What Works

The Nitty Gritty * Why Elena and Catherine approached their second pregnancies different from their first — and how that impacts their work at StoryMine * How the cofounders approached their dual pregnancies as an opportunity to implement systems and create a more efficient business model that worked for their ideal way of partnering with clients * How they use content marketing to educate and inf...

The Nitty Gritty * Why Sarah decided to offer her online course Bank Boost in a live setting using weekly emails and live Q and A sessions * The values and psychology behind her product pricing and how she markets the live courses in a low-key way without webinars * Why she goes offline for a couple days at a time to work on content — and how that frees up the rest of her time to work with clients...

Underneath their ambitious and confident facades, small business owners experience quite a bit of fear. Since our goal is to bring you honest conversations about what it really takes to run a small business, we thought it was high time to talk about the fears we all face on a daily basis. We spoke to 11 small business owners and several themes emerged. These themes were echoed in the conversations...

The Nitty Gritty * The strategies that led to Simple Green Smoothies ’ explosive success: from adopting Instagram early to focusing on the community from day one to zeroing in on a single topic to grow the brand * The pivotal moment when Jadah Sellner knew she wanted to leave Simple Green Smoothies to start something new — her own personal brand — to free her voice * What the process of exiting th...

The Nitty Gritty * Why making decisions as a collective aligns with Kate Strathmann’s business vision instead of the “this way or the highway” mentality * How Kate pushed past her introvert tendencies to show up for team members and clients and the importance of meeting face-to-face as a remote company every week, even if there isn’t an agenda * How Kate sets healthy and strong boundaries with her...

The Nitty Gritty * How Mike transitioned from growing his design and marketing firm to creating FreshBooks , an invoicing software tool for small business owners * How a strong value of honesty seeps through the company and results in an open and transparent team that makes the product better * Why Mike created a pretend competitor to test new product features, how they tracked that project’s mile...

The Nitty Gritty * Why Natasha sold her digital offerings business arm to focus solely on 1:1 work — and how she gained two clients through sending out an email * How she found ways to bring more of herself into her business * Why Natasha uses affirmations to become the best business owner she can be and what her daily routine looks like * Where she noticed limitations in her personal life and how...

The Nitty Gritty * How Christy’s sustainability values inform her minimalist and unique jewelry designs — and where she sources diamonds and gemstones from * What her weekly schedule looks like — from meeting with clients, working in the studio, sketching, and tending to longer-term projects * Who she hires to create a sustainable business model from accountants to lawyers to web designers to mark...

The Nitty Gritty * Take a look at Srini Rao’s daily writing routine — from the apps to the systems — that enable him to write 1,000 words a day, every day * How creating for one — rather than many — invokes higher quality work * Why looking at the long-term view helps you avoid the comparison trap * Thoughts on mastering the creative process so that your work makes a lasting impact on your audienc...

The Nitty Gritty * What boundaries Charlie Gilkey and Angela Wheeler, founders of Productive Flourishing, set to coexist between business and life in a healthy way — plus, some of the rules they follow, like no screens in the bedroom (or in the hot tub!) * How their work styles differ — and how they make space for both * Why open communication is at the core of everything they do, including their...

The Nitty Gritty * Why Alison Pidgeon left her Director role at two outpatient clinics to start Move Forward Counseling , a group mental health practice based in Pennsylvania * The reasoning behind Alison’s choice to stop taking new clients — plus, how she divides her time between counseling and running the business * What makes growing a group mental health practice work. In the conversation, Ali...

The Nitty Gritty * From the ideal diet to meditation to work style, learn how Michelle embraces her Ayurvedic dosha type * How Michelle’s rebel brain held her back in traditional work environments — and how she unleashed it so she could do her best work * Why Michelle embraces three-day sprints for deep diving into client work and balancing that with three-day sprints for working on CEO type tasks...

The Nitty Gritty * How Bridget’s struggle finding tops that fit her body type encouraged her to make her own — and how that pursuit turned into Têra Kaia’s first top, TOURA * The six words the Têra Kaia (formerly Aret Basewear) team uses to influence their branding, whether that’s photo styling or product developing * Their journey for finding a local athletic wear manufacturer that could make hig...

The Nitty Gritty * Why moving to Salt Lake City from San Diego inspired Nailah to start Color Outside — and how the free meetup transformed into the company it is today * How Nailah budgets, markets, and plans retreats — and why she hosts them in places that you wouldn’t normally take a vacation * How she uses private Facebook groups to connect with her people right away, plus her approach to shar...

The Nitty Gritty * How Beryl runs the Momtography® training program, how she landed on the price point, and how she promotes her teachers once they’ve successfully completed the initial training program * Why Beryl’s first step to licensing her work included hiring Autumn Witt Boyd , an intellectual property lawyer, to legally prep Momtography® for distribution * How she finds qualified people to...

 The Nitty Gritty    * What inspired Chris to start building CozyCal , a simple and easy-to-use online scheduling tool for small business owners and solopreneurs * Why Kat Lu decided to leave her healthcare consulting career to work on product development and customer support at CozyCal full-time * How Kat and Chris manage their roles in the company as a couple (and how their backgrounds influence...

The Nitty Gritty * How Jacquette uses different themes every month to inform the activities and questions she poses during her monthly dinner series, The Comfort Circle™ * Why Jacquette increased the event pricing from $75 to $150 per person and what went into the decision to host the dinner in the same restaurant month after month * How the dinner series works into her larger business model — and...

The Nitty Gritty * The red-yellow-green system Jess Ostroff and the Don’t Panic Management team apply to every potential new client relationship and new hire to help them take the emotion out of it, particularly when it’s not the right fit * What Jess does if a potential client isn’t ready for their services yet, like helping them systematize their business so they’re ready for an assistant in the...

When I got married 11 years ago, I was depressed, ashamed, and feeling like I had no opportunities left — in the way only a 25-year-old can feel. I had always planned to keep my maiden name, which was Seefeldt, but I also planned to be a successful academic with a published work or two under my belt by the time I got married. Instead, I was a grad school drop out working as a retail manager earnin...

The Nitty Gritty * Jaime’s lessons from hiring virtual assistants in the Philippines — and why she eventually hired an employee local to her * How Jaime and her team use Asana to manage projects and assign tasks * What books and tools Jaime uses to track employee time — and how she uses that as a tool to ensure employees are doing what they love with their time * Hear more about Jaime’s approach t...

The Nitty Gritty * How Lauren and Jason Pak, cofounders of Achieve Fitness , use their Instagram to educate and inspire their audience — and why they chose Instagram as Achieve Fitness’ main marketing platform * What their weekly social media schedule looks like and how they plan, create, and edit that content * How the first four years of business helped the duo master the day-to-day operations a...

The Nitty Gritty * How Sarah Bray , entrepreneur, author, and digital strategist, transitioned from working exclusively for herself to joining the smart and passionate team at &yet , a design and development consultancy * What it means to be an intrapreneur in the modern creative world — and what drew Sarah to the &yet team * How to fuel your self-confidence, especially if you’re moving fr...

The Nitty Gritty * How Cathy and her songwriting agency, Catch the Moon Music , manage music inquiries and how they close deals * Hear all the details on Mochas and Music, Cathy’s unique way of putting her music in the hands of music supervisors (hint: it worked!) * Why she uses live events to bring together songwriters and music supervisors together in one room, plus why she started a course for...

The Nitty Gritty * The story behind Susan’s personal breakthrough that prompted her to leave a two decade fashion career to launch Art & Eden , a sustainable clothing line for kids * How Susan transformed her approach to business from fast to slow * What processes Susan and the Art & Eden team put in place to stay accountable to their sustainability values * Where — and why — they give bac...

The Nitty Gritty * What inspired Sarah to launch Startup Pregnant (and how that concept pivoted from book to podcast) * Sarah’s strategy for securing sponsors before launching a podcast (hint: it’s all about knowing your target audience and what their pain points are) * What new resource Sarah’s working on to meet the precise needs of her community Sarah Peck is a writer and the host of Startup Pr...