What Works | Small Business Podcast With Tara Mcmullin

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Victoria Klein questioned her choices and assumptions to try some decidedly unexpected things in her business and life* Why she decided to go back to school to study Japanese and how the decision gave her a fresh perspective on her business* What’s happened to her level of confidence as she’s experimented and questioned her assumptions* Why her business is better off today than before she took these unconventional risks Assumptions, defaults, stories—I’ve had a number of conversations recently about the role unconscious choices play in how we run our businesses. Maybe your inbox is out of control and your calendar is jam-packed, so you go with the flow and assume you need to hire help. Maybe you tell yourself a story about keeping prices low so that more people will buy and sales will be easier. Maybe you default to following someone else’s business plan instead of getting creative with your own. Every single day—every hour, even—we’re presented with choices. B

The Nitty-Gritty: * Jodi Brandon took nearly 2 years away from full-time work on her small business to care for her dying mother* When and how she made the decision to step back from her business and step up for her mom* How she kept things going behind-the-scenes while she wasn’t working normal hours* Why her confidence took a hit when she returned to full-time work* What she learned about running her business through the process of returning & rebuilding her confidence Small business owners—especially women—take time away from work for all sorts of reasons. I’ve already spoken with Catherine Orr and her business partner Elena Rue, who took simultaneous maternity leaves. I spoke with Rebecca Tracy who takes extended time away for rock climbing and hiking. Others take sabbaticals or take time away to write books. On a regular basis, though—and much more frequently than I would have ever guessed as a clueless 26-year-old just getting started—small business owners take time away from t

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why attorney Victoria R. Clark decided to leap into her own solo law practice just 5 years out from law school* How she’s focused on working through her weaknesses and supporting her business with each new challenge* What happened when she realized that her prices were keeping her stuck and overworking* Why she believes increased confidence is the key to overcoming every obstacle she’s faced with her business Starting a business takes a real leap of faith. I don’t think anyone starts a business expecting to feel fully confident in what they’re doing. So we end up being fairly prepared to feel unsure and a bit anxious at the beginning. As the saying goes, you feel the fear and you do it anyway. Throughout this series on confidence, I’ve wanted to look beyond getting started and look at what happens when our confidence falters long after that predictable startup period. What happens when a new opportunity, a new goal, or a new idea causes our insecurity to come flood

The Nitty-Gritty: * How podcaster & coach Katie Linder uses her Radical Self-Trust framework to ensure her life and goals support her confidence* Why she finds confidence in sharing the work she’s most passionate about as she’s creating it* The 6 foundational pieces of the Radical Self-Trust framework* How she uses “cross walking” to match her to-do list with her values Showing up and being seen can be a real mind-bender. Every post we make on Instagram, every video we record for YouTube, every blog post we write, every email we send, every client consultation we do… They can all feel like an invitation to have others judge whether we have our shit together or not. So we work really hard to present as polished, professional, and confident. I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing. Looking polished, professional, and confident—whatever that means to you—is great. But it becomes a problem when the image you’re trying to portray becomes disconnected from what you actually

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Abby Herman, founder of Write Solutions, set her prices so low to begin with* How she realized she needed to raise her prices and how long it took to make it happen* What happened when she realized that her prices were only part of the problem and how her services have evolved since* Why Abby feels more motivated than ever to find a new level of satisfaction in all areas of her life and work Nothing can spook an entrepreneur’s confidence like setting a price. As soon as you come up with a number, your inner critic goes into overdrive: “It’s too high! They’ll laugh at us!” “It’s too low! It’ll bankrupt us!” “Is it really worth that much?” “Who do you think you are asking for money at all?” “What if they can’t pay?” “What if I lose sales?” “What if I’m wildly successful and can’t keep up?” As my grandmother would say: Good grief! If putting a price on your products or services—let alone raising your prices—makes you want to run and hide, all tha

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Hillary Rea, founder of Tell Me A Story, discovered her love of rich and nuanced storytelling* What she does to help new storytellers find more confidence in themselves and their ability to perform* What triggered a recent crisis of confidence and how its helping her move forward with growing her company* Why she’s channeling the confidence she feels in other aspects of life to provide the support she needs I shared my own crisis of confidence a few months back on Instagram. I wrote about how I felt at a loss with how to share our product with the people who needed it most. I’d spent 2 years trying to figure it out and I didn’t feel any closer to a solution. I was feeling stuck and inadequate. My friend Lou Blaser commented, “I had thought this was going to be a different post. Because Tara McMullin & ‘crisis of confidence’ didn’t compute in my brain!” Just last week, someone else told me that they loved my interview with Claire Pelletreau from Get Paid bec

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Edios Media‘s target clients have evolved over their 3 years in business* What happened with co-founder Michael Karsh and Elizabeth Madariaga got the chance to pitch a project for Google* Where Michael sources his confidence while working with giant corporations* What Michael and Elizabeth have focused on operationally to continue leveling up their service and their confidence Even in today’s digital world, when we think small business, we often think the mom & pop shop on main street. Or, maybe you think about the lawyer who drew up your will or the accountant who prepares your taxes. Even online, you probably think about coaches, designers, artists, educators, copywriters, and project managers. One thing all of these businesses have in common is that they’re person to person kind of businesses. Whether the person is walking through the door of a coffee shop or the person represents a business they founded, each transaction feels really personal. It’s a bu

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Jamie Varon decided to embrace an “effortful” attitude and put more intention into her work* Why living and working from France reset her satisfaction meter and helped her find a new level of confidence* Her weekly writing practice and how that habit has impacted her ability to show up and do the work* The results she’s experiencing—personal and professional—from embracing a new working style I used to find confidence in the fact that lots of things come easily to me. I taught myself how to play the piano as a small child. I could pitch a softball at 60mph without much practice. I got excellent grades without studying. I was given extra responsibilities at my first jobs. My default mode was to expect to good at whatever I tried. I expected things to be easy and effortless. Most of the time, this was good. It meant that I had the confidence to try new things or step up to a new level. But operating like this also had a serious downside. The downside

I opened my email and saw the message that brightens the spirit of any cross-country traveler: my upgrade was confirmed. Even better, this upgrade included my daughter. Lola has always loved flying but this was her first First Class flight. Of course, she had no idea what to expect when we boarded the plane. She was 6 at the time and small enough to sit quite comfortably in economy so she was dwarfed by the faux leather lounger she buckled into. She was thrilled. An hour later, the captain announced we’d be waiting at least another hour before we could take off. We were going to miss our connection to Portland. I was stressed and anxious. Lola had already fallen asleep while watching a movie on my iPad. I grabbed my phone and called the special hotline for United MileagePlus premium status holders. A cheery man answered the phone almost immediately. He already had my flight info and agreed that there was no way I was going to make my connection. He said, “I can see you’re

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in business… Any entrepreneur can suffer a crisis of confidence. Late last year, I felt woefully unprepared and underskilled for the task I had in front of me. I felt like I had been faced with setback after setback, with defeat after defeat. I’d spent 2 years trying to build what I saw as the answer to a huge, painful problem for small business owners. And I just couldn’t seem to get traction. I believed in the idea, the people, the systems, and the plan more than ever but I lost confidence in my ability to execute it. I was able to keep up a brave face for a long time… …but in early November, I collapsed in tears. My faith was gone and, without it, I didn’t know how to solve the problems in front of me. It was finally at that point that I reached out to my crew. I came clean. I got really honest. And I laid it all out for them. For me, getting honest was the path forward. Yes, my supporters comforted me, gave me new ideas, and asked

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Brazenist founder Brooke Roberts left rural Kansas for a life and business in global travel* What Brooke learned about planning and hosting events from her career and businesses* The exact process she uses to plan events for her business—whether they’re simple meet-ups or retreats in exotic locations* What mistakes she’s learned along the way and how they’ve changed her planning process The What Works team has a standing item on our weekly meeting agenda to discuss… events. Events have been part of my business road map for years but they never quite seem to take priority. We do run one annual event—our retreat to Whitefish, Montana with ambitious small business owners—but we’d love to run more regional meet-ups, live podcast recordings, and even a conference some day. I find the logistics of planning these events quite overwhelming. And, at the same time, I look at the brilliant people planning great events for their businesses—people like previous guests Lauren C

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Amy Scott, founder of Nomad Editorial and Nomadtopia, quit her office job and started traveling full-time back in 2004* How she ramped up from freelancing to running her own businesses* How the technology she uses has changed over the years—and made her location independent businesses easier to run* What an average week looks like for Amy (hint: there’s really no such thing as average…) This week, we’re indulging a personal fantasy of mine. Maybe it’s one of yours, too. We’re talking about packing up and leaving town—for good. We’re talking about hitting the road and never looking back. This week, it’s all about becoming a digital nomad. If you’re like me, every shiny Airstream trailer you pass feels like it’s taunting you. Every Ford Transit van that whizzes by brings about fantasies of custom build outs and months spent in remote campgrounds. Every adorable AirBnb listing that pops up on social media or in a magazine brings on thoughts of “Yeah, I could li

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Kate Leese and her husband decided to travel full-time in an Airstream while building Kinetics Consulting* How the logistics of running a business from the road have impacted their approach and operations* The tools and method she uses for managing their team—all full-time travelers themselves!* How Kate’s leadership style has evolved since starting the business and adapting to a new way of working A few months ago, I got a little idea. It seemed a bit absurd at first. But finally, I was able to give it a voice. I said to Sean, “What if we spent a month in Montana this summer?” I think his response was something like, “Wouldn’t that be nice?” A response like that is all I need to start the actual process of scheming something into reality. “Yes, it would be nice, and here is my 9-part plan for making it happen!” In order to spend a month on the road, I knew we’d need to keep working. I’d have some masterminds to facilitate, emails to write, and podcast

The Nitty-Gritty: * The day Kelly Higdon realized she couldn’t keep working at the pace she was working at* How she plans her year to prioritize her life—and then fits her business in the space left over* What she’s changed to allow for taking 3 months off from her business per year* How her business is different today thanks to her new working style We recently asked What Works Network members how many vacations they take per year. One vacation was a pretty common answer—always quickly followed up by the fact that work travel is often fun, too. Some said 2 was their minimum—plus plenty of long weekends. A few people admitted that they don’t regularly take vacations—and I’m sure plenty of other folks were silently nodding along with that side of the conversation. And a few others totaled up their vacations as accounting for at least 4-8 weeks out of the year! Sean and I normally take one vacation, one trip with light work—like the trip we’re leaving for in a couple of weeks—and ple

As you’re listening to this, I’m somewhere between the White Mountains of New Hampshire and Acadia National Park in Maine. Sean and I are celebrating our 1st wedding anniversary in the only way we how: in a National Park! That’s right, I’m on vacation—but that doesn’t mean the business comes to a standstill. We’ve worked hard to improve the operational efficiency and predictability of our business over the last few years and that means that I get to enjoy both my time off and the flexibility of my schedule on a daily basis. Plus, it means that my team gets to do the same. You’re listening to What Works, the show that gets candid about what’s really working to run and grow a small business today as told by small business owners themselves. I’m your host, Tara McMullin. We’re spending the month of July exploring the theme “On The Road.” Our goal is to look at how small business owners plan for time off, work from anywhere, and manage teams that are remote, too. I’ll tell you more about wha

The Nitty-Gritty: * What inspired Thien-Kim Lam to develop a subscription box and virtual book club for a niche audience* How she channeled her love of romance books and her experience selling adult toys into the subscription she would have loved to buy herself* How she’s connecting with the right people using a Facebook group, author partnerships, and savvy content marketing* Where she’s run into trouble with her niche The first business idea I ran with was a blog for makers and artists in Pennsylvania. I was smitten with the new maker movement and I figured that highlighting “made in PA” goods would be an easy way to engage with the community. I was right. “Made in PA” wasn’t just the perfect constraint on who to feature. It also served as a constraint for who the audience for the site was too. I was writing about Pennsylvanians for Pennsylvanians. I had no idea at the time just how savvy this business decision was. I immediately connected with incredible people. And they

All this month, we’ve been talking about building an audience here on the podcast—and we’ve been asking members of The What Works Network, well, what’s working for them when it comes to audience-building and marketing their businesses. Some people have told us that keeping it simple and focusing on just one technique has paid a lot more dividends than trying to be everywhere and do everything. Others have told us that video, like showing up on Instagram Stories, Facebook Live, or YouTube, has helped them reach new people. Plenty of folks told us that the most important thing they do to build their audiences is reaching out to new contacts one at a time. Still others told us Facebook groups, guest teaching, virtual coffee dates, in-person events, or asking for referrals and recommendations are their sweet spot. Clearly, there is no right way to build an audience today. That can be comforting for sure. Those of us who are naturally questioners, rebels, and skeptics don’t have to mold

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Eli Trier embarked on her first community project—and the results she experienced from that first project* How facilitating community projects help her reach important business goals and build her audience* The exact process Eli uses to put together each project* How community projects differ from less effective marketing tactics like telesummits When I first heard about this idea of a “community project,” I was dubious. It sounded an awful lot like an telesummit—which I’m on the record for calling bad marketing. My beef with the vast majority of telesummits or online summits is that they’ve evolved to serve the needs of the organizer—and nearly no one else. If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, it’s when someone organizes an online event, solicits a bunch of speakers with good-sized email lists, and then has those speakers promote the event so that the organizer’s list grows by leaps and bounds. The pitch emails I still receive for telesummits—even after

The Nitty-Gritty: * How Rachael Kay Albers got the idea to create a “business comedy show“* Why Awkward Marketing really stands out—even when plenty of other marketers are using video to promote their businesses* How the show supports her web design & digital marketing studio, RKA ink* The start-to-finish process she uses to produce each season of the show* How she finds new videos and measure the success of the show Lots of people want to know how to stand out online. Few people put in the time and effort to actually stand out. What I’ve discovered over the years is that standing out is never the product of following whatever trend is lighting up social media or taking the blogosphere by storm. Standing out is incredibly personal. Anytime I’ve tried to play the game, I lose. Anytime I make up my own rules, I win. This podcast is no exception. I could have chosen to play the game of getting the online business world’s biggest stars to talk about their own pet projects

The Nitty-Gritty: * Why Kim Herrington believes start content creation is the key to building your audience and getting off the social media treadmill* How she used 20 targeted articles to boost a website’s traffic by 1000%* The tools she uses to discover what to create content about and the technique she uses to maximize their potency for search* How she bridges the gap between social media and SEO to get the best results Social media success isn’t the same as business I spend about an hour every morning looking through news and culture websites. I hit CNN, Slate, and Vox, and then I open up Apple News to see what I might be missing from more unusual sources. The other day, an article on Buzzfeed caught my eye. First off, yes, I love me some Buzzfeed. Sometimes you just need cute dog pics and funny parenting tweets to bring a smile to your face. This article was neither about cute dogs nor parenting tweets. It was about an Instagram influencer with over 2 million followers who