Category: Business

A simple system to avoid the content creation time trap

When it comes to creating content, I see soooo many entrepreneurs fall into this time trap.

If you're coming up with new content every single time...hate to tell you this, but you're wasting your valuable time.

Here's a secret for you...creating consistent content that is irresistible to your dream clients shouldn't be a time suck!

I'm so excited to share with you a super simple system that'll make it easy for you to:

have no end of content - all at your finger tips
show up consistently without it taking over your whole life
add value for your dream customers without wasting your valuable time

Thinking this sounds too good to be true? That it must be some weird thing that costs a lot of money? Think again!

All you need is a content bank.

What the heck is a content bank?

A content bank is a database of prewritten/pre-used content that you just keep recycling. The truth is: unless your content is tied to a specific date or trend, it never "goes bad." And repetition is good: firstly, a lot of your audience won't see it the first time around; secondly, with all the content we consume, no one remembers seeing it before or minds seeing it again.

When you are planning your content for the week / 2 weeks / month (whatever the time period you plan for), pull content from your bank. Any new content you create, make sure to add it to the bank to be used again at a later time/date.

Each week, about 75% of my content is recycled from my bank, and 25% is new (which keeps it super fresh and allows me to keep building up my bank).

I keep my bank organized by content themes so that it's easy to find things and so that I can easily keep my content varied and relevant for my audience.

My 3 big investments into my business and how they impacted my bottom line

I’m all about the DIY and frugal approach to things. I sign up for freebies and free courses. I use google for a lot lot lot of things. I listen to podcasts and have a meditation app.

But at one point, you realize that you can only go so far alone (even with Siri by your side).

You can’t learn everything you need to know from google. At least not in this life time. You won’t bust through all my mindset blocks on your own. You’re not going to get super awesome at new things through pure osmosis from listening to podcasts.

If you want to go far and go fast, you need to invest in yourself. You need to invest in your business and your dreams.

Investing in your business can feel scary. Especially when you're not yet making a ton of money, spending money can put us on EDGE and feel like it's a bad idea.

But, when done right and strategically, investing in your business can SAVE you money, save you TIME, totally change your relationship with things you HATE in your business, and actually MAKE you money.

I have invested in my business at various stages throughout the years, and believe me - each time it was scary (I am frugal and DIY AF). I wanted to share my big investments and the impacts they had on my business.

#1 My first big investment was hiring an accountant to do my taxes.

I HATE doing taxes. They stress me tf out and make me hide in a netflix cocoon for days. Hiring an accountant not only freed me from SO MUCH stress, it also saved me WAY MORE MONEY than I invest in it. The ROI is just nuts.

#2 Quickbooks - now that I have it, I canNOT imagine life without it.

But committing to that $40+ a month was so scary to do! I had so much resistance to investing in it. And...my excel spreadsheets were kind of working fine...?? OMG QUICKBOOKS CHANGED EVERYTHING. I no longer hated bookkeeping. I actually DID my bookkeeping. It saves me a TON of time each year at tax time. AND I am now super on top of invoicing and paying my GST. QB has saved me time AND money.

#3 Advertising!

This one can be SO scary for businesses. Spending money to make money...we kind of believe it, but also the fear of spending money we feel we don't have really makes us not quite believe it. Advertising is one thing I have done since the beginning of my business and has been monumental to my success. From the start - before anyone knew whotf I was - I was selling out events because of my advertising. I can't say enough how essential this investment is to your business's bottom line.

Investing in yourself is the best investment you can make. You’re worth it. And your business goals are worth it. Go to that conference. Hire that coach. Sign up for that course.

How to price your products for profit

If your biz is one that creates and sells products, you're going to have two types of business expenses to deal with.

Fixed costs are the ones that are always there - whether you sell a ton of products or sell none at all. These are costs like your internet, your equipment, your studio/office/store rental. Your fixed costs are important because you need to cover them month over month.

With product-based businesses, you also have another type of cost, which isn't as as simple to deal with. These are called variable costs. Your variable costs are those that vary depending on your production. They go up when production goes up and down when production goes down - they're the costs that are tied to creating and selling your actual products (materials, shipping, transaction charges, etc.). These can be a bit more complicated to deal with when setting your prices because, well, they're always changing!

To price your products, you need to know both your fixed costs (the expenses you have in your biz no matter how many products you are selling) and your variable costs for your products.

Your fixed costs will tell you the min $ you need to make per month to break even, which is the first part of your pricing formula. To cover these, you want to consider realistically how many items are you going to sell in a month and then divide your fixed costs by that. Any products you sell on top of those, that becomes profit (happy dance)!

And then your variable cost per item is the next part of your formula (since you want to cover costs of a product in the price as well).

Then sprinkle more on to turn that pretty profit.

This profit sprinkle can either be your time cost (the amount of time it takes you to make an item at the hourly rate you want to charge) or it can be a markup. A standard mark up is 50% (or a 100% increase on the costs).

A formula

product price = (fixed costs/number of products realistically sold in a month) + (variable costs - how much it costs to produce that item) + mark up or time cost

Let's look at an example:

fixed monthly costs = $250

cost to produce an item (materials and transaction fee) = $25

time it takes to produce the item = 3hour

hourly "rate" = $25/hour

realistic sales goal = 25 items/month

Pricing formula using time cost for profit:

($250/25)+$25+(3*$25) = ($10)+$25+($75) = $110

Pricing formula using 50% mark up for profit

(($250/25)+$25)*2 = ($10+$25)*2 = $70

Things to consider when pricing your services

Struggling with pricing your services?

You are SO not alone.

The thing is, pricing is a complex thing with many factors to consider. Especially when you're selling services - you might not know how much time a project might take or how to charge your client.

The best way to price service-based projects is with a project fee (NOT an hourly fee). After all, no one wants to pay hourly for things since they don't know how many hours something will or should take.

So, how do you set your Project Fee?

✨The easiest formula is number of hours * rate per hour. Based on the number of hours you expect the project to take, use that number multiplied by your rate.

✨Use a different hourly rate for different parts of the project (project management vs. strategy vs. revisions)

✨When setting your hourly rate, consider your level of experience and the market price. Take a look at what competitors in your area are charging and then adjust for level of experience. Also consider what is a minimum per hour you want to get paid.

My general rule is if I am learning something new and spending time looking at youtube tutorials, etc. I don't charge for that time. If I have to redo a bunch of stuff because in my learning it I didn't get it quite right - I don't charge for that time either. Or, if it's mostly active work but a lot of learning along the way then sometimes I'll charge half my rate.

Do you have a strong brand story?

Let 2020 be the year where you know exactly what content to create to promote your business. Where you connect with your Dream Customers, grab their attention, and stand out in a busy busy market.

To get you there, you need a brand story!

A brand story builds and shares the vision and purpose of your business. It brings to life the passion, the spark, the imaginative idea that’s at the heart of your business and gives it shape.

A story tells the beginning, middle, and happily ever after of your business – it tells clearly and beautifully:

why you started
where you’re going, and
how you’re going to get there.

Everything you do in your business goes back to your brand story. The products and services you choose to offer, the customers you focus on, how you market to your customers, the colours you use to bring your brand to life, the staff you hire, the writing on your website…all of this is rooted in and guided by your brand story.

Ready to write your brand story?
Enter the 5-Step Model to Build a Powerful Brand Story Challenge.

Over the course of 6 days, you’ll get video trainings, a workbook, daily challenge prompts, and mindset block busters all designed to walk you through creating your own compelling brand story.

The best part? It’s free! Like, totally completely free. And it starts on January 27!

How do I get over the feeling that I’m not as far ahead as I should be?

You’ve got big goals, big plans, big dreams – and you just can’t kick that feel that you’re falling behind. It feels like no matter how much you’re working, you’re just not there yet.

If you’re feeling down on yourself for not having enough clients, not selling enough, not being further ahead, then this post is for you!

First things first...

If you’ve just started out or you’re in your first year of your business, take a deep breath. It’s so exciting to start a business and we want everything NOW. But building a business and a brand and an audience – like anything worth having – takes time. We don’t suddenly have a six pack the first time we do crunches and we don’t suddenly have six figures when we just start our businesses either. Great things take time! Focus on the momentum you’re building and the progress you’re seeing. Celebrate going from zero to one without setting the bar at going from zero to 100.

Stop comparing yourself!

I know, I know – easier said than done. We all fall in the trap of looking around us in our circle, our community, the whole of Instagram and think – how is that person so far ahead when I’m doing the same things and I’m NOT that far ahead! You are your own person, your own business, and you’re probably at a very different place in your business journey that they are. Make goals for yourself and track them for yourself.

Keep your eye on your Why.

Profit and the number of clients you have are important to your business. But so is your Why – the meaning you want to get, the impact you want to have. When it’s feeling tough and like you’re not getting traction, go back to your Why – are you aligned with it? Are you actually living it and fulfilling it? Because if so, then you ARE getting traction and moving forward even if it feels slow.

3 Questions to turn your passion into a business

So, you’re ready to take your side hustle or your passion full time and you’re trying to figure out how exactly it’s going to make you money. Or maybe you’re currently running a business and are looking to explore new income streams to boost your profit.

When it comes to building a profitable business, deciding what you’re selling is a key piece of the puzzle.

There are so many ways to turn your passions and skill into a business offering.

Today we’re talking all about finding the right business idea for you. This might be a product or a service or a way that you deliver your expertise.

For an example, a fitness coach could do individual sessions, group programs, or multi-session one-on-one packages to name three options. All three of those are different ways to package and sell their skills. They could focus on new moms looking to get fit again or specialize in runners who want to prevent injuries and up their game. Those are two very different businesses and offerings.

If you’re selling hand-crafted pottery, you could sell wholesale through stores, online to individuals, hold your own pop-up shops, or sell at craft fairs. You could sell a particular style or really focus on mugs or tea pots or jewellery. Or maybe you might even want to explore hosting DIY pottery events.

So, upside - There are so many options. Downside – all the options can be a bit overwhelming and knowing exactly where to focus your efforts can be a challenge. We can find ourselves splitting our time and trying to do all the things at once, which generally just leads to not doing any one thing really well.

Our brand stands out when we’re really good at one thing. When we have a specific signature style or service or special way we do something. That’s when people take notice.

Not nailing down our business offering can also mean that we might find ourselves pursuing a business model or style that isn’t a good fit for us and that leaves us feeling unfulfilled or burnt out.

You want to create a business offering that will be something you enjoy doing and that fits with what you want out of your business and in a way that will make you the most profit.

The goal is to be profitable while also being sustainable – after all, profit is not that great if you hate every minute of making it.

There are a few ways to help uncover the perfect business product or service or package for you and your dream customer. I’m going to share one way to do so in this post.

We’re going to cover three key things to consider when trying to come up with your business offering. What we’re looking for is where these three things come together. So, where the overlap is.

If you’re testing some ideas you’re kicking around, then the same thing – you want it to be a checkmark in all three boxes.

Is there a market for it?

This is where our audience research comes in handy – does our dream customer want/need what we’re selling? Does it solve a problem/pain point they are having? Does it make their life better or easier or happier?

Is there a business fit for you?

Will you enjoy doing this day in and day out? Will it help you achieve what success means and looks like to you? Will it allow you to live the lifestyle you want?

Is there profit to be had?

When you look at the hard costs and the time costs – so the amount of time you need to put in – is it the most profitable thing you could offer? The most profitable way you can package your skills and passions and put them up for sale. This is where you need to really evaluate costs and how much time things will take you. You don’t have to be 100% here but you need to have a good idea. So, make some calls or send some emails to get some costs where needed and really think through how long things will take – and add at least 10% to that. The time part is really interesting and important because time is our truly limited resource. We could theoretically get more money, but we can’t magic up more time in our lives or our day.

If you’re still trying to figure out some business ideas for your skills and passion and don’t have any yet, add the word “where” in front of the first question.

So: where is there a market? Where is there a business fit? Where is there profit?

If you’re testing a few ideas, run each one through these questions and one will likely emerge as the winner.

You might have a lot of ideas that do very well in one or two of the areas, but that don’t do great in all three. To be profitable and sustainable, you need to find the magic that happens when you have a “yes” to all three questions.

My Top Tools for Running Your Business with Ease

Running a business is so much more than offering the service or product that you offer. That is likely the part you’re really passionate about - the reason you started a business. But – and you’ve probably already figured this out if you’re along your business journey – it’s only one PART of your business.

Running a business is a lot of admin work, book keeping, marketing – all the behind the scenes stuff that actually makes a business a success. Now large businesses have departments and hired staff for all that. There is often a marketing department and a bookkeeping/finance department. There is often at least one office manager or administrative staff keeping things scheduled and on track.

But when you’re the CEO of your own business, you’re likely also the CMO, CFO, and so on. You’re all the things!!

You need tools and systems that help you wear all the hats without the headache.

A time tracking app

If you’re running a service based business, when you’re pricing your services and putting out quotes or estimates, you want to make sure that you’re pricing them right – meaning you want to make sure that the time you’re putting into a project is what you’re getting paid for. This is super hard for many of us, and it’s something that tends to cause a lot of unnecessary stress.

There is actually a psychological phenomenon called the Planning Fallacy where people underestimate how long a task will take them. If you’re working for yourself, this can really mess with your action plans and flow. But it can also mean that you’re not getting paid what you should be getting paid.

To help me solve that business problem and take the stress out of the “how long will this take” question, I use Paymo, a time tracking tool.

I use it to track everything I do and I break the projects down into task types. And then I use that data for future projects so that I know how long a project will take me. I then use that data the next time I am creating a quote or deciding when I am available to take on a project that comes up – or if I even have the availability.

If you’re running a product based business, knowing how long tasks take you is equally important. If your product takes you 20 hours to make and you’re only charging $100 um…you need to know that so you can increase your prices RIGHT NOW.

Quickbooks: the book keeper of your dreams

Let me share with you one of the most embarrassing things that I have done in my business because of how much I hate bookkeeping admin. I have not billed clients – more than once. I’ve finished the project, they’ve been ready to pay me, and I just ghost them. Like never sent them an invoice and then ignored all their emails and never spoke to them again because I was so embarrassed.

Bookkeeping is one of the most annoying business admin things that we need to do as an entrepreneur. Tracking expenses, remembering which clients have paid and which haven’t, following up with the right ones, billing billable expenses to clients, categorizing everything, reconciling bank accounts and blah blah bleh.

When I work with clients on their businesses, bookkeeping is something that comes up a lot.

I am so excited to tell you that there is a better way. I use Quickbooks. I love Quickbooks. It has taken like 90% of my bookkeeping stress away. It means that I actually DO my bookkeeping, which is an amazing win in and of itself.

Yes, it costs money. I pay about $40 a month. Something to know about me is that I am capital F Frugal. I don’t like spending money on things. I hate subscription products. And I’ll usually put in 8 hours of time finding workarounds on a free product rather than pay. But for me a good bookkeeping software is SO worth it. Plus it saves me money because:

I record my expenses, which means I can report them for tax time
I can track my invoices to ensure I'm getting paid
I no longer pay late fees for being late on my GST

A social media scheduler

When I lead social media workshops or work with clients on their social media strategies, I’m often asked about scheduling. Hey, I get it, you can’t always be at the ready to post on social media. Even when you’ve planned it all out and batch created your content and are good to go - stuff comes up.

There are a whole whack of scheduling tools out there to try out. I use Hootsuite. The free version lets you have three social media profiles connected so you can schedule your posts, tweets, grams, ahead of time. So, you can schedule to your Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and so on. If you’re looking to stay on top of your content strategy and put out consistent content, you’ll want to check out HootSuite.

Workflows

This one I’m about to share is a game changer. It’s my absolute favourite tool. It’s actually a system.

It’s not only going to save you a ton of time and make you feel like the most organized on-top-of-all-the-balls CEO ever, but it’s also going to eliminate a lot of human error that can cost you money or lead to things not going as smoothly as they could go.

Workflows.

Workflows are like having a project manager on your team. It’s like having a full time executive administrator making your life easier and watching out for all the small details that you with the millions of things on your plate might miss.

Creating workflows for your business is all about taking those big tasks you do and turning it into a sequence of events. It:

captures all the details and it captures when things need to happen and in what order so that you can stay on track and not forget anything.
anticipates any questions or issues that might come up and acts as a preventative measure.
breaks down big overwhelming tasks into step-by-step action plans.
Plus, if it is a task you do more than once, it saves a ton of time because you don’t need to reinvent the wheel every single time.

One workflow that I teach in my Content Marketing workshops is all about streamlining how you create content. For an example of a super simplified workflow for this...

Looking at the month, fill in any important dates (sales you’re having, holidays, events you’re hosting, “national days”, and so on.)
Using placeholders, map out which content pillars you are sharing when
Map out where your “sell” messages will go
Brainstorm ideas for content for each of the placeholders
Write the content
Find visuals
Proofread
Schedule all your content for the month

You can use workflows for client onboarding, you can use them for when you’re training new staff, you can use them for your monthly book keeping or quarterly business evaluation. Any task that you do somewhat regularly and you want to streamline, you can use a workflow for.

I teach how to use and create workflows in detail and much more fully in the Business Foundations Bootcamp. Plus, in that program, I share a bunch of my workflows so you get full access to project systems you can copy and paste for your business.

Want to build a profitable business? Finding a niche is a game changer.

If you’ve been reading, listening, viewing – whatever – anything business, you’ve probably heard a million people telling you to NICHE. To really focus on one specific audience, one specific service area, and so on.

This can be a scary thing, and is something MANY entrepreneurs struggle with.

There are a lot of fears and limiting beliefs that underlie niching, and that make it such a struggle for entrepreneurs.

There can be a fear or concern about limiting one’s income. We fall into the trap of thinking that if we are choosing to niche our audience, we are limiting our audience. If we choose to just talk to and create products and services for women, well aren’t we just cutting out 50% of the market and our potential income?

Another fear that underlies this struggle is one of limiting ourselves. By committing to a niche, we can feel that we are trapping ourselves in a box. Sure, we may want to offer life coaching now, but what if we want to teach yoga later? We often have many passions and skills, and choosing to focus those can feel scary.

So yes, niching can feel scary! It can be scary and daunting to feel like you’re saying no to potential customers. It can be scary to feel like you’re limiting YOURSELF and your passions.

But, niching is a game changer for your business.

When you niche, you choose your audience. You choose the people you are most passionate and excited about helping. And they will see that you choose them. Think about when you get a service or product: do you want something that is trying to please everyone and anyone? That’s general and vague? Or, do you want a business that specializes in you? That is skilled and experienced and focused on solving your problem and meeting your specific needs?

When you niche, you get to become really good at working with audiences that you are really excited about. And, what’s great is that there are enough of them. When you build your niche based on research, you can feel confident that there is a big enough audience for you to make your business sustainable and scalable.

Niching isn’t about limiting yourself or your business, it’s about clarity. It’s about getting really incredibly beautifully CLEAR on your business and your audience. This clarity will make it easy to build a brand you love and one that feels RIGHT. It will make it easy to build a website, to create content, to choose what services and products to offer. Being this CLEAR is essential if you want to be able to build something meaningful and successful and not get bogged down in overwhelm and the inability to make decisions.

Let me repeat that one more time: Niching is NOT limiting yourself or your business. It’s setting the stage for success.

And the amazing thing about having a business is that it is always growing and changing. Throughout the business lifecycle, you will constantly be measuring and tweaking your services, products, and approaches. This means that as your business grows and scales up, you may expand into new audiences and have new products and services.

Niching isn’t about limiting yourself. It is about focusing your efforts for success and pivoting and tweaking as you learn and grow.

Find your niche with these three questions

Ask yourself these questions to figure out your niche – or where you should focus your efforts. Download the free worksheet.

What do you love doing?

Like love so much that you are happy to make it your whole life – learn about it, wake up and read about it, talk about it all the time, and do day in and day out.

I always use this example when I am recommending my financial advisor to people – which I do a lot because he is awesome. Feel free to PM me if you want to know who he is.

He literally wakes up in the morning and reads about finances. THAT’S HOW MUCH HE LOVES IT.

You aren’t going to love what you do all the time, but if you’re building a business that you’re passionate about, you want to make sure that you are incredibly interested in it and want to learn about it and do it all the time.

What are you doing when you feel the happiest and most fulfilled?

Are you creating? Are you helping people feel healthier? Are you creating fitness plans or are you motivating in person a group of people and watching them get stronger every week?

I still remember my one yoga instructor who so clearly loved teaching a group of students, correcting their form, watching them be transformed through the class. I went back every time I could and I still miss him years later after moving because it was so obvious how much he loved it. I’ve also been to yoga classes where the teacher did not seem to love it. I’m sure they loved yoga but it felt like they didn’t really love teaching a class of people doing yoga – they weren’t modifying anything or checking alignment or helping any of us get better. Teaching classes probably was NOT a great focus for them.

What is the thing that makes YOU feel happy and fulfilled? Think back to jobs and projects that you have LOVED and ask why you loved them so much.

Who do you love working with? Who would you feel jazzed to work with day in and day out?

For example, if you’re a fitness coach, do you love helping young athletes excel and get to the point where they are competing? Do you love helping body builders compete? Do you love working with people who want to be healthier?

I was working with a coaching client in the fitness industry around this very thing. Once she realized that what really excited her was working with women who wanted to be healthy and were motivated to follow through but wanted her expertise and her motivating abilities to get them there, we could focus her services and her marketing.

That is the power of this question.

Really visualize who you enjoy working with and how you enjoy working with them. What is it that you’re helping them with? How are you making their life better?

Takeaways:

Niching isn’t about limiting your potential; it’s about focusing your efforts for success.
Niching is a game changer for your business.
Niching will help you to cut through overwhelm and indecision.
Ask yourself three questions to help find your niche!

Overcoming the fear of visibility as an entrepreneur

For many female entrepreneurs, visibility is a struggle. It is a challenge to put ourselves and our business out there. Whether on social media or at networking events, standing up and showing up can be something that we instinctually run from.

As women, we have been conditioned to be humble and to not take risks. When we take charge, we're told we are controlling or bossy.

All of this can result in a struggle to believe in ourselves, our abilities as CEO, and our vision. You might also struggle to self-promote, share your wins and successes and proudly tell the world about your special talents.

So, what can you do?

Hack limiting beliefs

Be your own devil’s advocate. What story are you telling yourself? What is at the root of that anxiety that arises when you think about being visible. Describe it in detail.

Now that you have uncovered the story...is there truth in it? What do you assume to be true? What part of the story makes you feel stuck every time? What do you really believe? Can you disprove the story you are telling yourself and give it less power?

Let yourself shine

Look back at the past year and think of three times you felt really good and proud about how a project went or how you helped a client with your business. Write out a statement describing each time and write out in detail the difference you made for that client or customer and how it made you feel.

Overcome self doubt with strategy

Ask your fans, your past clients, and your audience what they want to learn about from you. Use those questions and ideas to guide your content. When you focus on what your clients need, you can create content with more confidence.

If you are ready to tackle the mindset demons that are holding you and your business back, we're here to help you build an action plan and a strategy to put those unhelpful blocks on, well, the chopping block! Get in touch today for a discovery call!

Courageous Goal Setting

It’s goal setting season. Spring is here, the sun is out, and it’s time to get out of hibernation mode and chart the summer for your biz. We invited one of our favourite local entrepreneurs, Astrid Grawehr, partner and Director of Operations at Kryotek Arctic Innovation Inc. , into the studio to talk about business success and how the goal post for achievement may not always be what you think.

Astrid joined Kryotek seven years ago when mining was booming in the Yukon and “success” was easy to come by. But a shift in the market and a restructure later and her and her business partner were asking themselves “is that all there is?”. We talk to Astrid about having the courage to slow down, reset, and rechart the course to success that feeds all of ourselves.

Have a listen to our convo below and let us know how you set courageous goals.

Check it all out below.

Our Goal Setting Takeaways

Rolling with it is cool until it’s not.

Rolling with the punches is how many of us get our business off the ground. We have an idea or see an opportunity, we set things in motion and things get rolling. We run our business by responding to what’s happening instead of leady by creating what we want to create. This can totally work for some folks - and for many others you will eventually hit a wall where you find some piece of what you have created is not fitting - it's hurting instead of helping. That wall can hit you pretty hard if you are rolling fast. Hitting the breaks every so often is not a bad thing. Ask yourself if you are rolling in the direction you want to go or if you need to change course and you just might get where you want to go.

How do you know when it’s not working? Pay attention to the friction.
Where are you finding friction instead of flow? Are you feeling a tightness in your body, are you feeling sick all the time, are you constantly bumping into frustration and annoyance. Friction is a clue to let you know that something is not fitting or working. Follow the friction to find what’s not working and lean into your truest desires to get real about what will.

Setting Good Goals Means Being Really Honest with Yourself - and it might hurt.
When you are looking back and what is working and what is not it can be easy to fall into the trap of false motivation. By that I mean it can be easy to feel or see reward that is driven by what you THINK success should be. Other people’s idea of what success should look like. It can feel comfortable to be making a certain amount of money, or to be seen a certain way by you community. But if those things are not leaving you happy and feeling rewarded. If your health is suffering then are they good metrics for success for you? Questioning these things goes deep - into our values and motivations and our mindset. Your ego may get a little bruised in the process - but true reward and fulfillment are on the other side of hard questions.

Your fit and needs will evolve over time.
Goals and metrics that fit one day may not fit the next. Be open to your values and vision shifting. Allow those goals and ideas of success that no longer fit to float away and welcome in those that now feel like they do.

It takes courage to slow down and make space for reflection. It takes courage to ask yourself the hard questions and be honest. It takes courage to change your day to day activities towards a new goal. It all takes vulnerability and courage. The deeper we lean into that the more success - whatever that means to us - we can find.

How to start a business – a guide of things to consider before launching

So many people are starting a freelance business or side hustle of some sort these days, and we get questions almost weekly about how to set a business up, what steps to follow, and what things you need to know. Over the last week alone, we've gone over the basics with three people! So, we thought - it's time to dish the details.

This isn't a post about knowing your audience, marketing to the right people, or putting together an operations budget - more on those details later. This is a post about the legal and logistical things you need to consider and do in order to have a real, live business. What will your business name be? Should you incorporate? Do you need insurance? What is GST? How will people pay you?

There's a lot to consider but we have you covered. Whether you are launching the next big thing or setting up a small side hustle, the answers to your questions and the things you need to consider are in this guide. Download the SMRT Women Quick Start Guide for our basic primer on how to get started.

Caveat - we live in Whitehorse, Yukon so the steps that follow are relevant to our City. However, the basic steps apply anywhere in Canada. I recommend speaking with your local chamber of commerce or City permitting office to make sure you've crossed all of your "T"s and dotted all of your "i"s. This article is not a substitute for legal or financial advice. Please make sure you talk to a lawyer or accountant and talk to Government of Canada, your provincial/territorial business and your local municipal government as needed to make sure you have followed all the appropriate steps.

SMRT POP UPS and SMRT WOMEN makes no representations as to accuracy, completeness, correctness, suitability, or validity of any information in this article and we will not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this information or losses, damages or injuries, arising from its display or use. All information is provided on an as-is basis. The user must verify their own facts.

Tips for Public Speaking For Female Entrepreneurs

Whether you are pitching your idea to an investor, creating a sales video, sharing on a conference panel, or launching a keynote your ability to speak with comfort and confidence about your business or organization is an important skill to have.

In episode 4 of the SMRT Women podcast we sit down with Colette Acheson, local management consultant to talk all things public speaking. Colette is a business owner and non-profit manager several times over. She has honed her public speaking skills in the trenches and in Toastmasters meetings.

Check it all out below.

Just do it

The only way to get better is to just do it. Practice in front of a mirror, video tape yourself, practice for your friends - but know that no amount of practice except the actual act of speaking in public will be practice to get you more comfortable and more experienced. Welcome and invite any opportunity no matter how small to flex your public speaking muscles. Pick one thing you want to work on - removing your ums and ahs, working with your voice, figuring out how to hold your hands - and focus on it. Take every failure as a learning opportunity.

It’s a whole body project

When you speak your whole body is communicating. Take the time to explore how you stand and gesture with your body to communicate emphasis, but also pay attention to your voice and your jaw. Give them a proper warm up before you ask them to run a marathon.

Embrace the Pause

Take a deep breath before you begin. Slow your body down. Take a deep breath between parts of your speech - give your audience a moment to catch up - to let your words sink in. It feels like a million years up there when all eyes are on you, but it’s a short second for the audience and a welcome one.

It’s always about the audience

What does your audience need to feel and connect with to believe your credibility? Do they want to be entertained? How can you work with voice, presence and posture, language and storytelling to convey that and get the message across. Are you connecting? It’s important to learn to listen and observe as you speak so you can shift and pivot to keep the audience’s attention as you work through your presentation.

Networking Tips For Entrepreneurs

Networking serves such an important role in our business because it’s all about relationship building. Whether you are connecting with potential clients, mentors and business besties, or partners networking is a great way to meet new people and expand your business. But it can be daunting. Especially if you are introverted, don’t love big social events, or just feel awkward saying hi to new folks.

This week on the SMRT Women podcast we sit down with Patti Balsillie, a tourism, strategy, and engagement specialist. Patti has lived in the Yukon for over 30 years. She is the past Chair of the Arctic Inspiration Prize and currently sits on the boards of Destination Canada, Yukonstruct Society and Chief Isaac Companies. She is also a rock star networker so we brought her on to talk about how to networking well and how you can make it your friend - or at least your frenemy.

Check it all out below.

There are so many ways to network - pick one that fits your style

Networking can happen in so many different ways. You can go to a traditional mixer event, you can volunteer or serve on a board, you can connect with brands and people you love on social media, you can grab a coffee with someone you haven’t seen a while or want to get to know better- the bottom line is networking is about putting yourself in situations where you will meet new people. So pick a style that suits you best and run with it.

Go with a Goal

There’s nothing worse than heading to a networking event only to skulk in the corner all night, not talk to a single person, and then go home and mope about it. Ok - there’s a lot of things worse than that, but it still doesn’t make you feel good. Go with a goal in mind, a mission that you want to accomplish and you are much more likely to reach out of your bubble. Your mission may be to talk to three new people, learn something new, ask a question to some key people who you think will be at the event or even - dare i say it - have fun.

Bring a Buddy

Buddy system rules. Just make sure you don’t end up talking to each other all night instead of reaching out to new people. Use the fact that there is two of you to get brave and approach people. Try introducing each other so you don’t have to feel like you are self-promoting. Know each other’s goals and go for it.

Have an intro and an exit strategy

It’s totally ok to go with a few canned questions you want to try out on people - whether it’s talking about the latest community news, asking people their story, or discussing something that happened at the conference or event you are attending - go with a few questions in mind.

That being said, its very easy to get stuck in a convo that’s no clicking or going anywhere. Don’t be afraid to cut your losses and move on. Have a canned exit strategy (I’m hungry, need to go to the washroom, see someone I know…) and get outta there.

Know how you can serve and what you are looking for

Relationships are built on exchange. Go ready to share your story and tell people how you are excited to serve, share advice or info that you have online in groups if it’s helpful, and don’t be afraid to ask questions and let people know what you need - people are happy to tell you how they can help.

Tackle the busy business brain with mindfulness & meditation

SMRT Women Podcast Ep. 02 Mindfulness in Business with Ruth Lera

This week we are excited to welcome Ruth Lera to the podcast to talk about mindfulness and meditation in business. Ruth is an energy healer, mindfulness facilitator, meditation teacher, instructor of energetic self-healing, writer and boreal forest loiterer. She is the author of Walking the Soul Path: An Energetic Guide to Being Human.

In this episode, we talk about the busy business brain. Untamed, our brain can stay focused on the fear, spin us out, derail us, or stop us in our tracks. So many of us start our businesses with the goal of happiness, freedom, and living life on our own terms – the busy business brain can keep us feeling incompetent, not enough, and like we are always behind the eight ball.

So what can we do about it? How can we conquer those mind spirals so we can feel confidence and ease and pleasure in our business?

Take a listen to find out and see our hot tips below.

Accept the Journey – Failure is a given
Our brain likes to get so focused on the what ifs. What if people don’t like what I am doing and send me hate-mail, what if I don’t make any sales, what if I fall flat on my face in front of everyone. Mindfulness forces us to accept that these things will happen, or are already happening – failure is a given, life’s ups and downs are a given. The goal of mindfulness is not to make life perfect, it’s to strengthen our brain’s ability to roll with the punches with ease and flow.

Practice makes perfect.

Did you know that only 11 hours of meditation will change your brain? That’s like less than an hour a month. Mindfulness can be used in two ways to train our brains. Informally we can ask ourselves the two core questions at any point in the day: while we are driving, cooking dinner, playing with the kids, writing our next blog post. We ask ourselves the question and redirect to create an immediate shift. But this practice gets amplified when we do a formal practice – sit and focus on your breath in silence for 5+ minutes. We fire what we wire, and formal practice rewires our brains.

Think of it as a workout. Formal practice is going to the gym to build strength, and informal practice is focusing on your glutes and squat when you go to pick up something heavy at home. You need both to build strength over time.

Self -Compassion is key

Finally, none of this works if we are beating ourselves up for not being a “good” meditator. The goal of meditation is not a quiet mind – it’s a mind that notices our thoughts and actively chooses if we want to focus on them or something else. When the little voice says “ I suck at this” we are wiring negative thoughts. Our goal is to practice neutral observation -” I had a thought” and leave the judgments at the door.

Mindfulness is simple, but not easy. Five minutes a day of sitting with your thoughts can change you and your business – so why not give it a shot.

Do you have a mindfulness practice you use in your business? How does it help you? Any tips you would recommend for folks starting out? Leave a comment on the Facebook page. We’d love to see you there.

Overwhelmed by Too Many Ideas? Here are our top tips on how to stay focused and move forward.

SMRT Women is launching a podcast - eep! We will dish mindset, marketing and money tips and inspiration for your badass biz. Whether you are toying with an idea, just getting started, or a biz boss veteran you’ll find practical tools to demystify marketing, strategy and mindset to create the business of your dreams. Want to join us on a podcast? Get in touch and tell us your idea!

In our kick-off podcast we talk about idea overwhelm. If you are struggling with which business idea to pursue, drowning in marketing ideas you think you should try, or not sure which new program or product to launch, idea overwhelm can get us stuck - this one’s for you!

When we are stuck we don’t act. When we don’t act we don’t learn, we don’t grow, we don’t move our business forward. So how do we get unstuck?

Join Selene and Sofia as we talk about how to narrow your ideas, get clear on what matters to you, and clear the clutter so you can see success.

Let your strategy be your guide. Do the research, trust it, and always refer back to it

One of the best ways to sort out your ideas is to create a strategy that is your benchmark for yes and no. Strategy research gives you a solid sense of…

Your customers and what they want and need
Your business vision and values, what you want to achieve, and what feels good - what feels like success
Your business numbers, how much you want to make and your plan for doing it
The kind of social impact you want your business to have

Using these as your benchmark you can evaluate your ideas based on whether they will actually serve your audience, whether they will make you feel great and align with your values, and whether they will make you money or take your business in the direction you want to go.

This can help you clear the clutter, guide your creative mind, and stay focused.

Allow yourself to play, experiment, and fail.

No idea needs to be life or death. When we treat it that way we get locked into overwhelm and we don’t do anything. Take an experimental mindset. Try out the smallest version of the idea, observe what works and what doesn’t. If it fails, change it, scrap it, or learn and make it better. You might just be surprised at what comes. We learn by doing, not by sitting in our office coming up with ideas.

Let go of everyone else’s expectations

It’s so easy to get distracted by the bombardment of well meaning ideas from friends, loved ones, and all the business experts trying to convince you what to do. Well meaning ideas that start with “you should do…” or “your competition is doing xyz you should try it”.

All of these ideas can be wonderful and they MAY be useful to your business. They also may not. We can get stuck in marketing strategy FOMO or overwhelmed with the million ideas we SHOULD be doing. So much so that we get stuck and do nothing. When this happens a great place to start is to come back to ourselves. When we get clear on what is most important to us, the ideas We have for our business and what matters to us, we can use this as a rudder to guide our choices.

It’s not always easy but giving ourselves permission to shed the shoulds and do what feels right for us is a critical business muscle to flex.

Start with one Idea at a time

You have a million ideas for your business, from better marketing tools, to money-making ventures, to how you want to make change in the world. Where to start? With one idea at a time. Develop an idea parking lot - a place you can write down all your brilliant ideas.

Pick one - maybe the one that you are most excited about, the one that is easiest to implement, the one that will make you the most money or the one that is best related to your strategy.

Do it. You may get started and decide it doesn’t work. Then you get to move on to your other ideas, maybe it’s brilliant it goes amazingly and those other ideas that were bugging you fade into the background, or anything in between.

Have faith that each idea has its time, no idea will ever go stale or disappear if it’s important and you will learn and build on your ideas as you implement them.

Schedule your business for freedom and profits

Ever felt like your business was running you instead of the other way around?

You know - like your working way more hours than you want to doing stuff that doesn't feel that fun sometimes, or like when you just feel like you are a hot mess all over the place.

Yeah - that's a thing.

We've got some help. Check out the video for a quick and dirty scheduling exercise designed to get you thinking about the life you want to live and how you can design your business to give you the freedom you crave. Cause that's part of why you started your own business in the first place no?

Before we forget, here is a FREE downloadable worksheet to walk you through the activity.

4 Tips for Self Promotion

Self-promotion is not a four-letter word

Do you struggle to describe to people exactly what you do? Does the thought of telling others about your accomplishments make you cringe? Do you worry that someone is going to pull back the curtain and reveal you as a fraud at any time?

You are not alone! Many many women struggle to self-promote effectively. It’s like we are allergic to it. So much so that it tops the list of career blocks for women across all industries.

And yet, self-promotion is a critical skill - in landing that great contract, in selling your product, in building a community of champions who are connected to what you do and the impact you are trying to make in the world. We have to be visible for our businesses to succeed. Customers can’t buy what they can’t see.

We've pulled together our four top tips for singing your own praises to promote yourself AND your business:

Notice moments of pride and success. Did a client praise your work? Did you rock that contract? Collect these and save them...Make your own "I've SO got this!" scrapbook for a rainy self-doubt-y day!
Focus on the facts - what are some of the awesome things you accomplished? Did you handle a difficult situation with tact and ease? Did you sell a bunch of your product? Did you help someone achieve their goals?
Share your passion - speak to the why of your business. Do you love helping people feel healthier so they can have their best lives? Do you love feeding people delicious foods that light up their tastebuds? Do you love helping people tell their story through photos?
Frame it in terms of what you did for your client. Were they super lost when it came to healthy eating and why they were so tired all the time, and with just some small manageable tweaks to their diet they are now waking up bright eyed every morning ready to take on life?!

Remember: People want to hear your story. They want to know what you're up to and what it is that energizes you. So tell them! There's no "ick" in owning the facts of what you did, what it achieved, and why you loved doing it!

Category: Business

What the heck is a content bank?

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#1 My first big investment was hiring an accountant to do my taxes.

#2 Quickbooks - now that I have it, I canNOT imagine life without it.

#3 Advertising!

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A formula

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So, how do you set your Project Fee?

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First things first...

Stop comparing yourself!

Keep your eye on your Why.

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Is there a market for it?

Is there a business fit for you?

Is there profit to be had?

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A time tracking app

Quickbooks: the book keeper of your dreams

A social media scheduler

Workflows

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But, niching is a game changer for your business.

Find your niche with these three questions

What do you love doing?

Like love so much that you are happy to make it your whole life – learn about it, wake up and read about it, talk about it all the time, and do day in and day out.

What are you doing when you feel the happiest and most fulfilled?

Who do you love working with? Who would you feel jazzed to work with day in and day out?

Takeaways:

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Hack limiting beliefs

Let yourself shine

Overcome self doubt with strategy

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Ep 5 – Courageous Goal Setting

Our Goal Setting Takeaways

Recent Posts and Freebies for Your Business

Recent Posts and Freebies for Your Business

Ep 5 – Courageous Goal Setting

Just do it

It’s a whole body project

Embrace the Pause

It’s always about the audience

Recent Posts and Freebies for Your Business

Ep 5 – Courageous Goal Setting

There are so many ways to network - pick one that fits your style

Go with a Goal

Bring a Buddy

Have an intro and an exit strategy

Know how you can serve and what you are looking for

Recent Posts and Freebies for Your Business