The Solo Grind

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever found yourself reading a book or listening to podcast,  that grabs you so much you drop what you are doing, grab your notebook and start taking notes? That is what happened, when I first listened to the episode The Cost of Yes: Saying 'no' with kindness and ease on The Small Business Casual podcast by Emily Aborn. I started by jotting a few key phrases down...

Send us Fan Mail When we are small business owners, especially when we're in a creative service-driven field like interior design, saying yes to every opportunity often feels like a path to growth until it leads to burnout, scope creep, and mismatched clients. In today's session, you are going to be empowered because Associate Coach Lesley Myrick has so much energy and she is going to he...

Send us Fan Mail This time of year I love snuggling in and dreaming about what I want to create for the new year ahead. And this year I am doing things a little bit differently Before I imagine what can be I decided to go deep and ask myself some tough questions that has me looking closely at every aspect of my life.  Questions that are simple, yet powerful. Questions that I believe are opening th...

Send us Fan Mail Despite all the hype we hear about the "one to rule them all" marketing approaches out there, Marketing your business is a VERY personal choice. What is ideal for someone else, may not work well for you. Why? Because we all have different goals, strengths, and comfort levels when it comes to putting ourselves and our services/products out there. The key is to figure out...

Send us Fan Mail Ever had a client say everything’s “great,” but you can just feel that something’s off? You’re not imagining it. Those subtle cues... a glance away, crossed arms, a shift in tone... can tell you more than words ever will. Today Nancy Quinn, a body language trainer, and Business Coach for Interior Designers, joins me, and she is sharing how to read the room (or the Zoom) like a pro...

Send us Fan Mail Awww… clarity! The elusive state of knowing exactly what you want at any given moment. As solo small business owners, clarity can be hard to find sometimes. There are so many ideas out there about what we should want, as well as how we should go about getting it, and let’s not forget the shoulds that define what success is supposed to look like for us. With all the should we have...

Send us Fan Mail As a solo small business owner, I am never short on dreams. I have dreams for the future, dreams about where I want to take my business, even dreams about what next week will look like. But the funny about dreams is they aren't always what we hope they will be when we actually get to live them. Dreams take time to unfold and it is the unfolding and discovery that is part of w...

Send us Fan Mail Today we're dimming the lights, lighting some spooky candles, and talking about the dark side of marketing. We're diving into the ghouls, ghosts, and goblins that haunt the business world... those manipulative tactics that give honest entrepreneurs a bad name. Whether you're sipping your pumpkin spice latte or your regular morning brew, grab your coziest blanket, sn...

Send us Fan Mail Do you ever stop to think about how you are perceived by others? Not just the first impression, but every impression you make? Each impression we make is a building block for our business reputation, and unfortunately, sometimes what we want to portray isn’t in alignment with how others see us.  In this episode, we are going to be taking a look at many of the impressions we make t...

Send us Fan Mail Have you ever had one of those relationships that started off fun and exciting, but after a while you begin to realize that things just aren’t all that fun or exciting anymore, and you start wondering if things are becoming toxic? No, I am not shifting the focus on this podcast to love and relationships but I am considering a break up in my business.   Here is a more in depth look...

Send us Fan Mail Today we are rounding off our conversation about Customer Service with ten tiny tweaks you can make to improve your own customer service game that will help with satisfaction and retention. These cost little to nothing, but offer a really big impact, and they help you stand out in a noisy world of marketing.  What I hope you take away from today's episode...  ☕ You don'...

Send us Fan Mail Last week, while researching the topic of the "must have" business tools and resources, I was stunned to see Customer Service tossed at the bottom of the list, like a an afterthought. From my earliest days of being employed, customer service has been at the core of what I do, and without good customer service practices in place I don't think I would have a business....

Send us Fan Mail Do you ever feel like you are drowning in "all the things" necessary to build a successful business. Tools, resources, software hardware... the list goes on and one and can get quite overwhelming really fast!  Today, I am sharing how I broke up the the “must have business tools” and started building a business that feels really good for me. Like a warm cozy sweater on th...

Send us Fan Mail Working solo sounds amazing until you realize just how tricky it can be to keep yourself on track. Freedom of schedule can quickly feel like chaos, the quiet of home can get a little too quiet, and without a team there’s no one to lean on when things get heavy. In this conversation, I’m talking about the challenges we face as solo entrepreneurs, the structure that actually helps m...

Send us Fan Mail Today I am sitting down with my good friend, go-to copywriter and fellow podcaster Emily Aborn to talk about all the noise around Marketing at the end of the year and why most of it simply doesn’t work for solo entrepreneurs. There is an incredible pressure to scale, the lure of shiny offers, and the shiesty marketing tactics that create fake urgency or play on guilt. Emily and I...

Send us Fan Mail Ever find yourself mid-conversation or deep into a project and your brain just… stops? That frozen moment usually has nothing to do with your skills or creativity and everything to do with the invisible to-do list running in the background of your mind. From client work to admin tasks, personal projects, and future goals, those mental tabs add up fast. In this conversation, I’m sh...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Solo Grind , I sit down with my friend Megan Dahle, a business strategist and fractional CFO, to talk about something that used to terrify me—numbers. We dig into how creative entrepreneurs (yes, even the “I’m not a numbers person” crowd) can feel empowered by really seeing and understanding what’s going on in their business finances. Megan and I talk about...

Send us Fan Mail Some seasons in business feel electric. Ideas are flowing, projects are exciting, and you can’t wait to dive in each day. And then there are the other seasons… the ones where the spark seems to have packed up and left. I’ve been there, and I know how unsettling it can feel, especially when you want to create but nothing is clicking. This week, I’m opening up about the creative slu...

Send us Fan Mail We have all had those slow periods in business. You know the ones that have us questioning everything from if we made a good decision to going into business for ourselves, or if we are even good at what we do. These moments can shake the foundation of what we are building, but they can also be a much needed gift. The choice is up to us my friend! In this episode I share my own sto...

Send us Fan Mail Today I am chatting once again with business coach Nancy Quinn about mastering profitability, even in uncertainty, particularly when running a successful interior design business. We explore the importance of profitability, navigating tariffs, and effective client communication. Nancy shares strategies for managing unexpected costs and emphasizes the need for clear policies and tr...

Send us Fan Mail Today I want to talk about the mindset hurdle that keeps so many solo entrepreneurs stuck... waiting to feel “ready.”   I am sharing five clear signs that it’s time to take that next step, even if your confidence hasn’t caught up yet, and what it means to uplevel on your terms. We will also be talking about why fear will always tag along for the ride (and why that’s okay) , and ho...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Solo Grind , I’m talking about something we don’t talk about enough. Nurturing the people who are already here. It’s so easy to get caught up chasing new leads, new followers, new subscribers… but the real magic happens when you take care of the ones who already said yes.  I’m sharing why focusing on those existing relationships can actually grow your busine...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Solo Grind , I’m honoring someone who made a big impact on my entrepreneurial journey: Steve Sims. Steve was an author, coach, creative disruptor, a fellow lover of a really god old fashion, and one of the most unapologetically real people I’ve ever had the privilege to learn from. His books and his speakeasy event shaped the way I approach my business, my c...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Solo Grind, I’m sharing some real talk about something every solo entrepreneur faces: rejection. It’s never fun, but it’s also not always personal. Sometimes it’s truly not about you at all. I’m walking you through the reasons clients might say no (or disappear altogether), how to handle it with confidence, and why staying rooted in a long-game mindset matte...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of The Solo Grind , I’m talking about the reality of marketing as a solo entrepreneur—when it’s just you wearing all the hats and trying to figure out what actually works. I share why so much of the advice out there doesn’t fit when you don’t have a full team or unlimited time, and how to start building a marketing plan that feels doable and aligned with how you na...