What Works

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The Nitty-Gritty: * Why podcast advocate Elsie Escobar created a personal process for looking back over the year and setting her intentions for the year to come* How setting clear boundaries helps her to stay on top of her commitments and execution* The tools she uses to look back over the past year and how they give her a fresh perspective on what she’s experienced Do you know what you did this y...

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Toi Smith made the shift from virtual assistant to online business manager to growth & impact strategist * How she reassessed the true value behind what she was offering her clients so she could rework her business model* What eliminating exploitative business practices from her own model has taught her about creating value* How her rates, working hours, and client load...

The Nitty-Gritty: * How The Joy Of Missing Out author Tonya Dalton discovered the stories and self-talk that were keeping her from really enjoying life and celebrating her success* Why identifying the litmus tests she put herself through helped her determine what she really wanted out of life and business* How she reflects on the good, the bad, and the ugly to keep her stories and self-talk in che...

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why SmartStart founder Linda Lopeke has every potential client complete a rigorous application* How she sets expectations clearly from the get-go so that every client has the best chance of getting results* What inspired her approach to business systems and client experience* How she makes brand-new clients feel at ease, step-by-step Starting my working life as a retail worker,...

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Tyme founder Jacynda Smith manages 100-200 individual consultations with new customers each week* Why these personalized consultations help Tyme delight 90% of frustrated customers* How virtual styling sessions create a feedback loop that helps Tyme get better & better* What Tyme is doing to leverage the success they’ve had with personalized virtual styling sessions “Do...

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Obedient Agency co-founder Allie LeFevere believes so strongly in the power of humor to build a brand and market a product* How the agency incorporates humor into every touchpoint of their client experiences* The brainstorming techniques they use to find surprising & delightful marketing ideas* Why humor has even made its way into their hiring process The first time I h...

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Project Army founder Viktor Nagornyy discovered his opportunity in the website support & hosting market* The reason he decided to do the opposite of industry standards when it comes to key customer policies* How he landed on competitive pricing without having to slash expenses or sacrifice customer experience* Why prioritizing exceptional customer experiences has led to...

The Nitty-Gritty: * What business therapist & mindset coach Nicole Lewis-Keeber does to help her clients identify boundary issues in their businesses* Why clear communication is key to have a great relationship with your business and your customers* How to renegotiate a relationship that’s run afoul of your personal boundaries* What habits and routines you can develop to ensure you’re upholdin...

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Ashley Gartland works with her business coaching clients to help them streamline their own work and reduce their sense of overwhelm* What goes in her welcome email to keep new clients from feeling overwhelmed as they’re getting started with coaching* How a customized Trello board helps her (and her clients) manage the engagement efficiently* Why she reduced her business mod...

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Potentia Therapy founder Rebecca Ching learned from key mistakes she made bringing her vision to life* What she does differently today when she’s finding the right people for her team* Why learning to lead has made her less lonely as a business owner* The process of self-reflection that allowed her to stop debating her own worthiness despite her setbacks If there’s one cons...

The Nitty-Gritty: * How coach & author Cynthia Morris has coached herself through 20 years of growth as an entrepreneur* How she battles the “octopus of lots of different offers & ideas” that sneaks up on you when you’ve been in business that long* Why a trip to France helped open a new chapter in her business—and ultimately created its own challenges* How she wound up with the business mo...

The Nitty-Gritty: * How coach and business strategist Jo Casey manages her anxiety as an entrepreneur* The situation that revealed just how big an impact anxiety had on how she ran her business* How setting clearer boundaries and doubling her rates helped to get back on track* Why she’s simplified her business as a way of managing her anxiety* The positive results she’s seen by making her anxiety...

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Tommy Griffith left a job he loved at AirBnB to pursue growing his side hustle, a digital marketing education company called ClickMinded * How his expectations of life as an entrepreneur collided with the reality of executing his plans* The mindset that allowed him to persevere through some pretty gnarly circumstances* Why Tommy decided to bring on a partner at ClickMinded...

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Co-Creating Inclusion founder Alethea Fitzpatrick took a long & winding road to creating her new company* Why embracing uncertainty has helped her stay flexible while building her business* The many pivots she’s made from architecture to photography to operations management to diversity consulting* Why respecting her Zone Of Genius has kept her from getting caught up in...

The Nitty-Gritty: * Start Finishing author Charlie Gilkey explains the relationship between resilience and finishing the projects and plans we start* Why tensions like mastery versus growth, structure versus novelty, and serving ourselves versus serving others make it harder to reach our goals* How vulnerability and little “c” courage can help us achieve bigger, more meaningful results* What Charl...

The Nitty-Gritty: * How What Works founder Tara McMullin realized that business had gone off track* Why she chose to pivot to a building community-oriented business support network instead of offering coaching or online courses* What mistakes she made along the way and how she changed course to correct them* Why “steadfast commitment” is her barometer right now I turned 37 last month. I certainly...

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Debra Giunta’s vision for Design Dance led her to make specific hiring decisions as the company grew in scale* Why she waited 6 years to hire herself on full-time* How her dance program and curriculum adapts depending on the school she’s partnering with* What she looks for in the people she hires—and how that’s evolved over time I’m pretty sure I took myself to Starbucks fo...

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why The Ops Authority founder Natalie Gingrich opted for scale using a certification program instead of building out an agency* What she created first on the way to developing her certification program* How she determined what the certification program would include and how it would be structured* What she’s tackling next to continue to create value and build capacity for her c...

The Nitty-Gritty * How writing mentor Katey Schultz knew she wanted to scale up her Monthly Mentorship program* What she did first to scale… and why it wasn’t enough to meet her goals or her personal needs* Why some big mindset shifts were key to seeing the real opportunity—and how a moment of deep fatigue opened the door to an important aha moment* How Katey settled on a format for serving many m...

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Speaking Your Brand founder Carol Cox realized she was at capacity and hungry for more* Why she chose to hire & train another speech coach instead of moving into online courses* The mindset work she needed to do to prepare herself for the transition into scale* How she found her first hire and got her started with clients When it comes to small business, there are plent...

The Nitty-Gritty: * How ScaleSpark founder Susan Boles uses software to solve capacity problems for her clients and help them scale up* Why she starts with a software audit before making any changes— and how you can too * What she looks for when considering what software options to go with* The first step to getting started with new software (it’s not what you’d expect!) When I first got serious a...

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why a cocktail party conversation prompted Marie Poulin to confront the assumption that scaling your business is the ultimate goal* How Oki Doki’s hybrid business model works—and why it’s the perfect approach for Marie and her partner, Ben* How Marie’s personal priorities and ideal lifestyle are helping to shape her business decisions* Why she’s looking for a sense of equilibri...

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Callie Willows and her partner decided to go “all in” on a membership site as their only offer* How she stays on up to date with the content and conversation inside the community* Why member experience is their top priority and retention is their top metric* What makes a membership site perfect for her own unique kind of introversion Okay, who wouldn’t want to be paid month...

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Sean & Tara McMullin are starting a second company, Yellow House Media , and keeping scale in mind from the get-go* How they’ve prioritized doing every task like they’ll have to do it again tomorrow* Why they’re keeping future hires in mind while they document processes* The importance of considering an exit strategy earlier than you’d ever expect Big businesses start s...