What Works | Small Business Podcast With Tara Mcmullin

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 things that don’t scale.” That’s the advice that Paul Graham, co-founder at startup accelerator Y Combinator, commonly gives to founders. “Do things that don’t scale” just happens to sound like the opposite of what many digital small business owners fret about when they exclaim, “but that doesn’t scale!” Here’s the thing: if we spend all our time worrying about what does and doesn’t scale, we don’t take the very necessary steps to get to the place where scaling is even an option. Today, we’re examining customer service that might not scale but has helped the company create massive growth.

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 heard the phrase, “Surprise & delight…” …I was being trained on Starbucks & Seattle’s Best Coffee company culture. Our trainer—who was excellent—told us that we were empowered to look for little ways to surprise and delight our guests. Whether that was delivered a freshly brewed cup of coffee to the table they were sitting at or simply taking the time to learn our regulars’ names, the expectation was set that we would go above & beyond. The “surprise & delight” mantra has stuck with me over years of running my own company. I’m not as good with stylish gifts or personal notes th

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 significant business growth I’ve been building websites with WordPress for almost 11 years now. In the beginning, I used the cheap web hosts you’re probably already familiar with—I won’t name names, though. I relied on the support those web hosts offered to teach me just about everything I know about name servers, MX records, cPanel, and common errors you get when screwing around in the backend of WordPress. I asked, they answered. Then, something changed. Over time, the support got less and less reliable. It got less and less helpful. It was less and less personable. And somewhere alo

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 upholding your own boundaries on a regular basis Underpromise and overdeliver. It’s a sound strategy for wowing your customers… …but it can also be a recipe for burning out. Unfortunately, plenty of well-meaning small business owners take the “underpromise & overdeliver” mantra to extremes—especially women. They bend over backwards to make sure their customers are happy—even if their boundaries and values are being trampled. I’ve seen this phenomenon up close & personal many times. I’ve also seen how taking the uncomfortable step to establish clear boundaries, charge prices that are approp

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 model to just 2 packages and how that’s helping her create better client experiences All told, I spent about 12 years of my life in retail and customer service. I was a pharmacy technician dealing with sick, scared, and overwhelmed pharmacy customers at the ripe old age of 16. I was cashier at Kohl’s, often stepping in for the cashier supervisor and hawking credit card applications without understanding the damage those credit cards were going to do to the people applying. I worked in a tiny jewelry shop in the upscale Hotel Hershey. And I worked my way up for barista to manager at a Borders Boo

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 constant in business and entrepreneurship, it’s that stuff happens. Things go wrong. We make bad choices. The market shifts. An employee leaves. The big client gives notice that they’re terminating your contract. We can’t always prepare for what’s going to go wrong—but we can work on becoming more resilient when bad things do inevitably happen. This month, we’ve been sharing conversations all around the topic of resilience. We’ve looked at why we don’t push through to our goals and finish the projects we start. We’ve explored the natural and not-so-natural pivots that happen over time

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 model she has today I am really willing to do that? I pulled myself out of bed this morning at 5:30 and went downstairs, anxiously awaiting my first cup of coffee. I put the water in the kettle, fired up the burner, and prepped my Aeropress. At this point, I realized the dishwasher needed to be emptied. Now, I am not the kind of woman who does household chores unprovoked. In fact, some serious provoking is usually what it takes for me to do things like fold the laundry, sweep the floor, or return the accumulation of water glasses on my desk to the kitchen. I’m not proud of this. It’s just th

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 conscious and working to manage it productively Wait, my anxiety isn’t normal? We were driving along Interstate 90 somewhere between Chicago and Minneapolis on the hottest day of the summer. Sean asked me, “Can you remember a time when you didn’t feel anxious?” I paused. I thought. I looked back over the key periods of my life. “Well, no. I can’t remember a time I didn’t feel anxious,” I finally responded. Honestly, I was surprised. You see, I’ve spent my whole adolescent and adult life being hyper-aware of my history of depression. Even when I’m feeling good, I’m on the look out for th

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 late in the game—and how that decision helped him take the company to the next level Let’s talk about your fantasies. Most ads that grace your Facebook or Instagram feed are selling every business owner’s fantasy: more money with a heckuva lot less work… get paid to be you… use this 3-step formula to finally find true freedom. Most of those ads look pretty much the same because they’re selling an end result—an outcome that inspires you to buy. There are photos of beautiful destinations. There are videos with soft, natural lighting. There are charts that only point upward. What most ads leave out

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 expectations Starting a business is a risk. Running a business is a risk. Growing a business is a risk. Ostensibly, we’ve all signed on for this risky life as an entrepreneur. But, we often find ourselves searching for certainty and hunting for the “sure thing.” We do it every time we think another $2000 course is going to answer all our questions about building a successful business. We do it every time we wait a few more months to launch a new offer into the world. We do it every time we avoid reinforcing a boundary because it might upset a client. In our last episode, Episode 241 w

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 Charlie coaches his clients through when they fail to reach an important outcome We all procrastinate, avoid, and hesitate from time to time. If you’ve ever stared at an empty email trying to figure out the exact right thing to say… If you’ve ever avoided a networking event because you weren’t sure how everyone else was going to be dressed or whether you’d feel like you belonged there… If you’ve ever hesitated to share your thoughts in a comment because you didn’t know how you’d be received… Well, you and I have a lot in common. Maybe your list isn’t the same as mine. Maybe there are other

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 don’t get worked up about getting older nor am I one for big birthday celebrations or rituals. But this year, it really hit me just how much growing up I’d done in the last 12 months. I’ve done a lot of work on myself. And that’s led to a lot of very practical work being done to the business, too. I’ve examined old stories that were still controlling my thoughts and actions. I’ve looked at the shadow side of my strengths. I’ve questioned myself, my motivations, and my goals to make sure I’m blazing my own trail and not chasing someone else’s idea of success. And, like I said, this wasn’t just

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 for an iced latte with the first 10 bucks I made with my business. From there, everything I earned went into the family kitty. I started my business with a vision of paying myself… and not much else. Many years later, this is the #1 thing I regret from those early business years. Had I spent more time considering where I was going and how I could reinvest in my business to get there faster, I think I’d be in a very different place right now. That said, I don’t beat myself up about it. I did the best I could with the information I had at the time. Today, I do things very differently. I inv

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 company What you do doesn’t have to be magic. One of my all-time favorite quotes is Arthur C. Clarke’s third law: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” I love this idea because not only does it apply to the iPhone in my pocket or the car that plays music from that phone as soon as I turn the key. But it also applies to the work we do on a daily basis. I’ve heard from so many small business owners over the years that what they do for their clients can feel like magic. Maybe you feel that way too. You don’t know exactly how it happens… but you get on Zoom with a

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 more writers in much less time Scaling up often requires zoning in. What I mean is that, most of the time, a business doesn’t actually scale up the whole of what can do. It scales up one small piece of the puzzle. The result might be focusing on a particular outcome you can create for clients. It might be focusing on a particular aspect of your methodology. It might be creating leverage from a particular component of the brand. It might even be a particular feature or component of your value proposition. And, quite often, businesses choose the wrong thing to focus on. A business that’s not ope

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 plenty of special snowflakes out there. And before I inadvertently offend you, let me explain what I mean. A special snowflake business is one that’s focused on the unique talents of the owner. It’s the “only you can do what you do” mantra so many fluffy business classes preach. When you have a special snowflake business, customers buy to get a piece of you. They want what you can do for them. Look, some people genuinely like it that way. Cool. But special snowflake businesses don’t scale. Oprah is truly special—but she didn’t create a culture-shifting television show, her own entertainment

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 about building a team and documenting our business systems… …I signed up for Asana. If you’re not familiar, Asana is a project management system that tons of people were raving about at the time. They claimed how organized it made them. they said how wonderful it was to have a checklist of everything that needed done in front of them. They loved being able to assign deadlines and delegate tasks. That all sounded marvelous. But my experience of Asana was… not so great. No matter how hard I tried to “be good”—check off all the boxes, stick to my deadlines, and process my tasks, I’d end up falli

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 equilibrium between the energy she puts into the business and the energy she receives from it To scale or not to scale—that’s really not the question. At least, it’s not the first question you need to ask about the direction you want to take your business. As we mentioned in Episode 232, Sean and I are choosing to prepare our new company for scale is because it will help us live the lifestyle we want to live and do the kinds of work we want to do. Callie Willows mentioned in our last episode that one of the reasons the Member Site Academy works so well for The Membership Guys is that it supports the life

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 after month for the same product? That’s the promise of a membership site. You set it up, convince people to join you, and they pay—and pay again, and again, and again, and again. You tend to the group and the money just keeps coming. Now, if you’ve already guessed that this is—in fact—not the reality of building and running a membership site, you would be correct. Creating any kind of subscription-based product has the potential for a huge payoff with healthy profit margins. But actually building the business that allows that to happen is a different story. Building a subscription-based

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 small, too. Today, we’re kicking off a month focused on scaling up. We’re examining the misconceptions, the assumptions, the biases, and—of course—the many ways that small business owners today are scaling up. And no—it’s not all online courses or apps. If you’ve been thinking about how your business can have a bigger impact, serve more customers, and make you more money… …but you’re at a loss of how to do that without running yourself into the ground or sacrificing your values… …this month is dedicated to you. To start this month, I have a confession to make. I started a new