Streamlined Solopreneur: Build Systems so Your Business Supports Your Life

It's the 2021 Gift Guides episode! This year I revamped the guides to be clearer, including more tools for people who work from home and podcasters, and offering more options for people looking for the perfect pen. In Build Something More, I talk about the transition from Beaver Builder to Gutenberg - why I did it, and how it went. Show Notes: Gift Guides Work From Home Video Walkthrough Podcast G...

Something I (and perhaps you) feel I do terribly is email marketing. I'm worried I'm not segmenting my list the right way, that I email them too much, and that what I send is not aligned with what they signed up for. But let me tell you, after this conversation with Samar Owais, I feel a lot better. Samar is an email expert, and we cover a lot of ground, from setting up a welcome sequence, to when...

Subscription services are increasingly popular and for good reason. On top of creating more predictable income for your business, they allow you to really focus and serve your subscribers instead of constantly trying to grind out new sales. Plus, it makes your business more sellable. We'll talk about all of that and more in this week's episode with John Warrillow, best-selling author of Built to S...

You've heard me say time and time again - build your list! If you want to grow your business, whether you sell products, services, or are a creator, you need to get people on your email list. And today's guest, Maciek Palmowski, has definitely done that. He and his wife started the only Polish-language WordPress-focused newsletter (quick a niche) and grew it into quite a popular English-language n...

As an elder millennial, TikTok as a platform scares and upsets me. I’m not really sure how to use it to grow my audience (if it even can) and I’m worried it’s just going to be a huge time suck. But according to Rebecca Simon, if your business isn’t on Tiktok, it’s a huge missed opportunity. SO naturally, I asked her how a small business owner can make the most of the platform; Rebecca offered some...

It's another live coaching call! This time I have podcaster and WordPress site builder Nathan Wrigley. We chat about how I format this show, record the bumpers and the intros, and the benefits (and potential pitfalls) of batching. Then we roll into making money: how to find and land sponsors, and when to think about monetizing your podcast. Nathan has been a podcaster for a long time, so it was gr...

Sometimes you know you're destined to run your own business. You work for companies and realize that you can't really work within the confines of a corporate structure. It's something I realized pretty much in high school. And it's something today's guest, Lauren Kennedy, has known all her life. Realizing then, she took her drive and built a marketing automation company…with a twist. While both ma...

Often, when it comes to launching, writing, recording, building funnels, or whatever else it is we need to do, it's easy to start because we're motivated. But the longer a project goes on, the harder it can be. The more frustrating it can get. And the more likely quality starts to go out the window. Well, today's guest, Elizabeth Pampalone, has a solution: get it all done in 1 day. From launching...

Hey everybody and welcome to episode 234 of How I Built It, the podcast that offers actionable tech tips for small business owners. Today's sponsors are TextExpander, and Nexcess. Jason How knows a thing or two about ads, start with this: don't start with Ads. Jason gives us a couple of important aspects of running ads you think to think about before actually running the ads - like how to get your...

Look. I get tons of backlinks and cold outreach every day. It’s frustrating and annoying. It’s frustrating and annoying because it’s blanket cold outreach. The people reaching out don’t know me and are just swinging wildly. There’s gotta be a better way, right? That’s what Andy Cabasso is here to talk about. How can YOU get effective with your cold outreach to grow your traffic and your business?...

It's a listener questions episode! I thought it would be fun to round out the summer by answering some questions you've asked about how to run and grow a podcast. I hope you enjoy! in Build Something More, I tell you all about what I learned at Skip the Grind and how it's shaping my business, and this podcast, moving forward. Top Takeaways  The biggest way to grow your show is by having a clear Ca...

Today's Episode is a little bit different. See, my friend Alastair McDermott has a couple of problems he'd like to solve: launching and promoting an online course, and growing his podcast. I believe these 2 things go hand-in-hand. A podcast is a great way to establish trust and expertise, which in-turn helps you sell more courses. So instead of Alastair dropping knowledge on us (which he does anyw...

All too often, we hear only the success story. The Olympian who won the goal. The successful millionaire who launched a business from her dorm room. It's easy to assume these stories are without struggles. But what we don't see is the sacrifices the olympian made. We don't see the dozen other ideas and years of work the successful millionaire put in. Today we get to hear it all. Paul Lacey is as g...

Google has recently rolled out a new set of metrics to help website owners create better websites. They're called Core Web Vitals and understanding how they work will be important for building your website, and getting it ranked better. Luckily we have Andy Schaff. He's the Development Architect and Portent and we have a fantastic chat about how to make your website more performant, from the groun...

If you're anything like me, you feel like there's not enough time in the day. Maybe you're take on too much, or maybe you're doing things you don't need to do. Either way, you (and I!) both need a change - and that's where Reinart Bacalso comes in. He specializes in helping business owners reclaim their time by automating what they can, and putting the right processes in place. And today he's goin...

AmyJune Hineline has lots of perspectives. Not only does she have a background in nursing that she's brought to the open-source world, but she also actively works with both WordPress and Drupal. That sort of experience is exactly what helps communities grow. AmyJune has dedicated her time to helping people get involved in open source, and she offers great advice here for people who want to contrib...

Let me tell you something: I'm not great at social media. I KNOW...totally shocking. But you know who is? My friend Jean. In fact, we had a SUPER long chat all about content strategy and social media. It was super helpful and we covered a lot of ground, from growing your audience to TikTok. Plus there's a Build Something More pre- AND post-show. We talk about parenting in the pre-show and accents,...

Michelle Frechette knows a thing or two about building a community. Not only does she do it for multiple WordPress businesses, but she's cultivated quite the community on Twitter! As someone who's trying to grow my own community, I had lots of questions for Michelle and she generously answered them all. Learn all about what it takes to grow a community today. Plus in Build Something More, how to h...

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In January, I rolled out the Creator Crew, a membership that allows people to support the show directly in exchange for more, ad-free content. 6 months in, how do I think it’s going? Find out about this behind-the-scenes episode. And in Build Something More, we’ll talk about exact numbers, metrics, and what I’m measuring.  Show Notes: Failed Patreon Experiment Creator Courses Build Someting Club S...

You've heard multiple guests on this show talk about the importance of building your email list...but what do you do with that list once you have it? Well, copywriter Matt DeFeo tells us: we need to tell stories. Matt gives lots of actionable advice for how we can improve our email copy and start selling more without annoying our subscribers. Plus, in Build Something More, he tells us how he went...

Continuing a series on finances this year, today we tackle how to handle debt and invest in yourself and your business. Travis Hornsby took himself from being deep in debt to be able to support him and his family through his own business - and he gives us the framework so that we can do the same thing. Plus in Build Something More, we talk all about investing. Show Notes: Travis Hornsby Travis on...

Podcasting can be like your own personal stage. If you're a speaker,  you have the opportunity to create your own portfolio of work, allowing potential event organizers and audience members to see what you know and you speak. This can lead to more paid speaking gigs and a following. But that's not the only reason speakers should start a podcast. Show Notes: Should You Start A Podcast Creator Crew...

The feast and the famine are two staples in running your business, right? It's doesn't have to be! That's the message from Kelsey Kerslake, who went from $200 to $16,000 in her bank account in 3 months! Kelsey shares her story, tips, and what you need to do to grow your business and avoid that feast and famine stress. Show Notes Kelsey Kerslake Kelsey on Instagram Kelsey on Facebook Creator Crew S...

A few months ago we heard from Amber Hinds about the importance of accessibility and how her WordPress plugin can help you create more accessible content. She also said that you need a human being to catch most accessibility issues - that's where Bet Hannon comes in. Bet tells us all about what to look for when auditing your website, and how to execute a sampling audit. We also talk about a TON of...