What Works | Small Business Podcast With Tara Mcmullin

In This Episode: * Why Christianne Squires created The Light House, a community for contemplative leaders, and how it differs from her first business, Bookwifery* How she uses discernment to explore potential decisions and choose what action to take* How the way she creates value has changed in her new community-based business model* What she’s done to hone her skills for community building and how she sees her role in the business now Different kinds of businesses require different skills. Okay, maybe that’s obvious—but hear me out. I’m not talking about the skills that you offer as a product or service. I’m talking about the skills that you use to actually build and operate the business itself. Learning how to run a wholesale product business is different than learning how to run a creative agency is different than learning how to run a training company is different than learning how to run a digital products business is different than learning how to run a software as a service bus

In This Episode: * How writer Kris Windley learned illustration skills to level up the way she communicates* The process she uses to figure out what she’s going to draw and how it’s going to enhance her writing* The 3 ways she coaches herself through the hard parts in learning a new skill* Where she draws motivation from to continue to learn new things and level up her skills The very first online course I ever created taught students how to build a WordPress website. I created the course about 10 years ago before drag & drop page builders were the norm and before premium themes were easily customized. Back then, building a website was a special kind of skill. If you wanted something custom, you had to know some HTML and some CSS and you had to know where to put it to make it do the things you wanted to do. The first time I taught the class, the sheer newness of what was involved hit the students like a tsunami. They felt in over their heads and they were quickly drowning among the f

I have a confession to make. This month, I committed to speaking up on Instagram Stories every day. I pledged to share something–not necessarily profound, not necessarily useful or valuable–just something. I didn’t follow through. In fact, as of the time of this recording, I’ve been hiding out for more than a week–not really publicly posting anything anywhere. What had been a consistent effort to creatively share my ideas, reflections, and stories has ground to a halt. Today, we’re talking about all the things that keep us from speaking up–and how we can work through them. This is far from the first time I’ve gone dark on social media. It’s the first thing to go when I start to feel overwhelmed and depressed. I’ve been fighting back a period of depression for over a year now and it’s just gotten to be too much. There is something different about going dark this time, though. So far, it’s only impacted social media. And, frankly, I don’t need to constantly post to social media to ru

In This Episode: * How Rebel Therapist podcast host Annie Schuessler found her voice as a podcaster—and how her show has evolved over time* How she plans her content for her podcast and selects the guests she’ll have on the show* Why she decided to start pitching other podcasts to have her on—and the process she uses to do it* The techniques Annie uses to break through the fear of asking to be on other podcasts The number one way I’ve built my audience might surprise you. It’s NOT through especially useful or creative content. It’s not through some top secret ad targeting strategy. It’s definitely not through social media. It’s not even through this podcast. The number one way I’ve built my audience is by borrowing other people’s audiences. When I had a craft and design blog, I borrowed other people’s audiences by doing extensive write ups on makers I loved—who then enthusiastically shared that write up with their audience. When I started doing more business coaching & educatio

In This Episode: * Why Jessica Williams created #jesspicks, the curated weekly newsletter for sidehustlers who love their day job* How each edition of the newsletter is structured* Why going “all in” has been the key to growing her subscriber list* What her weekly workflow looks like to put the newsletter together* How curating the newsletter has helped her to find her confidence as a writer When you think about someone sharing their message, you think about the writers, the speakers, the artists. You think about people who are creating original work. We put a lot of pressure on ourselves to constantly be creating original work and finding something new to say. After all, that’s how we prove how valuable we are, right? But creating original work isn’t the only way to use your voice. Curators use their unique perspective and keen eye for connecting the dots to create value. They build and share their message by surfacing the work of others. They tell stories through the relationships b

I started my very first blog back on Xanga in 2003. I might be your internet grandma. I used my Xanga blog to share what I was thinking about my senior year of college and process a lot of the reading that I was doing about my field of study, contemporary and postmodern Christian theology. It was also full of personal updates and the musings of a 21-year-old young woman. Through my Xanga blog, I got to connect with people online. Some were old friends from high school. Others were strangers from the internet. It was exactly the kind of online social interaction that I loved as a hardcore introvert. Back when I was writing my Xanga blog, we were blissfully ignorant of the possibility that the companies that we used to facilitate this kind of online social interaction could conspire to use our data and online activity to manipulate us. All most of us saw was the possibility of a connected online community. I’m Tara McMullin and this is What Works, the show that takes you behind the scen

In This Episode: * How Tell Me A Story founder Hillary Rea realized that she’d let her message get watered down* Why trying to please people who weren’t really her ideal clients contributed to losing track of her voice* The concrete steps she took to take a stand and show up more completely* What she’s still wrestling with as she deliberately speaks up in more potent and powerful ways To quote the great Lin-Manuel Miranda: If you stand for nothing, what will you fall for? Whether you’re a Hamilfan or not, you get the gist: you have to be clear on your values and what you believe or else you risk getting caught up in what others what you to believe or how they want you to be. This applies in life, in politics, and—of course—in business too. And today, more than ever, people expect businesses and their leaders to speak up, to share what they stand for, to claim what makes them different, and to tell their stories without hesitation or equivocation. So this month, we’re looking at dif

This is our 300th episode of What Works! To celebrate, What Works host Tara McMullin and top podcasters, Emily Thompson (Being Boss), Elsie Escobar (The Feed, She Podcasts), and Jessica Kupferman (She Podcasts) came together for a live podcast recording. We looked back at 2020 and shared what we’ve learned about ourselves, our shows, and our businesses. Thank you so much for sharing this journey with us over the last 5 years! *** Emily Thompson, host of Being Boss, is a long-time business coach and creative warrior, helping retailers, makers, coaches, and designers develop an online business model and grow their creative business. She is also the founder of Almanac Supply Co., a retail business that makes and curates products that help people connect with nature. Elsie Escobar, co-host of The Feed and She Podcasts, is a die-hard podcast junkie who lives, breathes and works the medium, and has since 2006. She’s worked with hundreds of podcasters, sharing tools for better production, e

Very few small business owners start out as confident sales people. In fact, selling is quite often a new business owner’s #1 fear. Many avoid selling. Some stumble through it. And still others look to leaders and sales trainers to learn their methods and duplicate their models. In that process, they learn what works… but they often also learn that “what works” doesn’t necessarily work for them. All this month, we’ve been examining sales and selling–asking “what works?” when it comes to asking someone to buy what we’re selling. First, I talked with Autumn Witt Boyd who shared how she realized that she’d taken the trend toward sales automation a little too far–and has since developed a hybrid process that’s high touch without overwhelming her. Then, I talked with Katie Hunt who shared how she had a fabulous new offer launch without spending tons of money on advertising or recruiting an army of affiliates. Last week, I shared my conversation with Kate Strathmann where we both shared

This show is called What Works for a reason. Sometimes it’s a declaration: this is what worked for this small business. And often, it’s a question, “What works?” Today’s episode is very much a question, many questions, really: * What works when it comes to selling when you want to avoid manipulative or exploitative practices?* What works when your values conflict with many of the best practices of selling online but you still want people to buy your stuff?* What works when it comes to sales in a business that is actively anti-racist and anti-capitalist? And even more bluntly: Can you even sell things without causing harm or perpetuating harmful systems? My friend Kate Strathmann is the founder of Wanderwell, a bookkeeping and consulting firm that grows thriving businesses while investigating new models for being in business. Recently, Kate took a bit of a detour from how she’s used to building her business, which is 90% referral based and fueled by deep relationship- and community-bui

In This Episode: * How Katie Hunt adapted her largely events-based business in the wake of Covid-19* Why a product she’d been working on since December 2019 was the key to serving her people in the most valuable way* How Katie adjusted the messaging and marketing campaign to reflect the current state of affairs* A complete breakdown of the social media posts and email messages that made her sales campaign a smash when it was time to launch There are a lot of misconceptions about what it takes to launch and sell a new online course or program. Heck, there are a lot of misconceptions about selling in general—but this is just one podcast episode. “Launching”—depending on when and where you started your small business—means many different things. I’ve talked to plenty of people who swear it’s not a launch if you don’t have a Facebook ad funnel. Others will swear it’s not a launch if there isn’t a 3-part video series to warm up your audience. Still others will swear it’s not a launch if you don’

In This Episode: * How attorney Autumn Witt Boyd discovered that she’d over-automated the sales process for her law firm* The adjustments that she made to get her sales process back on track—and why she chose to put a human touch on it* What steps a potential new clients goes through in Autumn’s hybrid sales system* How her values are reflected in the way her business does sales now We all have a story about a bad salesperson. Ask my husband about buying a car and he’ll tell you about the time he and his ex-wife got trapped in a user car lot when they refused to make an offer on a car that was well over their budget. It’s cliche—but true. If this is the kind of story you think about when you think about sales, it’s no wonder that selling your own products or services would be a challenge. But this is not what your sales system needs to look like to be effective. You can be a kind, generous, and human sales person and be incredibly effective. This month, we’re talking sales. W

The market is constantly changing. New technology, new trends, new players. We can either treat the constant changing and uncertainty as a threat… …or we can treat it as an invitation to see everything we do as a work in progress. All this month, we’ve been looking at the process of value creation–how we wind up building the products and services we sell. We heard from Alisha Robertson about how she turned her book into the idea for a membership community. India Jackson shared how she she went from modeling to photography to running a brand visibility agency. And we heard from Michelle Markwart Deveaux about how she took a tried-and-maybe-not-so-true model for offering voice teaching services and turned it on its head to improve how she delivered value AND to make more money. Along the way, I also shared stories from my own companies about how things have evolved and what I’ve learned as things have changed about the ways I create and deliver value–from business support to podcast pro

Hey, it’s Tara McMullin, and this is a special bonus episode of What Works, the show that gives you a behind-the-scenes look at how small business owners take decisive action to build a stronger business. This is the third and final episode in a series on how I’ve approached creating and delivering value through the products and services I’ve offered over the years. In the first episode of the series, I shared how my most recent offer, a live program called The Commitment Blueprint, started as a personal life change, grew into a free webinar, and then transformed twice into a paid product. In the second episode, I gave you a closer look at my other company, YellowHouse.Media, and shared how and why we’ve taken on the productized service model. And now, as I close out the series, I want to share how The What Works Network has grown out of a long line of products and services that package small business support in different ways. Earlier this week, I spoke with Michelle Markwart Deveaux ab

In This Episode * Why voice teacher Michelle Markwart Deveaux refined her offer from a pay-for-service model to a value pricing model* How that shift changed how she packaged her services and what outcomes she focused on for her students* What she did to double her rates while deliver 3 times the value* How she started sharing her methods and business structure with other voice teachers and professionals Product development isn’t always about building something new. Often, it’s about taking what you’ve already built and making it stronger. You refine the packaging, the value proposition, the customer experience, the delivery mechanisms, and the price. Little by little, you create value simply through the process of excavating the most useful or transformative pieces of your offer and making sure they are as polished & refined as they can be. Refining the product or service you already offer can be as good—or even better—for giving your business a shot of energy as offering something

In This Episode: * Why Sean and Tara McMullin chose to “productize” their full-service podcast production offer at YellowHouse.Media… and what productized services actually are* What’s included in the package they offer–and why they don’t often custom or a la carte services* How the productized service model allowed them to quickly create a small group coaching program to increase their capacity and serve more clients Hey! It’s Tara McMullin and this is a special BONUS episode of What Works—the show that takes you behind the scenes of how small business owners take decisive action on building a stronger business. This is the second episode of a bonus series on how I’ve approached creating and delivering value through the products and services I’ve offered over the years. In the first bonus episode, I shared how my most recent offer, a live program called The Commitment Blueprint, started as a personal life change, grew into a free webinar, and then transformed—TWICE—into a paid product.

In This Episode: * How Flaunt Your Fire founder India Jackson takes a strategic approach to offering custom service packages without getting overwhelmed or burnt out* Why getting to know her potential clients really, really well helps her put together the right packages for their needs* How her “master list” of services helps her build bespoke engagements easily & efficiently* How she’s gotten her team involved with client-facing work and slowly let go of control Somewhere in the craze for online courses and making money in your sleep, service-based businesses got a bad rap. Of course, most of the bad rap really just came from marketers who convinced would-be business owners that passive income and infinitely scalable models were the only way to ensure they wouldn’t be overworked and overwhelmed by client work. The other reason, I think, that service-based businesses got a bad rap was that so many service providers weren’t very thoughtful or strategic in how they offered their services.

In This Episode: * How a significant life change for What Works founder Tara McMullin turned into an idea and then several iterations of offers* The process Tara used to turn The Commitment Blueprint process into a free webinar, then a paid template, and finally a live paid program* How a similar process is helping Tara and the What Works team continue to evolve how The What Works Network is structured* And why asking “What’s next?” doesn’t have to mean creating a brand-new offer but, instead, iterating on what you’re already selling This is a special bonus episode of What Works–the show that takes you behind the scenes of how small business owners take decisive action to build a stronger business. This is the first episode in a three-part series taking a closer look at what’s worked for me as I’ve developed a new ways to create and deliver value over the years, both here at What Works and now at YellowHouse.Media. Today I’m sharing how our latest What Works offer, a live program called The

In This Episode * How Alisha Robertson got the idea for The LOE Collective, a membership community supporting women business owners* The process she used to figure out how the community would take shape and what features she would include* How her course library & Intentional Success Path help members feel at home and in control* Why the pricing for the community has evolved over time “What’s next?” The first few dozen or so times I heard this question from a customer I was perplexed—even a bit concerned. Whether it was after a course wrapped up or a coaching engagement came to a close or a small group came to a close… …when a customer would ask me “What’s next?”, I worried that I hadn’t done my job. I thought maybe they wanted to know what was next because they hadn’t quite gotten what they came for. They hadn’t seen a real change or improved their situation. It took me much longer than I’d like to admit to realize what they were really saying was, “That was great. What else c

I had a Magic 8 ball when I was a kid. I wouldn’t say that I relied on it in any serious way… but, when my kid brain was trying to process some big emotions or sort through a sticky situation, I often pulled it out and asked it questions. Most of the time, the mysterious blue text that would emerge from the dark depths of the ball would give you some sort of definitive answer. Without a doubt. Signs point to yes. Don’t count on it. My reply is no. But there was another set of answers that just really left you hanging. The one that sticks out in my mind is “Reply hazy. Try again.” All things considered, “Reply hazy. Try again,” was probably the most accurate of Magic 8 Ball answers. You can ask the ball a question. You can shake it vigorously and beg for the answer you’re hoping for. But, in truth, the reply is ALWAYS hazy. The future is hazy. It’s unknowable. And that makes taking decisive action to build a stronger business much more challenging. But we have a choice. We can