to the role. An exceptional person in the wrong position will only end up frustrated...and so will you. By contrast, when you take the extra time and make the hard decisions, it pays off like you wouldn't believe. "When you get the right people in the right positions incredible things are possible." Wondering how long the process should take? Cringing at the thought of sifting through resumes? Want to know how to spot a truly stand-out candidate from the crowd? Get all of Melanie's detailed insight on how to hire people for your dream team. Click here to listen to the full episode now!

Melanie started her first multimillion-dollar business in college and has launched and run several more since then… and in the midst of it all, she travels the world and works from wherever she wants!

Melanie is known for starting online businesses that allow her to live wherever she wants, work as much or as little as she pleases, and actually make money.

On this episode of the Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast, the focus is how to streamline the planning phase of your business so that you get all your goals set so that you’ll be ready for the New Year. If you do so, you can hit the ground running and get your year off to a great start! As I was planning this episode, I started to wonder how other people -- specifically the people I admire who are getting big results in their online marketing businesses -- actually get things done and how they plan and set their goals. Instead of just wonder, I reached out and asked them! Specifically, I asked Michael Hyatt, Pat Flynn, Melanie Duncan, Chris Ducker and Michael Stelzner how they plan for the New Year. Take the Time to Focus on Your Business During this episode, I want you to take this time to really focus on your business. My hope for you is that you actually take these tips and strategies and put them to action right away. Goal Setting Tip #1: Get Very Specific Before I get into the specifics of getting very specific, I want you to do a quick exercise. First, grab a piece of paper and fold it in half. What Worked in Your Business? On one half of the paper, write what was great or what worked well for you this year. What got you excited? What did you love doing? What did your customers love? What made you money? Get really clear on what worked, what didn’t, and what you really enjoyed. This is important because the emotions behind the work you do play a big part in your success. Before you even you even think about writing down goals for new things you want to do, first focus on enhancing, improving, and optimizing what already worked for you this year. What I personally realized when I did this exercise is that I need to focus more on what is already working. For example, I already have three successful programs, so instead of creating more programs, I’m going to focus on making the programs I already have even better. What Didn’t Work in Your Business? On the other half of the paper, write what needs to improve or what didn’t work. What were the failures? (We all have them!) What frustrated you or stopped you from moving forward? What should you stop doing? It can be just as important to think about what you need to stop doing as it is to plan for what you want to accomplish. As an example, I plan to travel and speak less in 2014 than I did in 2013, because I ended up being away from my family more than I wanted to this year and also found it hard to accomplish some of my more important goals since I was on the go so much. Set Your Goals Once you’ve done the above exercise, it’s time to set your goals! Here’s an important goal-setting tip for you: fit all of your goals onto one page. If you write pages and pages of goals, you’ll be overwhelmed, and you won’t likely focus on all of them anyway, so keep your goals simple and concise. Here’s what to include on one-page goal setting sheet 1. Revenue projections The first thing on my list is all of my revenue projects, specifically how much money I’m going to make, and where that money is coming from. While it may seem like revenue shouldn’t be the top goal, my good friend, Stu McLaren helped change my perspective on making money. He says, “Money is a leverage tool for impacting more lives than we could ever reach on a personal level.” I love that, because not only is it important to make money to provide for my own family, this perspective gives me a higher purpose for making money. Since this is a top priority for a business, it’s important to not only list how much money you plan to make, but to also project how you plan to accomplish that goal. As an example, for myself personally, I’ve planned out income funnels such as what I’ll make through my programs, through affiliate partnerships, etc. and I have funnels set up inside of Infusionsoft that sends information about my programs in a strategic way to the people on my email list. Being strategic in this way helps me know how most of my income will be generated. If your business is newer, you may not be able to project the source of your income as well. I couldn’t have done it myself two years ago. But at the very least you can set some revenue goals for different programs, products and services you have. 2. Contributions In addition to setting revenue goals, it’s important to set goals for the contributions you want to make. For instance, you may set a goal to contribute a certain amount to charity. That’s something I was able to do in a big way for the first time this year. It felt really good to do it and I definitely want to do it in an even bigger way next year. Another way I want to contribute is to connect more with my customers, prospects, past customers, and peers -- people that I connect with on a regular basis but don’t typically see in real life. So one thing my team is doing is starting a thank-you card a day campaign. We’re also going to be focused on doing things to wow our customers in unexpected ways. For instance, we may send flowers, or I may on occasion pick up the phone and call someone. And of course I plan to give a lot in terms of the free content I put out on a regular basis. So be sure to take the time to think about contributions you want to make, whether that be in a financial sense, or through giving in other ways. 3. My Special Focus It’s easy to run so many different directions in your business that you fail to accomplish the most important things. Because of this, I actually put, “Podcast Perfection” on my one-page goal sheet. The reason I chose this is because I’ve completed a full year of podcasting and I LOVE it, but I haven’t focused on it as much as I’d like, so I’m going to make it a big focus in the New Year. Having a separate section for my podcast on my goal planning sheet helps me to focus on planning goals that are specific to my podcast and figuring out how I’m going to reach those goals. So think about the big area you want to focus on it and include a section on your goal planning sheet for that specific thing. 4. Focused Foundation Strategies This is where I’m most specific. For instance, one thing on the Focused Foundation Strategies section of my goal planning sheet is to send out an email to my list every Thursday, and I’ve even blocked out time on my calendar for writing all of the emails for each month. I’ve also planned out the rest of my content, including everything from blog posts to program updates in a similar way, again blocking out time on my calendar to make sure it happens. Now here’s a goal planning tip from one of our special guests, Pat Flynn Write it down, break it down, take it down. Pat’s goal planning tip consists of three simple sentences: 1. Write it down. Write down your goals. When you write them down, your goals become clearer and you have something specific to work toward. In addition to this, when you write your goals down, you have something you can visibly see. 2. Break it down. Take each big goal you’ve written down and break them into mini-goals. Big goals can be intimidating which leads to procrastination. But when you break them into mini-goals, they are much easier to accomplish. 3. Take it down. Take those mini-goals you’ve written and crush them. Take them down, one by one! Goal Setting Tip #2: Stack Your Goals What I mean by stacking your goals is to create your big picture goals and then create a stack of mini goals that will get you to your big goals. What I need to do from there, there's a little bit more work that needs to be done, I need to stack my goals, make those mini-goals so they'll lead up to the big goals. For example, if I have a big goal of growing my email list by 50,000 in a year, I need to have some mini-goals such as webinars for list building to reach that goal. I have some more help with this tip, because the idea of these mini goals seem to be a hot topic with my special guests. Now a goal-planning tip from another one of my special guests, Chris Ducker. Focus on one goal at a time. Chris’ tip is shared in story form and is all about his own experience as someone who went from working 12-14 hours per day in 2009 to becoming a virtual CEO. He did this through focusing on one big thing that he wanted to let go of at a time, with a different focus each month For instance, the in January 2010, he focused on getting his email under control, and handled by someone other than himself. In February he started hiring people to replace himself in various areas. In March he worked on getting himself off the training floor, and so on. In his own words, Chris states, “My tip here, really, above and beyond everything else is to set that big goal up for the whole year. What it is, it doesn't really matter. It could be starting a new business, it could be launching a speaking career, it could be producing a new product for a new service for your following online. It doesn't really matter. But create that one big goal and start breaking it down into mini-goals that you then achieve on a regular basis as the year goes by. It will make you feel good, it will make you feel as if you're achieving something every month, every quarter, whatever the case may be, and ultimately you should go ahead and achieve that main goal over the year as well.” While Chris didn’t use the word, “stacking,” he’s definitely a fan of the stacking effect where you stack mini-goals to reach the big picture goal. You might want to try coming up with one epic goal for the year and then creating 12 mini-goals to reach the big goal, and focus on one of the smaller goals each month. Bonus Tip: Be Very Protective of Your Time! I want you to get very deliberate on how you spend your time. Everyone I know that's highly successful, including all of these special guests I have on the show today, are very deliberate about how they spend their time. I can promise you that many of them say no more often than they say "yes." Being protective of your time will help you reach the big scary goals you’ve set. My next guest, Melanie Duncan provides great insight on the topic of setting big scary goals, and the three types of goals everyone should set. Melanie starts off by stating that most goal setting books and audios will tell you to set super ambitious goals, and the problem with that is that when you wake up the next morning and look at them, it’s very intimidating. Because of this, it’s better to set smaller goals and you’ll feel motivated to tackle them. Melanie has learned that when she accomplishes the smaller goals, she feels fantastic and motivated to then tackle bigger things. A mutual friend of both me and Melanie, James Wedmore says you should set a goal that you’ll hit no matter what, a more challenging, but very doable goal, and a “hairy scary” goal that is way out there. You’re bound to accomplish at least one of the goals, and feel good about it, even if you don’t manage to accomplish the most difficult one. An important thing that Melanie touched on is the emotions behind the goal. You have to consider how your goals make you feel, because your emotions impact your ability to accomplish the goal. One thing I personally love doing is picking a word or theme for the year. Mari Smith does this every year. This year, instead of picking a single word, I picked a phrase, “Work less, contribute more.” This is actually a goal of my entire team. We’re going to accomplish this by working smarter and more efficiently. Speaking of a word or a theme for the new year, Mike Stelzner and his personal planning tip for this episode, takes this to a new level. His tip has to do with coming up with a company vision statement. Your vision statement can include things that aren’t yet true, but that you are working toward. That was the case for Mike’s company, Social Media Examiner, when they wrote the vision statement a year ago, but today, he can say with confidence that they’ve grown into their vision statement. Mike has the vision statement taped on the wall in his office, so he sees it every time he sits at his desk. He advises that you keep your vision statement simple and just a couple of sentences long. I love the way that Mike created a vision statement that pushed him beyond his comfort zone. Since we’re on the topic of comfort zone, I thought I would end this episode with Michael Hyatt's strategy for goal setting and his thoughts about moving out of your comfort zone. This one will really push you in ways that will make you uncomfortable, but will set you up to win. Michael states that you should set your goals outside of your comfort zone because that is where real growth begins, where solutions are, and where fulfillment resides. The trick is to make sure your goals are set high enough, but not too high. Michael suggests taking note of these three indicators to help you know that you’re on the right track: 1. Uncertainty. It’s good to be a little uncertain about how you’re going to accomplish the goal. Embrace that uncertainty, rather than running from it. 2. Fear. Most people avoid fear, and that was the case for Michael as well for a great deal of his life. But fear is an indicator that you’re getting close, and let’s you know you’re heading in the right direction. 3. A sense of inadequacy. In most cases when Michael pursues a goal that he just knows he has to achieve, he feels inadequate. This is going to be the case for anyone who is out to accomplish anything of significance. After hearing Michael’s tip, I actually had to rework some of my goals because I was playing it a little too safe. Thank you! A big thank you to all of my special guests for contributing to this episode. This episode just wouldn't have been the same without him, so big shout out to all of you. Thank you so much for taking the time to send in your goal setting and planning tips. My Gift to You The number one thing that I want to accomplish through this podcast episode is for you to be motivated to take action and set goals for the coming year. To help with this, I created a Goal Planning Worksheet just for you. Click here to download the worksheet!

  Pinterest is the 4th largest traffic driver worldwide and Melanie Duncan claims if you apply what she teaches you can get a large chunk of that traffic. On this episode entrepreneuress Melanie shares the basics of Pinterest, so if you’ve  not harnessed its power yet you’ll soon be ready to get started, plus for […]

Melanie Duncan is the founder of Entrepreneuress Academy, she manages her two e-commerce businesses CustomGreekThreads.com and LuxuryMonograms.com. Her journey as an entrepreneur began when she was in college and since then has created three businesses that make seven figures and each continue to thrive online. Melanie's businesses have been featured in Inc, Today Show, MSN and more. In this episode of Entrepreneur 2.0 you will learn: How to create a successful 7-figure business at any age Why creating a "hook" is important and how you can create one The beauty of creating courses and how you can create one of your own How to become the go-to expert in your field And lots more...

On this episode of the Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast, I interviewed Melanie Duncan, the creator of the extremely popular online training program, Power of Pinning. Melanie is also the owner of Luxury Monograms and CustomGreekThreads, both online businesses for physical products. So she has a great mix of experience and knowledge using Pinterest to promote an online training program, like many of you have listening now, as well as using Pinterest to promote physical products. For this show I asked Melanie to focus on how to use Pinterest for lead generation in addition to using it to increase web traffic. If you are a coach, consultant, author, speaker, or a service professional (such as a local marketer or social media manager), then this episode will be extremely valuable to you. In this episode, here’s what we’ll cover: The secret to the success of Melanie's program, The Power Of Pinning How to best use multiple Pinterest accounts The advantages that service providers have on Pinterest over those who sell physical products The importance of the first two rows on your Pinterest page and how to use them effectively How to use "teaser images" to increase traffic and build your list Why using tall images is important and how to bring even more attention to them How to change a personal Pinterest page to a business page and the advantages of doing so The biggest mistakes that online marketers make on Pinterest and how to overcome them What ONE action you should take in the next 24 hours in order to increase your effectiveness on Pinterest And so much more!

Do you use Pinterest for business? Are you wondering how Pinterest can help your business drive more traffic to your website or blog? In this episode, I interview Melanie Duncan, owner of Luxury Monograms and CustomGreekThreads. She also does online training for business owners and spends a lot of time focusing on Pinterest marketing. Show Notes: https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/38  

Melanie is known for starting online businesses that allow her to live wherever she wants, work as much or as little as she pleases, and actually make money!