Maestro on the Mic

Working on vacation doesn’t always mean that your job is ruining your life. The thing about entrepreneurship is that there’s always *something* you can be doing, and as long as you’re not miserable, I see no reason why you couldn’t bring some work with you. Personally, I’m trying to build the kind of life I don’t need a vacation from in the first place, so that when I do travel, working here and t...

There’s something to be said about the nostalgia we have for the past versions of ourselves. I would never in a million years do any of the same shit I was doing in my younger years ever again, but the fact that I did all that before feels like evidence of all the things that could be possible for me in the future. I hope when you look back at your past, you think, “fuck yeah I did that!” and I ho...

Life is hard enough for so many of us, so if you have any joy to spare, share it. There’s a quote I love, and you’ve probably seen me say it before, that says, “when you have more than you need, build a longer table not a higher fence.” It’s foundational to everything I aim to create in my life and business and it’s how we help each other survive in this time of late-stage capitalism. When life ge...

Sometimes your ideal clients starts to feel less than ideal. Running a personal brand often means that when you grow as a human being, you outgrow the avatar you used to serve. Not everyone will feel the itch to move on, but for those of us that have felt it, what options are there? Y’all already know I’m not a “burn the ships” kind of person, so my advice is to make the change one shift at a time...

Webinars aren’t dead. Nothing ever truly dies in the online space and more often than not, things come around again many times after they’ve already fallen out of favor. Right now, people want connection. The second best thing to seeing you in person is seeing YOU—your voice, your mannerisms, your quirks—without the confines of an Instagram post, reel, or story. What better way than with a webinar...

Bigger isn’t always better and sometimes brevity packs a punch. If you want to keep things simple, check this episode out. Let’s chat. Welcome to Maestro on the Mic, a podcast that helps online business owners find their passion, deepen their impact, and build a life that they love. I'm your host, Dr. Shanté Cofield, aka The Movement Maestro, and I’m stoked to have you here. I hope this podcast in...

The internet is dead and we all know it. For the past decade, theories have been made that an increase in algorithms deciding the internet is run has lead to bots running rampant, and I whole heartedly believe those theories.  Of course there are still real people using social media, it’s just a lot less than you think it is. So those vanity metrics of followers, likes, views? Mostly bullshit...

It’s true that many people out there need some urgency and scarcity in order to buy from you, but that doesn’t mean you need to lie whenever you’re selling. Manufacturing false scarcity in order to make more money is the same kind of shit that the greedy fucks who make their money through exploitation do, and we’re building something better than that. You don’t have to lie to make money. When in d...

There are times for doing less, but I’d like to make a case that there are also times for doing more. I don’t know your life, so you’ll have to decide if it’s true for yourself and your life, but sometimes more to do means more structure, which is… well, more better. You don’t always have to back off when things get busy. If you thrive in it, lean in! Let’s chat. Welcome to Maestro on the Mi...

Let me save you some panic: AI is not destroying Instagram. I’m not anti-AI—I LOVE AI—but I do know that AI is pretty shitty at creating content, and the more social media gets flooded with AI-generated pictures and copy, the more people will be searching for actually good, human-created content. Use AI in whatever way is helpful for you in your business, but leave it out of your content creation....

Growth for the sake of growth is the mentality of cancer cells—so why are we running our businesses and economy the same way? I’m not against making good money and having a lifestyle you want, but there comes a point where having money turns into hoarding wealth, and charging money for your services turns into exploitation. Charge what you need to have enough, charge what you YOU would pay for a s...

If you’re getting potential clients telling you they “aren’t sure where to start” or they “can’t tell the difference” between a few of your offerings, you’re making shit too damn complicated. I’m all for over-delivering and for making accommodations for your people, but to an extent, people need to be bossed around a little when they’re deciding how to work with you. Decision fatigue means they mi...

Your AI writing isn’t as good as you think it is. Sure, it feels like it’s getting the job done, but it sounds both soulless and like every other post flooding the internet right now. If you want to stand out, you have to use your own brain to create. Use your unique voice. Give us MOAR you. Let’s chat. Welcome to Maestro on the Mic, a podcast that helps online business owners find their passion,...

There’s no better marketing than being known as *the* person who does what you do. I stay preaching about niching down, and it’s for a good reason. When you’re the go-to person for the problem you solve, that’s marketing on steroids. It won’t happen overnight, but when it does… that’s how you get repeatable success. Let’s chat. Welcome to Maestro on the Mic, a podcast that helps online business ow...

Just because something has “always been done” a certain way doesn’t mean it has to stay that way. I hear way too much that “that’s just how it is” or “it’s too late to change” about any number of things in this world, and that’s bullshit. Yes, there is a time for seeing things through when they aren’t perfect yet, but you can also let things go or change them at any time. If there’s anything you c...

I have a brand new signature offer that I’m so excited about that I want to talk about it more. Your website is one of your business’s most important assets, so getting the messaging right is important. I’ve got nothing to hide, so I’m sharing the 5 things I’m looking for when I do a website audit. Try it out for yourself, and when you decide you want a second pair of eyes on it, you know where to...

I have a brand new offer (surprise!) and it’s not one I sought out to make. I had been thinking about creating some sort of new offer as I phased out my Instagram Intensive, but nothing felt right until I helped out a few people with their messaging and surprised even myself with how much I loved it. Lo and behold, my new signature offer was born. Let’s chat. Welcome to Maestro on the Mic, a podca...

The world is on fire, yet here we are posting about our little internet businesses. It can feel awkward and incongruent to just keep posting about your offers while shit is falling down around us, but what else is there to do? If you’re like me, you’re here to make an impact in one way or another. Backing out of the public space and burying our heads in the sand won’t help anyone and it certainly...

Posting on Instagram is like playing the slots in Vegas—if you’re expecting to win anything substantial, you’re gonna have a bad time. The algorithms are constantly changing, so trying to understand or gamify it is a losing battle. What did well before won’t do well now, and it probably won’t do well later… until it does again. Everything has always worked, at some point and for some people. Yes,...

Sometimes in the process of making content, we can forget about where and how our audiences are consuming content in the first place. People will always be going at their own pace—it’s not our job to push them to be ready for us, but for us to be ready for them whenever the time is right. In the meantime, we just have to keep going, keep creating, and keep talking about our stuff. Let’s chat. Welc...

Starting an online business doesn’t mean you have to run one forever. I’m big on each of living our best lives. If living your best life means running a business, then great, I can help with that! But, if living your best life means stopping your business (forever or just for a while) then you should. The only wrong choice is the one you’re not excited to make. Let’s chat.  Welcome to Maestro...

You don’t need cutesy names or clever word play to sell your products, you need congruent marketing. Having an alliterative product name doesn’t matter if your services don’t solve your clients’ problems, if you can’t communicate why your product matters, or if you can’t connect to the values of the people you’re trying to serve. When all three elements align, you have congruency. And when you hav...

With everything going on in the world and in the US right now, we need more people speaking up. Speaking up and speaking out feels scary and difficult, but it doesn’t have to. There will always be pushback from the people that benefit from the current systems of power, but you’re a good person, and good people attract good people—we need as many good people as possible to be speaking up, because i...

In an MLM (or any pyramid scheme for that matter) most people are losing money, and only those at the very top stand to gain anything. Is online business the same thing? It certainly can be! When money is made by selling the idea of money, shit gets sticky. And while financial success isn’t guaranteed when you start an online business, there’s always an opportunity to build something better than e...

If you want more followers, you need to be a leader. Look, we’re in an epidemic of cowardice so when someone has the gall to stand for something, they stand out. When I look around at the current “leadership” online—and in the “real” world for that matter—there are no morals and no integrity to be found. We have the chance to be different, to lead people into building a better, kinder world. ...