Too Legitimate to Quit: Growth Strategies with a Pop Culture Spin

How are you showing up in your business - as an expert, as an advocate, as a supernova? Or are you playing it safe? Putting yourself out there day-after-day is freaking HARD - it requires so much of us: courage, confidence, grit, faith. But we can so easily undermine all these traits with spray-and-pray marketing efforts and misplaced humility. What would change if you fully owned your expertise a...

Do you rebel against structure - or do you crave it? Does the idea of managing others or being managed make you feel supported or smothered? And how can you find the freedom and flow to bring true creativity into your business? The surprising answer - constrain yourself! This week, Annie P. sits down with Project Management all-star, Molly Beran. Molly knows that a lean, well-oiled, and responsive...

Oh, Social Media - so vast, so distracting, so entirely overwhelming! As a small business owner, the temptation to show up on all platforms (and often!) is very real. What will actually move the needle in our business (and make us some dang money)? This week, Annie P. sits down with social media maven and design-pro Mariana Padilla. Mariana offers up an absolute crash course in all things social m...

Are you craving an "Easy Button?" Have you invested time, energy, and cold-hard cash on someone else's methodologies, swipe files, or get-rich-quicker schemes only to wind up with copy or offerings that are lackluster? Shake off the shame - it's time to use your voice (yes, the one you already have, quirks and all!) to magnetize your audience to you. This week, Annie P. sits down with conversion c...

Promoting a business while a war rages and the pandemic drags on is a weird freaking sensation. Your body says "go back to bed and stay there" but your brand demands you get out there and "PERFORM, dammit!" How can we be conscious, concerned citizens of the world and responsible business owners at the same time? The official answer: feel your feels, y'all. This week, Annie P. is joined by trauma c...

Are you operating in integrity with your price point? Moreover, are you working in harmony with your expertise? It's so easy to fall out of sync with our own teaching and methods from time to time. But, being a shoeless cobbler is risky in more ways than one - it can rob us of our credibility, legitimacy, sanity, and even health! How can we rise to the occasion of raising our rates, while remainin...

Even the most mundane entrepreneurial workdays can feel like epic, near-impossible tests sometimes. We have so many details to keep track of, tasks to complete, shiny objects to avoid - and it seems like the bigger our hearts are, the shakier our boundaries become. How can we give ourselves the best chance of success? In this week's tender and hilarious episode, Steven Hyatt, The Accountability Wi...

Anna Delvey - branding or fraud? Case study or criminal case? Where does a compelling brand story end and a lie begin? And how can we - regardless of our background - build something bigger than ourselves, inspire others to join in our vision, and provide complex, emotion-rich, consistent experiences? This week, Annie P. is joined by branding supernova Ari Krzyzek. Together, they unpack the critic...

How formal (and stuffy) does your business really need to be in order to be taken seriously? Are we still living in a "dress to impress" world, once we've left corporate confines? And - how can we lean into our own internal navigation in a world where everyone has an opinion (even if they've never run a business before)? This week, Annie P. sits down with the poster-child for living out loud, Jenn...

What title do you use for yourself? Is it shiny and official-sounding? And more importantly - do you own that title with action? You may show up as a CEO in front of other people, but do you treat yourself like one? Do you honor yourself, reward yourself, and challenge yourself appropriately or are you waiting until after the next milestone? This week, Annie P. sits down with supernova strategist...

Is having fun truly an essential part of self-employment? How can we make people feel safe, seen, and supported and profit from those efforts? And what can we learn about seizing opportunities from the makers of the most beloved pencil of all time? This week, Annie P. sits down with the zany and brilliant Liz Scully. A veteran movie-maker, polymath, and mastermind queen, Liz knows a thing or two a...

Entrepreneurship is often freaking exhausting - sometimes it takes all our energy just to stay standing. How can we manage our energy, hope, and expectations when facing so much fear, uncertainty, risk, and challenge? And how can we cultivate an attitude of patience amid all the shiny promises of immediate gratification and subsequent let-downs? This week, Annie P. sits down with Sara Dean, the fe...

Are you overworking, underperforming, or just toiling away at the wrong stuff? How do you know what activities to prioritize? Moreover, how do you shake the nagging feeling that you're sabotaging your own success? How can you own and monetize your unique brilliance - even on your most exhausting day? This week, Annie P. sits down with Fabienne Fredrickson, who is nothing short of marvelous and bri...

Criticism, rejection, embarrassment, risk, failure. As entrepreneurs, we face these unfortunate little demons every day. What would change for us if we learned to chase rejection, or at very least to welcome it? How can we detach from the pain, brush ourselves off, and face our fears day after day? This week, Annie P. sits down with the wildly brave Andrea Waltz. Andrea explains that "yes is the d...

Where does persuasion stop and manipulation begin? How can your community prosper without turning into a cult-like monster? And does your content have to be laugh-out-loud entertaining? We'll answer these questions and more in this jam-packed episode. (One could even say it slays.) This week, Annie P. sits down with the brilliant and ever-charming Johnny Ball. Johnny is a persuasion expert, speaki...

"That's a Monday problem." Are you procrastinating and calling it prioritization? (No judgment, we all mentally check out sometimes. Otherwise, our brains would implode.) But, how many of our habits are actually counter-productive? Where are we wasting our intentionality? This week, Annie P. is joined by Nicole Tremaglio, who is basically the human version of this podcast. A branding expert and po...

We may be human beings and not human doings - but it's hard to remember that when you're a small business owner with a ravenous to-do list. How can we get it all done without sacrificing ourselves? Can we shine brighter by doing less? And where does delegation come into play here? This week, Annie P. has a fabulous conversation with celebrity event planner turned consultant Andrea Freeman. Togethe...

Oh, entrepreneurship! So glossy! So masculine! So freaking dramatic (before you have healthy boundaries and fabulous income)! What's a heart-centered business owner to do? What are the secrets not only of growth, but of staying power? This week is a riotous blast as Annie P. sits down with her long-lost pal, award-winning content creator, and renowned business coach Amanda Abella. Together, they r...

Do I really have to make reels - and if so, do they have to be so performative and goofy? How frequently do I really need to reach out to my mailing list - and how often am I allowed to be "salesy" before they unsubscribe? With every social media and marketing platform imaginable, how do we know what strategies are right for us? This week, Annie P. hurls these questions and many more at marketing...

A doctor doesn't normally thank you passionately and profusely for letting them treat your aches and pains. They know you're there to solve a problem: they advise you or perform a procudure, you pay them, 'nuff said. But, as a small business owner, it's hard to find the right balance of gratitude and self-assurance. If selling really is serving - shouldn't they be thanking you? This week, Annie P....

It's a whole new year - are you feeling the crushing weight of expectations already? Maybe you promised yourself you'd somehow be shinier or more prepared for this year? Screw that! This week, Amber Hawley is here to remind us that one of the most effective, efficient, and powerful things we can do is REST. Amber is a seasoned therapist, coach, and laugh-riot with years of experience working with...

Ho ho ho - it's a TLTQ Holiday extravaganza and we're digging deep into that heartwarming concept known as professional jealousy. Wait, what? Yep! And for extra fun and cheeriness, we discuss the holiday classic where Santa dies in the first 5 minutes. This week, Annie P. is joined by Startup Renegade, serial entrepreneur, military spouse, and super-mom, Shauna Armitage. Together they talk about t...

An online course has limitless possibilities. Where should you start? What should you promise? How many problems should you solve? And how the heck do you make sure your buyers actually use your product? If you've been debating gamification, automation, or other bells and whistles, this is the episode for you! This week, Annie P. is joined by Melody Johnson, The Course Consultant. Melody is an exp...

TLTQ celebrates our 1st birthday in this powerhouse interview with Pamela Slim, author of Escape from Cubicle Nation , Body of Work , and The Widest Net ! As a small business owner, it's easy to think of yourself as a rock or an island (cue the Paul Simon), but you actually sit at the center of a complex, ever-growing ecosystem. How can the company we keep foster the company we're growing? Plus -...

Habits - they surely don't feel very sexy. We got into self-employment for the freedom, right? But un-shiny necessities like routines, rituals, and consistent behaviors are the keys to your success, confidence, legacy, and more. How can we learn to embrace the intentional same-old-same-old? This week, Annie P. sits down with the sensational Dallas Travers of The Hive and The Six-Figure Coach podca...