This week on the show we have the one, the only, soon-to-be New York Times Bestselling author, Laura F*ing Belgray! When I thought of who I would want to help ring in my 100th episode, my mentor, my friend, Laura Belgray catapulted to mind first. She has a long list of accolades which you can learn more about on her Talking Shrimp website...as well as learn why her company is named after a chatty crustacean to begin with. A bonafide celebrity and icon in the copywriting world, she's about...

Episode #99!  Wow. When I first started this podcast I just wanted to connect entrepreneurs so we could inspire and learn from each other. What a journey it's been.   As we catapult to episode #100, I thought I'd highlight the top 5 episodes so far (by downloads), introduce what's next with the podcast...and let you know who the special guest for episode #100 is (hint - she's a celeb in the copywriting world and about to launch her first book...sure to be a NY Times Best Seller). Top 5...

I'll be honest - the mere thought of artificial anything, when it comes to creating the written word makes me cringe. It goes against every fiber of my being because for me, the point of writing is to put pen to paper or finger to keyboard to create something genuine.  Even if it's fiction, it's supposed to come from a place of organic creativity. So when I heard artificial intelligence, I was like, oh here we go. But I'm not one to blindly shut something down. So I did take a deeper look....

Maura Kelpy, founder of Veggies & Vodka and Maura K Creative, joins the show this week! Maura runs her own successful graphic design business (in addition to her wellness community under the Veggies & Vodka umbrella) and shares with us specific actions to take when crafting your own visual brand. You know, the look and feel of your business where customers can recognize you in an instant. Here's an excerpt: "So when I take on a branding project for a client, I often start with a ...

Hiring. A critical piece to scale your business. But how do you know it's time to grow your team? What role do you hire for first...or next? How do you make sure you don't hire a jerk that will torpedo your business to the ground? (dramatic? maybe...but maybe not!) What are the pros and cons of hiring a full-time employee vs. a subcontractor? If you hire someone that's not working out, how do you let them go? Sandra Booker, the founder of Any Old Task, joins the show this week. She answers...

Frederike Harms, founder of Katalyst Ventures, joins the show this week to dive into how to design a truly scalable offer. Growing up with entrepreneur parents, Frederike remembers that her family went on vacation once and only once. Her parents simply could not step back from their business to enjoy extra time with their family. Having a front-row seat to that type of schedule and lifestyle, she decided she wanted to work with entrepreneurs, founders, and business owners to create scalable...

Dan Mott joins the show this week! You might remember that Dan and I, along with Claire Davis and Matt Zaun hosted a weekly live show for entrepreneurs and business leaders called Power Hour. It ran for just about a year or so and we had a blast! So cool to reunite with Dan here. In this episode, Dan runs us through the 5 principles he's developed for LinkedIn social selling. Here's a quick excerpt: "You are organically finding them through content and conversation. And now we're no longer...

This week on the show I welcome launch strategist and copywriter, Brenna McGowan. We discuss the aspect of an offer that many entrepreneurs skip over: pre-launch. It seems so much easier to skip right to the promotion of the sale, rather than warming an audience up, doing our due diligence, and testing the market... Alas, those who skip the pre-launch are leaving money (and a loyal audience) on the table. Putting the right offer in front of the right audience with the right messaging is...

"And I discovered that as a journalist if you don't have a pitch or a story to share with the big boss on Monday morning, you didn't have a job. What's important for entrepreneurs to realize is that journalists aren't just helping you with your business, you are helping them keep their job. Because if you don't pitch your story, they don't have anything to tell their boss on a Monday morning." - Adela Hussain That's one of my favorite pieces of insight from my discussion with Adela, founder...

Sami Miles, founder of Catchiest Copy and creator of Automatically Funny AF in Four Weeks, talks all things funny in copywriting. When working with clients, she found that the funnest time was when they were joking around, when she could bring that humor out of them and onto paper.  A former stand-up comic who has opened for some of the biggest names in the biz, Sami knows exactly how to inject humor into copy in just the right way. Whether it's punching up copywriting assets,  speeches,...

Email tags. A simple yet powerful tool that way too many business owners don't use to their full potential. Cheryl Rerick guests on the show this week and goes over how email tags can be: a simple and intuitive way to sort your contacts based on their interests, preferences, and any special attributes that set them apart from each other used to trigger automationa functional tool, as well as give you information about your subscribers We chat about the difference between (and...

So many entrepreneurs are, as I've heard Marie Forleo describe it, 'multi-passionate'.  There's a school of thought out there that says as an entrepreneur you have to focus on one thing and one thing only. I call BS. Laura Scholes joins me on the show this week to explain how she launched another business from her core business. Some overlap between the two? Perhaps. But, she still started her second business essentially from scratch. Not knowing exactly how to manage two businesses at...

Monica Hollins, founder of OTBC (Outside The Box Consulting, LLC) has decades of experience building super-successful communities. From health clubs to master-planned communities, she has crafted impactful strategies to increase inclusion, engagement, connection...loyalty. These attributes are key during a normal business year, but post-pandemic, they are mission-critical. Tune in and learn ways to grow not just an audience, but a community clamoring for your brand and your mission. Connect...

Rachel Simon, CEO and founder of Connect the Dots Digital, helps entrepreneurs of all backgrounds "look good on LinkedIn". LinkedIn is the top networking platform for corporate and entrepreneurial professionals, so ensuring your personal and company profiles are structured with the right information and messaged in a way that immediately connects with your target audience is paramount. Learn to craft your headline with a hook, exactly how to use that 'Featured Section', modern use of your...

My conversation with Nicole Rollender, founder of Strand Writing Services, was one that will make you want to take action immediately. My favorite entrepreneurs are those that leave it all on the table - they're open to sharing the minute details on each aspect of their business growth...the roses and the thorns of it. After being downsized from her six-figure salary executive editor-in-chief role, Nicole decided to go out on her own. Within less than a year she scaled her business to...

From clarifying your message with a reduction of words to how to use personal stories to get a professional point across...(including ways to use the emails you have sitting in your Inbox to improve your writing skills), these seven tips will have your copywriting take on a whole other level of expertise.

There are so many tools out there that look nice and shiny that you can buy to increase your skills at copywriting or an online business in general, but in this episode, I want to show you 10 FREE resources that you can use to help out your copywriting.  I include some popular choices like Grammarly and Canva but also some that haven't gotten their full due yet such as  Read-able, WordCounter, and OneLook. Stream the episode and check these incredible FREE resources out...

This week, I'm going over the call to action aka the CTA. There are a variety of things that go into creating a very clickable call to action. I'll go through some of the nuts and bolts with you on this episode. A CTA encourages your audience to take a specific action - it's really a conversion tool. It can help in converting members, subscribers, followers, customers...you get the idea. You must know exactly what you want your audience to do, before you even start to create your call to...

Short and sweet, I'm walking you through the steps I take to write each email. From the two types of emails I create to how I edit, I go over it all. I share my strategy when creating email subject lines and if I batch process topics or take a more free-wheeling approach. Listen in! While you're at it, grab my free 'One Year of Email Subject Lines to Amp Up Your Open Rates & Accelerate Sales' guide!

We've all been there. That darn blinking cursor. It's like it's taunting you, "Look at this big, blank page. You'll never figure out what to write. Such a waste of time. Loser." RUDE. This week I go over 15 ways you to always know what to write. I'm finally recording this episode because one of the most common things I hear from people is that they have no idea what to write about, especially when it comes to their business. As well, you don't ALWAYS want to be strictly talking about...

Let's talk about finding your voice in writing! If you've followed me for any time at all, you know that I'm all about conversational copywriting. I've even coined the term copysation, making copy a conversation, because when people go to write something, especially for their business, they tend to freeze up. They're not sure what to say, or how to say it and their personality goes out the window.  Essentially, whatever makes you you, is lost.  Many people might see how somebody else...

It might surprise you to hear this but: you don't need a fancy website and logo to get your business going…nor to grow it substantially. Honestly, creating your email list is one of the most important things to do early on. Grabbing an email service provider and then creating a landing page or two, one with info about your offer and another to gate your lead magnet to collect email addresses of those in your ideal, targeted community. (I'll be doing a separate podcast episode regarding the...

We have a very special episode for you this week!   We talked to a few of our guests from last season and asked them to share with us their goals and plans for 2022.    I think we can all agree that 2020 and 2021 were a little bit off-kilter.    I'm so interested to hear everybody's thoughts and insights for the year ahead - send me a note at [email protected].    Until then, check out how these three entrepreneurs are tackling 2022!   Get more info on this episode's guests:  Andrew...

In one week we will enter the last month of 2021. In a few days, millions in America will celebrate Thanksgiving, gathering with friends and family for (hopefully) some relaxation and fun. As such, we thought it fitting to take this time to reflect on a positive that this year has brought to small businesses. We reached out to previous guests on this podcast and asked them to share what they are grateful they have learned that has impacted their business this year. We are grateful for them,...