The Art Of Entrepreneurship

In this Startup Survival episode, we’re tackling that way-too-common excuse why entrepreneurs say they can’t grow their business (or never even start): they don’t have enough time.  Whether you’re running an empire or running a household (or both), you need to make choices about how you spend your day. When I launched my company, and as it grew, I learned how to outsource the tasks I didn’t w...

In this episode of Big Questions, Short Answers, we talk about what to do when your workload doubles … or triples. Busy seasons will always come and go, and it’s important to have safeguards in place to protect ourselves during the busiest times.  If you’re a high-achiever (*raises hand*) it can feel really difficult to say no or to delegate because you want to show others that you can do it...

In this episode of S*%! People Say, I’m bringing in a special guest to help me uncover whether it’s true that “thoughts become things.” Justine Sloan is an author and health and mindset coach who helps people (like me!) be more intentional with their thoughts.  Justine chats with me about some pretty huge topics: where our thoughts come from, our inner voice and whether thoughts become things...

In this episode of Startup Survival, we’re talking about one of my least favorite topics ever: employee turnover. Turnover sucks for any company, but within a small business, that turnover can really make or break you. I’ve been dealing with turnover at my company lately, which led me to dive deeper into why the turnover was happening. I talked to department managers and employees, studied exit in...

In this episode of Big Questions, Short Answers, we’re talking about the core values that guide us. My business has core values I could easily repeat, but while I generally know my values, I hadn’t gone through the work of articulating them until recently.  I was inspired to explore this topic while reading Robin Sharma’s book, “ The Everyday Hero Manifesto .” Sharma’s theory is that in order...

In this episode of S*%! People Say, I’m talking about one of the most unfortunate things you’ll encounter when building a personal brand: internet trolls. I’ve dealt with my fair share, and it definitely sucks, but I’m learning how to not let it affect me.  Whenever you start to get a certain level of attention on social media—even a “professional” site like LinkedIn—you’re going to attract d...

In this episode of Startup Survival, I’ve brought in a guest to discuss just how much work goes into building a successful social presence. Quentin Allums has helped build some of the biggest personal brands on LinkedIn and has been a huge resource for me as I continue growing my brand.  When it comes to building a brand on social media, two things tend to happen: people either assume they ca...

In this Big Questions, Short Answers episode, I’m sharing the most common marketing mistakes I see startups and small businesses make all. the. time. Based on my almost scientific research of meeting thousands of entrepreneurs, I’d say nine out of 10 of these businesses might as well set their marketing budget on fire if they’re making any of these five mistakes.  If you’ve been listening to...

In this episode of S*%! People Say, I’m sharing some quick thoughts on something that’s been on my mind a lot lately: integrity. Integrity and the way you treat people matters more than anything else—no matter how rich or successful you become.  Too often, we accept low-integrity behavior from the people around us or don’t hold ourselves to a high enough standard. This could look like excusin...

In this episode of Startup Survival, we’re getting into the nitty-gritty of all things hiring. There’s a LOT more to hiring an employee than interviewing applicants and choosing your favorite—a lot of which I’ve learned along the way.  When you really need to hire an employee (like, yesterday) there are countless details you don’t think about, especially if you’re a one-person team. I’ve lear...

In this episode of Big Questions, Short Answers, I’m answering one question with three questions—and they’re all about hiring. Hiring is typically considered one of those milestones that signals a company’s growth, but entrepreneurs need to carefully evaluate whether it’s actually time to hire ( or if they even need to at all ).  Hiring an employee is a big decision that impacts everyone invo...

In this episode of S*%! People Say, we talk about all of those lies that fear tricks us into believing about ourselves. My business coach taught me the saying that "FEAR = False Expectations Appearing Real," and I can think of so many examples from my own life where this has been the case. Like a lot of people, I was super nervous about public speaking. What if I didn't have anything worthwhile to...

In this Startup Survival episode, I'm joined by Justin Welsh, a solopreneur helping one-person businesses experience massive growth. If anyone knows about betting on themselves, it's Justin: he’s in the process of building a portfolio of companies to $5 million+, all without partners or employees. I chat with Justin about how to scale a business as a solopreneur, how to automate revenue generation...

In this episode of Big Questions, Short Answers, we're discussing how to have a more positive outlook on life—especially when being an optimist doesn't come naturally. Developing this mindset is something I've had to work hard at, but is well worth it to make each day that much better. Some people think that being an optimist means everything always has to be rainbows and sunshine, but for me, it...

In this episode of S*%! People Say, we’re tackling the way-too-common idea that getting older is a bad thing. I used to think life would never be as good as it was when I was a teen, or in my twenties, but with age comes the perspective that the best is yet to come.  Society puts a lot of pressure on us (especially women) not to age. While I still think that whatever year I’m in is the best y...

In this episode of Startup Survival, we talk about the not-so-glamorous role of CEO. Yes, there are awesome benefits to being your own boss, but it also comes with a ton of hard work and an incredible load to carry.  While being a CEO means you’re “the boss,” most of my tips are about surrounding yourself with the right people . Your staff, your network, your mentors , your coach (trust me, e...

In this episode of Big Questions, Short Answers, we’re tackling one of the questions I get asked most by fellow entrepreneurs on LinkedIn: how did I get my company to its current size while bootstrapping? Psst … Check out my episode on Bootstrapping if you’re considering this route for your company.  Honestly, when I first started I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. But if I could boil i...

In today’s episode of S*%! People Say, we’re talking about the quote “If you don’t make time for wellness, you’ll be forced to make time for illness”.  TBH, this is one of those phrases I think is all too true. People make so many excuses not to take care of themselves and they end up paying the price. (Psst! Check out my previous episode on making time for yourself). I’ve been there before,...

Today on Startup Survival, we welcome Mikey Henninger, Director of Growth at Accelity (and the best salesperson in the biz). Mikey has a toooon of experience in a variety of sales environments, and he’s sharing his top five sales tips that will help you open and close that deal. Much of his approach is based on simply being his authentic self—which helps him form strong relationships with prospect...

In this episode of Big Questions, Short Answers, we’re tackling a topic that’s become super top-of-mind for everyone in the past couple years: work-life balance. What does balance mean for you? What steps do you take to achieve it?  TBH, I don’t feel like I’ve ever been successful in achieving work-life balance. So, I’ve been researching how to get a little more balance … or at least how to p...

 In this episode of The S*%! People Say, we’re keeping it short and tackling a topic everyone deserves to explore: boundaries.  Setting clear boundaries lets others know what we will and won’t tolerate. When people violate our boundaries (and they will try to), it is a form of disrespect. I have way too many stories to share, so I share a few themes I’ve noticed about what happens when I...

On today’s Startup Survival episode, we’re talking about the importance of having a process when you’re growing a company.  Just how important your process is is something I’ve gone back and forth on. When I started my business, I didn’t have much in the way of process. So I invested in building processes for sales, marketing, billing, etc. But then we got too overprocessed, and everyone felt...

Today’s big question, short answer is: What do you do when it all hits the fan?  People are often conditioned to act like nothing’s wrong. I used to overcommit myself, then pretend everything was fine or simply block out my negative feelings (often with unhealth habits). It took me a long time to learn how to process my feelings in a healthy way. I allow myself simply to feel them; then, use...

In today’s episode of S*%! People Say, we are talking about two phrases that give off major negative vibes: “That’s impossible,” and, “I can’t”.  The phrases are rooted in a limited mindset. They come from a place of fear. As I’ve grown my business (and developed personally), I’ve noticed that when I shift my mindset from “I can’t” to “What if I could?” so many more opportunities have come my...

In this Startup Survival episode, we’re tackling one of the most important skills you need to build your business. No, not selling—copywriting.  Think of copywriting as selling in written form. Just like when you pitch, you need to know how to quickly and effectively tell your story, demonstrate your value and set yourself apart. That means no jargon, no cliches—nothing that sounds like every...