Digital Business Breakthrough

This week's conversation is with the incredible Tamara Zantell - an official corporate dropout who helped her nine-year-old daughter turn her kitchen table hobby into a multi-million dollar brand.

She has advanced knowledge in launching an international brand generating revenue, partnership development, and preparing young moguls and families for business success. She is also the founder of “Raising a Mogul LLC” and “Ram Brand Management”.

When you listen you'll discover:

• How Tamara went from working 20 years in corporate to helping her daughter build her business from a small homemade hobby into an international brand!
• Tamara’s big fat failure when starting out in business
• Why going into business with a partner was a huge disaster
• How to have hard conversations

And SO much more!

Enjoy!

This week's conversation is with the amazing Kristin Ingram - a small business mama, who owns two businesses, a tax consulting firm, and digital media company, and helps moms create a full-time income while their kids are napping.

Kristin's story is one of true resilience. In this week's episode, Kristin shares with us her journey from drowning in $200,000+ debt to thriving online business owner.

When you listen you'll also discover:

• Valuable lessons learned from running a $37 a month membership program and why Kristin would never do it again
• 3 things every business needs to be successful
• The number one thing that keeps most business owners from achieving their dreams
• How Kristin was able to overcome imposter syndrome

And SO much more!

If you feel stuck in your business and in need of inspiration, this week's episode is for you.

Enjoy!

This week's conversation is with the amazing Karen Gilbert. Karen is a fragrance expert. She is an author, teacher, and speaker, who runs courses in the UK and online that demystify the secret world of perfumery.

Karen’s expertise is so unique, but her experience getting there is incredibly relatable.

Throughout our conversation, Karen spoke about what brought her to the business she has today, and the invaluable lessons she learned along the way...

Listen in as Karen breaks down 6 actionable steps to finding clarity in your business when you feel like every day is throwing something new at you which you don't have the capacity for (even though I promise you do!)

Have you ever felt alone being an entrepreneur? Maybe you have a spouse who you wished would be on board with all your ideas, but just doesn’t seem to get it… You are not alone!

Welcome to another episode of the Fail Forward to Success series! In this episode, I had an amazing conversation with, Colleen Kochannek, the founder of Scrappy Frontier, where we spoke about empowering ways to learn how to embrace failure and use it as a tool instead of a barrier to your success. 

Colleen Kochannek is an inspiring woman, who started her first online business after getting laid off from nearly a three-decade-long corporate career when she was almost 50. 

She is the founder of Scrappy Frontier, where she helps women from the typewriter generation become successful laptop entrepreneurs. She is on a mission, my friends, to help other women change their lives by starting their own business. And let me tell you, I am inspired!

Colleen and I shared our love for failures, and throughout this conversation, agreed that there is so much more we can learn from failure than we can from success!

So, let’s dig a little deeper, and really understand how our failures are actually a tool to help us find more success in business…

Enjoy!

Welcome to another episode of the Fail Forward to Success series! In this episode I had a very special conversation with multi-talented wife, mom, and entrepreneur, Veronica Romney.

Veronica is a 12-year branding and marketing veteran who combines her brilliant vision with expert execution. She has shared her talents with many influential brands, including Sprint, Marriott, and IMAX. Veronica is the founder of “My Modern Brand”, a branding and marketing education company that helps great people and great companies clarify their brand message, find their unique brand voice, and market themselves authentically.  

In today’s conversation, I asked Veronica the standard question: What is one big failure you can share with us, and how did you learn from it? 

But this conversation was nowhere near standard…

Veronica and I took a journey through the hardships of creating and managing a company with your spouse, to working to find balance when you naturally have a very driven personality. The central theme throughout everything Veronica shared was learning how to accept, function, and succeed in a space that might often feel out of balance. 

Enjoy!

Welcome to a brand new series of the podcast - “Fail Forward to Success”.

This series is all about changing our relationship with failure. Failure can be a really hard word for many people to face, but I think the worst thing we can do is NOT talk about it. 

I named the series Fail Forward because that’s actually what failures help you do - they help you move forward and create opportunities to learn.

Today is really special for me because I get to share my amazing conversation with Julie Stoian. If you are not familiar with her, she is a digital marketing expert and coach, and someone I am lucky to call my mentor. Julie is currently making her mark all over the internet. She is the co-founder of several popular online business brands such as, Create Your Laptop Life, Funnel Gorgeous, Digital Insiders, and more…

Julie has inspired 1000s of incoming business owners with the skills and strategies they need to create, build and grow a profitable online business. She has been featured on media outlets like Anderson Live, BBC World Have Your Say, and Rachael Ray, as well as numerous business and marketing podcasts and blogs, such as Content Academy, Boss Moms, GoDaddy Garage Blog, and Funnel Hacker Radio. 

In this episode, Julie shares a goldmine of knowledge. Listen in as Julie takes us through some of the most pivotal moments in her professional life that have ended up being some of her best learning and growth opportunities… You’ll want a notepad and pen for this one!
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If there is one thing I know for sure it’s that being an entrepreneur is HARRRD but it's also the most rewarding thing ever. Today I want to talk about the waves of entrepreneurship. Where one moment you feel on top of the world and the next moment it feels like a hurricane knocked you off of your feet and the next moment you want to go back and get a job but you smack yourself because you know you are worth more than any job and have a bigger mission to accomplish, motivate yourself and get back on top of the world again and that's just before lunch hahaha.

This is totally normal and you are not alone. It's hard to be an entrepreneur and I think women have an even harder time trying to balance it all and be the leader of your family. Here is the thing, most of us think there is something wrong with us because we are in the never-ending cycle of mom guilt and the ups and downs of running a business. 

I think some people fantasize that one day they will get to a spot in their business where everything is rainbows and unicorns but the reality is you will always have crap come up in your business and life. One of my favorite quotes is “Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning how to dance in the rain.” I think we need to remind ourselves that it is a journey and not a destination.

Once you figure all the crap out in your business, it’s time to grow again and that becomes uncomfortable again. We need to learn how to embrace the journey. It’s hard to keep our emotions in check, but once we learn how to do that, things don’t seem that bad anymore. 

I want to share a little story with you…When I was in the middle of my real estate company crashing to the ground, it was one of the hardest things I have even been through until years later when my 11-year-old son at the time was hit by a truck and I would say that was the new worst phone call ever - but he made it through it…that’s a whole other story for another time. 

Back to the collapse of my business. It was a dark time and I had so many horrible things happen in such a short period of time. We even had someone who had embezzled from us, when confronted, threatened our young family.  One of the things that helped me get through that time was music…I am not a country music fan but my hubby sure is and one day a song came on by Rodney Atkins and while this song has nothing to do with business it was describing my feelings at the time perfectly. I listened to that song on repeat daily. 

Rodney Atkins “If You're Going Through Hell.” And let me tell you, if you ever find yourself in a spot where you feel like your back is against the wall, go listen to that song.

Anyways, I have found that over the years, continuing to work on my mindset and my emotions has helped me so much.

So here are a few things that have helped me that I wanted to share with you.

In Today's episode, we are talking about financial planning for your business and your family. I don't know about you, but I love reflecting on my past year and setting goals for the new year ahead. I am sharing how I budget and plan my finances, and I will tell you the steps you need to take to get your finances on track!

Episode Highlights:

00:01:08 My #1 lesson from losing millions of dollars.

00:02:09 Fixing my toxic relationship with money.

00:03:48 You have a dysfunctional relationship with money.

00:03:56 Covid pounds and money.

00:05:46 Shift your mindset around money.

00:07:54 Start a budget!

00:08:24 On Friday’s we finance.

00:09:02 Dave Ramsey’s Every Dollar

00:10:00 3 Steps you need to get on track.

Hello my friends, I don’t know how it came up so quickly but the holiday season is in full swing and this year will not be like other years. I wanted to talk about being present for the holidays this year and how to show up differently. Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. I love the decorations but more importantly, I LOVEEEEE our traditions. We have traditions we do as an immediate family and traditions we do with our extended family and this year will be different to say the least. 

As a busy mom and entrepreneur, I always need to remind myself to slow down around the holidays and soak it all in. In this episode, I cover 3 ways you can show up and be present this year that will make your heart happy.

Have you ever had fear of failure hold you back or maybe you are like me and had some massive failures that left you traumatized to try again? Well if either is the case today we are going to put that crap to bed so that it doesn’t have a hold on you any longer. Today we are going to redefine the "F" word!

Here is the thing...in society we are not taught to celebrate failure. We are taught from a young age that it is bad and wrong and we should feel horrible about it. The truth is failure is part of success. As long as we learn from it we should celebrate it.

Episode Highlights:

[00:48] Have you ever had fear of failure hold you back?? 

[00:52] Massive failures can leave you traumatized.

[01:47] The iceberg image.

[03:20] Famous Failures.

[04:27] He missed more than 9000 shots in his career.

[06:11] Maybe I should just do something else.

[09:11] A PhD in resiliency.

In today's episode, I chat with Ashley Buffa, home systems extraordinaire, and mother to 10.

When we met Ashley had some past experience using Ads for her business but there were a lot of loose ends that needed tying up. She was ready to spend money on ads and gather as much data as possible with the expectation of losing her initial spend. Much to Ashley's surprise, she ended up making all her money back PLUS the first time we worked together.

After working together Ashley was able to leave her job at Click Funnels and pursue her own successful business full time.

Ashley and I chat about the magic of Ads and she shares her best advice for everyone just starting out.

Episodes Highlights:

[02:09] Ashley's Ads Experience

[04:18] The first 30 days

[5:27] Just a funnel away

[06:22] The power of believing

[07:24] Playing Monopoly

[09:10] The biggest mistake you made with ads?

[12:03] You need to be involved in your ads

[14:07] Ashley's advice for someone starting out

[17:10] What's next for Ashley

You have heard of the saying: give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. This statement is so true with business & marketing. As entrepreneurs, we wear so many different hats and it’s easy to get overwhelmed and want to get out of the weeds of your business. You hear experts all the time say you need to free up your time and outsource.

In Today's episode, we are talking about The #1 Thing You Should Never Do When Running Paid Ads and the answer might shock you. 

If you outsource your ads before you understand what makes them successful you are at the mercy of someone else & that my friends are a recipe for disaster!

So let's jump in and talk about it!

[00:57] We can't do it all! ...or can we? 

[02:35] How I learned the hard way when outsourcing parts of my business.

[05:37] When marketing is the foundation of your business.

[06:47] An expert is not always an expert, in YOUR business.

[08:29] The #1 thing you should never do when running paid ads!

[10:16] Owning your leadership.

[11:04] Being able to feast for a lifetime.

Today's episode is going to help you find the confidence in yourself to put yourself out there or keep putting yourself out there no matter what happens.

Putting yourself out there is uncomfortable but extremely rewarding. It’s so easy to think of all the million reasons why you shouldn’t do it. If you go there and let your worst-case scenarios play out in your head and you figure your way through them they no longer have power over you.

The truth is most people aren't afraid of failure they are really afraid of success and they don’t even know it! It’s so unfamiliar and scary and your brain likes to keep you safe and protected.

So how do you start believing in yourself?

Tune in to today's episode and hear how I gained my confidence back and moved towards success in business again.

Episode Highlights:

[ 1:40 ] I know what it's like to hide.

[ 3:00 ]  What if people don't buy what I sell?

[ 4:30 ] You won't be everyone's cup of tea, and that's ok!

[ 5:15 ] An uncomfortable reward

[ 6:00 ] How do you start believing in yourself?

[ 7:00 ] The Bamboo Story

References:

You hear people sharing their amazing launch numbers all the time and maybe you wonder how the heck do they actually pull it all off. 

I have had the privilege to be part of a handful of seven-figure launches and today I want to share with you some of the secrets that contribute to hitting all those zeros because in today's episode it's all about the secrets behind a seven-figure launch. 

So go grab a pen and paper & let's get started!

Episode Highlights:

[1:17] Have you tried a launch and been disappointed with the outcome?

[2:41] Create a detailed launch plan

[3:50] A must-have list builder!

[6:59] BUDGET, BUDGET, BUDGET

[9:04] Nurturing Content

[9:33] Sprinkle Testimonials Everywhere

[11:22] Retargeting Ads Strategy

[14:19] Recap

Are you targeting the right people? This is the first thing to examine if your targeting is off your campaign will suffer.

In today's episode, we are going to talk about how to know if you are ready to run paid ads and how to bounce back if you have tried them and think they won't work for you.

If you have ever wondered if and when it's the right time to start running paid ads then this episode is for you. Paid traffic lets you grow at warp speed once you have your funnel dialed in. I'll be sharing my first-hand experience with you about how I started and what led me to find success using paid ads for my clients.

Episode Highlights:

[1:08] Years ago I got thrown into Facebook ads and I was a deer in headlights

[4:04] Fast forward a few years later

[4:50] My top questions I ask before you know you're ready for paid ads.

[6:16] Are you targeting the right people?

[7:17] “Ohhh no way, I tried before it was a nightmare."

[9:20] Over 1500% return on ads

[13:00] Understanding Facebook.

[13:50] 300 audiences that you can try, and my go-to custom audiences just for you!

References:

In today's episode, I chat with a now dear friend and one of the few clients I still work with. We are going to share her business success story.

When we met Amy had a very successful business that was making great money but on the inside, Amy was exhausted and overwhelmed and not feeling the joy she deserved to feel as a business owner. This was all in the way of her scaling her business and growing it to its full potential.

Since we have started working together, the growth and freedom Amy has found in her business is incredibly inspiring and makes all that I do so worth it! She can now continue to scale her business without the chaos. 

 Episodes Highlights:

[1:13] Amy's awesome business

[2:31] How we met

[5:06] The start of Amy's journey from stress to success

[8:55] Amy's transformation toward CEO mindset

[11:14] Taking the time out that you need during personal tragedy and having a self - sustaining business 

[14:14] The beauty of a thriving business

[18:12] Dipping your toe in Ads

[21:44] What is your favorite part of your business

[23:36] Ads! Ads! Ads!

[25:39] Setting up systems

[32:15] Numbers represent the value that you are offering

[34:31] Perfection is an illusion, you just need to take action!

[36:25] Amy's greatest advice 

In today's episode, I want to talk about digital marketing! One of my favorite sayings is marketing is math, it is so easy for us to get personally and emotionally involved in marketing and in your success or failure. 

It's time to take failure out of the marketing vocabulary because to me it is either you've learned or you've gathered data. 

If you have gathered data, you can learn how to use it to help build and tweak your marketing strategies and move towards your goals! 

Let's talk about how we can start looking at your marketing as magical math and stop beating yourself up about things that do not work. 

Episodes Highlights:

[1:07] Marketing is a numbers game

[4:01] You didn't fail

[5:48] Make what you have work

[10:32] Some days are better than others

While times have been uncertain for everyone lately in business due to the pandemic, I wanted to use this opportunity to encourage you forward as you grow your digital business. 

In today's episode, I take you back to this time last year, I had just completed a 6 figure digital launch after transitioning as the COO of a multi-million dollar digital marketing company, we had recently bought a house and had begun kitchen renovations and my family had plane tickets to Europe for a three-week dream vacation. 

Listen to how my life changed overnight and how I got back up, worked on my mindset, and successfully built my own business that continues to grow during this recent uncertain time.

Is now the time to invest in your business? Is now the time to pivot and grow your connections with your audience? YES, YES, YES! Check out Episode 5 for the full story and a first-hand example of how my client's digital business is seeing success during this Pandemic.

Episodes Highlights:

• How my life changed unexpectedly overnight
• The mindset that got me back up and on top of my digital biz
• Client success during COVID 19
• Why you should invest in your digital business now