Direct Sales: the Other 99% Podcast

Lisa and Susan have books on Amazon, and they are pretty excited about all of it! ☕📚 In this episode of The Other 99% Podcast, Lisa Duck and Susan Larimer share about their first experiences with Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, also known as KDP. Susan talks about publishing her Intentional Life workbook and companion colouring book, while Lisa shares her plans for Coffee, Chaos & Coloring....

Some days, it’s the big things. Other days, it’s a hundred little frustrations that leave you thinking, “I’m done.” This week, Lisa Duck and Susan Larimer both arrived at the microphone feeling stretched thin, so we decided to have an honest conversation about it. ☕ We’re talking company website headaches, family interruptions, too many projects and those moments when you simply don’t have the ca...

Your company announces another flash sale, and suddenly you feel like you need to drop everything, create a graphic, send an email and tell every customer. Sound familiar? ☕ This week, Lisa Duck and Susan Larimer are talking about running your direct sales business your way, even when the holiday promotions keep coming. We chat about protecting your profits, avoiding the comparison trap and decid...

Ready, set, ho ho ho! 🎄 What are you doing now that your December self will thank you for? This week, Lisa Duck and Susan Larimer are chatting about getting your business holiday ready while protecting your profits, your energy and your family time. We’re talking simple offers, realistic income goals, working with company promotions and why you don’t need to copy someone else’s discounts to make...

We’ve been yapping together on this podcast for years. Talking to our phones by ourselves? That’s a different story. 😂 This week, Lisa and Susan share about their first experiments with “yaps,” short, conversational videos that help people get to know you and your business. We chat about finding something worth saying, grabbing attention with a good hook and editing out the bits that slow your vi...

We’re taking a break from business talk and putting a little giggle into your day! 😂 Lisa is Canadian. Susan is American. And apparently, speaking the same language doesn’t mean we always know what the other person is talking about. In this just-for-fun episode, we compare what we call everyday things, from toques and sneakers to pencil crayons and chicken burgers. Naturally, the conversation tak...

What happens when a friend becomes a customer, or a customer becomes a friend? The line between friendship and business can get awkward quickly, especially when every conversation starts feeling like an opportunity to make a sale, book a party, or recruit someone. In this episode of The Other 99%, Lisa and Susan share about navigating friendships while running a business. They discuss friends and...

Your customers can find products almost anywhere, so why should they choose to shop with you? Spoiler alert: it isn’t because you post every company special or share the same sales graphics as everyone else. In this episode of The Other 99%, Lisa and Susan share what customers actually want from the person behind the business. They talk about making shopping easier, offering trustworthy recommenda...

Business owners are constantly encouraged to find the next new customer, but what about the customers already connected to the business? In this episode, Lisa and Susan share 10 types of customers who may be getting overlooked, including one-time buyers, former regulars, seasonal shoppers, frequent supporters, referral sources and customers who simply haven’t heard from you in a while. They explor...

We're wrapping up our email marketing series with the big question: when does your email list actually become a sales system? Lisa Duck and Susan Larimer walk through the full customer journey — from that first welcome email all the way to a five-step customer care sequence that keeps people coming back. We also talk about why it takes way more emails than you'd expect before someone buys,...

In part five of our email marketing series, Lisa Duck and Susan Larimer are answering the question we hear the most: what do I actually send my list every week? We share six go-to content ideas — tips and education, personal stories, customer success stories, product highlights, seasonal reminders, and FAQs — plus why consistency matters more than frequency, and how to find a cadence that actually...

In part four of our email marketing series, Lisa Duck and Susan Larimer are talking about the welcome sequence — why it's one of the most important (and most skipped) pieces of your email marketing, and how to set one up so it works for one customer just as well as it works for a thousand. We cover what to actually say in those first few emails, why automation matters so much more than people...

In part three of our email marketing mini-series, Lisa Duck and Susan Larimer are talking welcome sequences — the emails that make (or break) that first impression with a new subscriber. We cover the four rules for getting it right: writing to one person instead of your whole list, sticking to one topic per email, giving your new subscriber a quick win, and building trust before you ever make an o...

You got someone to grab your lead magnet — but what happens next? In this episode, Lisa Duck and Susan Larimer talk about what to actually do once someone joins your list, why a proper welcome sequence matters, and why "set it and forget it" only works if you set it up right in the first place. We walk through what to send in those first few emails, how to set expectations so people don&...

Nobody wakes up hoping to join another newsletter — so why does "join my list" keep showing up as the CTA? In this episode, Susan Larimer and I kick off a brand new mini-series on email marketing, starting with the thing that actually gets people to say yes: a real, valuable lead magnet. We talk about what makes a lead magnet work, how to find ideas hiding in the questions your customers...

Your company sends emails. Your upline sends emails. So why do you need your own email marketing? In this episode, Lisa and Susan get into five of the top ten things you're missing if you're not building and nurturing your own email list. They talk about why owning your contacts matters more than most people realize, what open rates and click rates actually tell you, why one call to action...

In this episode of the Other 99% four direct sellers sit down for an honest conversation about building a YouTube channel in real life — not the highlight reel version. Lisa Duck, Susan Larimer, Jen from Craft What Matters, and Evelyn from Purple Essence by Evelyn talk about what's actually working on YouTube right now, including repurposing content, creating shorts, using AI for thumbnails, and r...

On this weeks episode of the Other 99% we are at part 5 of our mini series on Susan's brand-new workbook. Join Lisa and Susan as they dig into what it really means to live intentionally — saying yes to what fits your mission, vision, and values, and no to everything else. They talk about busting the "having it all" myth, the power of margins, what success actually looks like in direc...

This week on the Other 99% Podcast Lisa and Susan talk about why Saying "no" isn't a skills problem — it's a mindset problem. Dive in as they unpack why direct sellers struggle so much with boundaries, how the industry's culture of recognition keeps us chasing "yes," and why Lisa's own business only really took off once she was forced to start saying no. In this...

Have you ever agreed to something and immediately regretted it? In Part 3 of the Your Intentional Life series, Lisa and Susan discuss why we often say yes out of guilt, obligation, or fear of missing out, and how an alignment filter can help us make better decisions. 📌 This episode is sponsored by CinchShare — the social media scheduler built for direct sellers. Free 30-day trial at lisaduck.com/...

In this episode of The Other 99%, Lisa and Susan dive into part two of their five-part series on Susan's new workbook. This week's focus is on the big three: your why, your mission, your vision, and your values. Most of us in direct sales are so focused on chasing the next sale, the next recruit, or the next like that we never stop to ask why we're doing any of it. This episode gives y...

In part one of our five-part workbook series, Lisa Duck and Susan Larimer are talking about something most of us don't want to admit — we're terrible at saying no, and it's draining us. Susan shares the inspiration behind her new workbook to help women figure out what to say yes to, what to say no to, and how to do it without the guilt spiral that usually follows. We get into why direc...

Lisa and Susan sit down with Sue B. Zimmerman — The Instagram Expert — for a no-fluff conversation about building a business on Instagram in 2026. Sue B. breaks down her boss bio framework, explains how each part of Instagram serves a different purpose, and shares why the DM is where the real money is made. She also opens up about her new Substack community, Soulful Selling Sisterhood , and why sh...

Lisa and Susan make the case for moving your direct sales parties off Facebook and onto your website — and share exactly how to make it work. From the OhMyHi pop-up shop pattern to why the RSVP link is non-negotiable, this episode gives direct sellers a clear, practical roadmap for hosting online parties that are distraction-free, fully branded, and built for follow-up. Sponsored by CinchShare — t...

Lisa and Susan hand you the exact 10 blog posts every direct seller and small business owner needs on their website — so you never stare at a blank screen again. One blog post can fuel your entire content strategy, and this episode shows you exactly how. Topics covered: Intro blog, FAQ, Beginner's Guide, Mistakes, Tools & Resources, Testimonials, Seasonal Content, How-To, Comparison, and I...