The Self-Employed Life

As I like to say, you can't stop a moving train. In business, I have often seen people try to fight off technology transformation…to no avail. This resistance can be a detriment to small businesses, but I get it – change can be hard, and feelings of being left behind or finding yourself suddenly irrelevant are understandably fear-inducing. Yet, change is inevitable…which is why Steve Prentice join...

What do we tend to center our business goals around? Revenue, right? In this episode, find out why that might not be the best idea…and what to do differently. As my guest, Eleanor Beaton, says, "the hunt for immediate revenue can hold us back from making long-term decisions that actually create sustainable, long-term wealth." In this fascinating conversation, Eleanor and I talk about the need for...

Saving for your later years is the ultimate in making sure your hard work pays off. Yet oftentimes, the personal traits that make us great entrepreneurs are also traits which can make it difficult for us to save for retirement. In today's conversation with guest Tara Nolan, we discuss retirement for the self-employed — perhaps not the sexiest of topics, but highly necessary! In this hopeful and ju...

Imagine every week being a 'winning week' – a week in which you make real progress towards building the business and life of your dreams. Learn how to 'win your week' in this empowering conversation with Demir Bentley. We talk about avoiding a limiting mindset, leveraging a weekly plan, giving yourself flexibility, and most importantly, being productive in a humane way. So many of us chose to beco...

Dealing with discounts is not easy but something we often face. Made more challenging by the fact that as self-employed business owners, we are often in one to one relationships. Here are some do and don't about discounts I think you'll find helpful.     Contact Jeffrey –   Website Books Watch my TEDx LincolnSquare video and please share!       Valuable resources to help you –     The Self-Employe...

What does it mean to be truly fulfilled? And how does that differ from being happy? In this episode, featuring guest Tony Martignetti, we explore the notion of fulfillment. According to Tony, fulfillment is a mindset. As he says in his book, "Happiness and fulfillment are a place to come from, not a place to go to." A pattern I've been noticing, especially post-pandemic and in the midst of the so-...

This episode is inspired by a wonderful quote by Wayne Dwyer - "Abundance is not something you acquire. It's something you tune into." In this episode, I share some strategies so that you can tune into all the abundance around you.     Contact Jeffrey –   Website Books Watch my TEDx LincolnSquare video and please share!       Valuable resources to help you –     The Self-Employed Business Institut...

As self-employed business owners, we just keep going, and going, and going. But I don't believe any of us is exempt from sometimes feeling stuck in a rut or drained of inspiration. In today's episode, our guest Susie deVille helps us not only reclaim our sources of inspiration, but actually end up feeling buoyant ! This buoyancy, resulting from inspiration, and which Susie describes as a "deliciou...

Can you believe we're half way through the year already? It's a great time to check in and see where you're at as you enter the second half of the year. This has always been a valuable time of year for me to set forward a plan and I share four specific things for you to consider at this half year check-point.      Contact Jeffrey –   Website Books Watch my TEDx LincolnSquare video and please share...

Ultimately, all business is about persuasion – persuading someone to choose your services, persuading someone to buy from you, etc. In fact, relationship-building in general is a form of persuasion. But persuasion does not have to be manipulative.  Rather, as today's guest Karen Grill tells us, persuasion strategies allow us, as business owners, to effectively describe what our business offers, so...

We're not traditional businesses and rarely are we making a pitch to a bank to get funding for our businesses, so we tend to not need a traditional business model. But I keep getting asked for help with a business model. What most people really need is an action plan so I break it down into the four plans you need that collectively you could call it a business model. But more importantly, it's an...

I have always believed in the integration of mindset, purpose, and doing all the "inner work" as a main aspect of our self-employed business lives. I have always turned to personal development first in order to more effectively develop my business. Today's episode is all about the importance of mindset…and about how the right mindset can help us to do the (seemingly) impossible. In my conversation...

Is it possible to decide that it is so, whatever it is that you imagine for yourself, and have it be true? I think it kind of is. But....it's very important to distinguish this idea of what our guest, Jason Drees describes in the next episode as Frame Shifting and "fake it till you make it." What I'm speaking about in this episode is not "fake it till you make it." Find out the difference and how...

Maybe, like me, you have a love-hate relationship with email marketing, and yet as a small business owner, you acknowledge the importance of marketing emails. In this conversation with Rob and Kennedy, founders of EmailMarketingHeroes.com , we discuss how to make more sales and grow your business by sending out more emails…that people actually love receiving! In our discussion, we talk about the p...

Could it be that after all we've been through over the past couple of years that something positive can come of it? In a big way? In my experience, significant world events have always been followed by a shift in values in society that in hindsight, we realize was a really good thing. It's possible the shift we're seeing now is from mediocrity to substance.     Contact Jeffrey –   Website Books Wa...

Self-employed individuals and small businesses are a critical part of the US economy. One important subset of self-employed businessperson, whose work uniquely impacts both the US economy and US lifestyle, is the "mompreneur." In this episode, we're joined by two mompreneurs who have founded their business specifically to support other mompreneurs and lifestyle brands. Join me in this invigorating...

Today's episode is a very special interview with my good friend and editor, AJ Harper, who has done more for raising the bar for writing good books than anyone I know. Generally, a 'good' book doesn't simply function as a "better business card" or marketing tool for a personal brand or business. Rather, a 'good' book becomes a "must-read" that readers actively recommend to others. In this conversa...

There's no shortage of demands put on you between your personal life and owning your own business. The key is, can you get them to work together instead of in conflict? Here are some ideas to make it all easier and be at your best, delivering your peak performance. We need to think differently about this than those with traditional jobs. So here you go!     Contact Jeffrey –   Website Books Watch...

Expounding on the theme of 'creating your own good luck' discussed in a recent episode, today my guest Jen Nash and I talk about how the things that so many of us want – career success, financial security, an exciting life, or just 'getting lucky' – may be achieved simply by the power of connection. If, like me, you don't like "networking," this enlightening conversation provides a helpful alterna...

When you've been in business as long as I have and coached other business owners for 15+ years, you start to notice some cycles people get stuck in that are common and pretty predictable. I wonder if you'll recognize yourself in any one of these cycles. It might also help you to understand what's coming.     Contact Jeffrey –   Website Books Watch my TEDx LincolnSquare video and please share!    ...

We may be given life, but life itself is not a given. It is to be earned. In this episode, we speak with Dr. Marshall Goldsmith about what it means to live a deliberate life, avoid regret, and achieve an 'earned life.' For Dr. Goldsmith, an earned life occurs when our risks, efforts, and commitments are aligned with a higher purpose, regardless of the results. Those of us who are self-employed ent...

How do you even answer the question, "How do I get more customers?" That's a huge, open-ended question with many possible answers. So, I made a formula of it to help you see the big picture and break it down to actionable steps.     Contact Jeffrey –   Website Books Watch my TEDx LincolnSquare video and please share!       Valuable resources to help you –     The Self-Employed Business Institute Y...

Almost all of us have felt 'stuck' at some point in our lives. Some of us go through temporary phases of feeling stuck, some of us feel chronically stuck, and some of us feel stuck in some areas of our lives but not in others. (Those of us who are entrepreneurs and self-employed are certainly not immune to feeling stuck.) Our guest today, Shira Miller, felt significantly stuck in her life – so muc...