More Than A Few Words

Deb Schell  joins me for a conversation about building and nurturing communities. Deb emphasizes that in today's information age, communities play a vital role in facilitating learning and implementation of new ideas, connecting people with similar challenges or goals. She also highlights the need for business owners to focus on the people, purpose, and problem-solving within their communities rather than fixating on platforms. Deb suggests building your community by identifying ideal members within your existing network and understanding their challenges and needs. The choice of platform is secondary to the community's concept, structure, and validation. She stresses the importance of creating spaces for members to engage with each other and providing clear guidance and incentives for participation. The conversation also touches on the importance of balancing online and in-person interactions and avoiding overwhelming community members with too many options. Deb Schell's insights and experience in community

I've heard it said that entrepreneurs need three things  - smarts, guts and luck. Your smarts can be street smarts, book smarts or creative smarts. You've got to be able to use your intelligence to navigate decisions rationally and analytically. You must have the guts to go after your big ideas. You need courage to put yourself out there and not worry others would think. You need to be brave enough to try things even if other people think you are crazy. And Luck? Even with smarts and guts sometimes you just need things to fall your way. These elements are all critical, but there is one more thing every entrepreneur needs and that is friends. Everyone loves the image of the solo entrepreneur working in the basement into the wee hours of the morning but great leaders in successful companies surround themselves with friends.  You should too. Good friends serve as your sounding board. They'll let be there to bounce ideas and brainstorm without judgment.  They will help you think through the tough issues and recha

This week I had a chance to chat with Jeanette Stein, a seasoned business coach who specializes in using AI and automation for business growth. She shared insights into how to harness AI while maintaining a personalized touch, overcome SEO concerns, and develop a distinct brand voice. As a writer, I am just a bit nervous about using AI for website copy but Jeanette emphasizes the importance of maintaining a human element while interacting with AI, guiding it with prompts to create tailored content. She suggests starting with prompts like asking AI to generate questions about your business for the homepage. By specifying tone, goals, and desired emotional impact, content can be customized effectively. Stein recommends consistency in prompts for branding purposes, and even uses a cheat sheet acronym called VIBRANT to enhance AI responses' specificity. To address SEO concerns and differentiation, Stein recommends steering clear of copying and pasting AI-generated content. Instead, she advocates for refining AI r

How do you decide which software tools and digital trends deserve attention and resources and which don’t? So how did I answer the question? Simple, our strategy is explore, evaluate and embrace. The first part of the strategy is staying ahead of the curve by reading, reading, reading. There’s no single expert in the field so I have several websites I check on a regular basis. When I find new software tools which pique my curiosity, I switch over to evaluation mode.  I dive into by reading product reviews and searching for discussions on Twitter and LinkedIn. Then we kick the tires for ourselves to see if the product works the way they say it will. Finally, we look at how this addition fits with the rest of the marketing program.  This is where many exciting ideas get sideline because even if a tool looks great, if it doesn’t fit with everything else you’re doing, it’s not a great fit for you. And finally you need to embrace and this is where you have to make a decision to go big or go home and admit the reso

In this episode  I have a chance to chat with Richard Rosser about the intersection of artificial intelligence and storytelling. Richard shares tips on how to use AI for brainstorming story ideas. He explains ChatGPT can generate concepts and case scenarios for various situations. Instead of spending hours sifting through search engine results, ChatGPT provides focused and organized information. He elaborates on the potential of AI to craft stories from prompts and how to use AI to refine your story, and transform complex technical descriptions into content your audience can relate to. 

One of the things I love about living in Indiana is the color the seasons. There are bright pastels in the spring and rich greens in the summer and bright oranges and yellows in the fall. The exception is winter. Those dreary days of winter seem colorless and bland compared to the vibrancy of the colors throughout the rest of the year. That's why I love evergreen trees. They bring spots of color all year long. And just as those wonderful trees bring consistent color to my yard. evergreen content brings spots of color to your marketing content. What is evergreen content? It's information that is always relevant to readers. Unlike seasonal content or breaking news it answers questions your customers have every single day. Breaking news gets stale but evergreen doesn't. So as you're looking at your total content calendar make sure you have several pieces of evergreen content to add consistent color. 

In this episode, the spotlight is on the challenging decisions that small business owners face amidst economic uncertainties. Joining the conversation is Beate Chelette, the growth architect and founder of the Women's Code. Beate equips visionary leaders with strategies, blueprints, and growth maps to enhance business systems, strengthen leadership skills, and maximize profits. With her insights, she guides clients to amplify their impact and scale their businesses. Thriving Amidst Turbulence Beate and i, delve into strategies for small business owners to thrive regardless of economic fluctuations. The conversation starts by addressing the common dilemma of whether to expand or contract during uncertain times. Beate emphasizes a key principle: if competitors are retreating, it's an opportunity to advance. Amidst external challenges, she advises entrepreneurs to focus on their confidence, unapologetic value proposition, and maintaining a strong online presence. Unlocking Customer Insights Beate emphasizes the

Some people think that chaos is a dirty word. But as my guest Robert Raymond Riopel suggests, a little bit of chaos in your life is a good thing.  If you missed this conversation when it was first released in 2021, you definitely want to check it out now.  He suggests that as as human beings, one of our primary functions is to evolve and chaos is actually what forces us to evolve.  When you courageously volunteer for chaos, instead of allowing it to overwhelm you can takes steps to proactively change and improve your situation.  

If you're getting ready to hire someone new or add a person to your advisory board it is easy to look for someone with whom you'll get along.  That, however, might not be the best choice. What you often need is someone who can compliment your weaknesses  and fill in the blanks in your skill set.  Very often the person who does that is the Yin to your Yang. They're your opposite and so while they bring that fresh perspective and different skills they can also make you a little crazy because they're not going to see the world the way you do. But, if you want to grow your business you need that other perspective. You need people who will challenge your ideas,  make you think and see the world in different ways.

If you are like most business owners you have lots of great ideas.  As a matter of fact you have so many ideas it is hard to get any of them done.  In this episode, Annelise Worn shares her insights on the importance of aligning business goals with one's desired lifestyle and values. Her approach involves reverse engineering an idea by starting with the vision of the business and life you aspire to lead. She emphasizes the significance of breaking down goals into three distinct time frames: three years, one year, and three months. This incremental approach enables entrepreneurs to map out realistic steps and monitor their progress more effectively. She highlights the necessity of acknowledging potential obstacles and building them into the plan, ensuring better preparation for contingencies.  

Every time I go to the gym I see people using weights that are clearly too heavy for them. There is pain in their faces as they struggle to lift the extra weight. They are risking injury every time they do that.  My trainer always suggests I work with lighter weights which allows me to perfect the motion. I can do more repetitions and will build muscle as well as the people who struggle with the weights that are too big. There is a marketing lesson here.  Instead of running one very big campaign that blows your budget and exhausts you, consider doing more smaller campaigns. This will allows you to perfect your messaging and build brand strength slowly over time.

If you are like most business owners, right now you are stressing about something.  You are probably thinking if you could only get rid of that stress everything would be better.  But Allison Graham,  suggests some of that stress is actually helpful. She discusses three categories of stress: empowering stress, destructive stress, and survival stress. Empowering stress is characterized by feeling energized, in a state of flow, and capable of tackling challenging tasks. It's the positive stress that drives productivity and achievement. Destructive stress, on the other hand, leads to overwhelm, resentment, and negative impacts on both work and personal life. Survival stress is a natural response that alerts us to danger and sharpens our focus, but it can become counterproductive if not managed properly. The conversation delves into the nuances of recognizing empowering stress versus destructive stress. The key lies in understanding oneself, acknowledging individual patterns, and finding the optimal bal

 Tracy Brinkman shared some great  productivity hacks you can use to take control of the chaos in your day. Time Blocking: If you have a task, that is high priority make a date with yourself.  Block out time as if is an important meeting, maybe an hour or so, and don’ let anyone cut into that time. Set Priorities Stop trying to accomplish 87 things each week. Pick a few top priority items and make sure they get done first. When you combine these two productivity hacks you end up working in short bursts on one thing.  At the end of the week you can look back to see what you have accomplished.

Twenty years ago I wrote a book called the Science of Marketing and and recently I decided to update the book.  As I started editing, I realized most of the content is as accurate today as it was twenty years ago, Sure some of the examples are a bit out of date  because I talked a lot about postcards and radio advertising which really isn't appropriate for small businesses anymore.  However, the foundation and the thought process is still as relevant as it was twenty years ago.  So if you bought a copy of my book twenty years ago it's time to buy another.  And if you didn't get a chance to buy it then you can buy it now.  The Science of Marketing is available on Amazon.  Go ahead, buy it today! Then come back and listen to another episode  of More than a Few Words. 

Most of the time marketing planning consists of thinking about what are you going to do. My guest Derek Johnson suggests that maybe you need to be focused on the "who"  of marketing.  This involves creating content to build a personal brand and show the human side of business. People often prioritize the technical aspects of marketing, such as techniques, tech work, and funnels, while neglecting the human aspect that builds trust. Sharing personal stories and daily routines on platforms like Instagram can humanize the brand and create a strong connection with the audience. He encourages individuals to open up about their life stories, regardless of whether they had a challenging past or not. By doing so, they can establish authenticity, trust, and relatability with their audience. This approach is not  limited to Instagram; it can be applied across various platforms, such as LinkedIn, YouTube, and even TikTok. where you goal is not just to accumulate likes and comments but to create one-on-one interactions th

 Great websites don't happen by accident. Sierra Janisse believes every decision you make on your website from what images  you use to the words you write , the pages you create and all the call to action buttons starts with answering one basic question. What do you want your ideal clients to do when they come to your website.  What is your primary call to action for your visitors.  About Sierra Sierra Janisse of Sierra Lin Design is a Certified Master Marketer, Kajabi Web and Funnel Designer, and host of the free Branded Boss community. Sierra helps visionary coaches and service providers magnetize their perfect-fit clients through Aligned Authority Marketing--her signature framework combining branding, messaging, and funnel design. From building brands and websites for 7-figure coaches, TedX speakers, best-selling authors, and course creators serving students across the globe, Sierra has learned that all personal brands need one specific thing if they want to scale and serve more clients: to become uniquely

These days, it seems like everybody's talking about robots. It's easy to get swept up by trends like Google algorithm changes and AI generated content. But, guest Rai Hyde Cornell says those things are secondary to the most important factor in your marketing - the human beings  Too often, we think about the system or platform first. We wonder if we should jump into Threads or buy Google ads, but those decisions come after you decide who you are talking to.  About Rai Rai Hyde Cornell has been freelancing for more than 16 years as a copywriter turned agency owner. Now, she's sharing all of her most powerful business AND manifestation hacks with other freelancers. As a business mentor at Chiron Consulting, Rai hosts barrier-shattering workshops on pricing, client acquisition, and mindset and works one-on-one with private clients to help them triple their incomes within one year. As an agency owner at Cornell Content Marketing, Rai builds and executes psychology-informed content strategies for her clients while

You always wanted to write book.  Now you've done.  It is published and you can just sit back, right?  Nope! Nancy Erickson says there is so much more you can do with the content of your book to expand your authority and credibility even further.  For example, if you have written the book correctly each chapter can stand on its own as a topic for a keynote, workshop or online course. 

One of the critical elements of building a marketing budget is understanding what a customer is worth.  Why? Because you can't decide how much to spend to acquire that customer if you don't really know the value of that customer. Too often business owners make the mistake of looking at what the customer is spending today and see that is the only value of the  customer. But, if you're in a business where customers come back time and time again, you need to look at the total picture to determine the complete value. If a customer stays with you three or five years, there's going to be additional sales revenue without that sales expense. And, there's more. When the customer really knows you and loves you they are more likely to talk about you to their friends and their families. This goodwill has the potential to create multiple new opportunities. So, as you start thinking about how much you can afford to spend to generate leads, you need to calculate the lifetime value of each customer. 

Content marketing has been around for a really long time.  And it is probably going to be around for a lot longer. But as new tools arise, many people wonder what the future of content marketing going to be like.  Professional writer and a humorist, Erik Deckers joined me to share his thoughts on that topic.  He explained content marketing has be around a lot longer than most of us imagine.  Archeologists have recovered Papyrus and carvings showing things for sale.  While content marketing has evolved, it is still about providing relevant information to prospective customers, and that core element probably won't change.