Strategy Hour | Online Marketing for Business Growth

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720: Inspired to Do Less: A Lesson in Showing Up in Alignment Feb 23, 2023

Show notes

How to live more and do less is one of our favorite topics of conversation. If you’re a natural people pleaser, it can be really hard to consider taking some things off of your to-do list. But people-pleasing can be rooted in a manipulative reflex. It can also be a trauma response. During the conference that Abagail recently attended, she heard from three speakers with one underlying message - do less!

While this sounds counterintuitive, it's something we truly believe, and we want to share some of the nuggets of wisdom that helped us to prioritize this in our own lives, within a productivity-obsessed culture. Three inspiring speakers shared very different insights from their own personal journeys and the research they have done to understand the lives of others. Today, we’re sharing them with you.

Thank you for listening! Please subscribe, rate and review The Strategy Hour Podcast on iTunes. Ratings and reviews are extremely helpful and greatly appreciated. For show notes, go to thestrategyhour.com.

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719: The Difference Between Growing and Scaling Feb 21, 2023

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If you follow us on social media, you might have seen that we have been on quite the podcast roadshow! One theme that kept coming out of our conversations is the things that service providers need to think about before scaling. We realized we need to take a step back and talk about it: what is scaling actually?

A lot of business owners misconstrue scaling and growth. Today, we want to talk about the actual definitions of these two processes, and how you can apply them in your business. You can have one without the other. You can have both. You can have neither. What does that really look like, intentionally, in your business? Tune in to find out!

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718: 5 Signs You Might Need a New Website in 2023 Feb 16, 2023

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We’ve been building websites for over a decade and have really honed in on what’s working (and what isn’t) in the service world. Your website might look impressive, but if it’s not representative of who you are today, it’s not serving you. In this episode, we outline five signs it’s time to consider a new website design. And we’re not merely talking about branding! In many cases, major reconfigurations are in order, taking into account everything from your site architecture and user interface to your messaging; what you’re saying, how you’re saying it, and who you’re connecting it to. Tune in to find out which pitfalls to avoid and how best to make your website work for you.

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717: The Hiring Strategy We Suggest for the 2023 Climate Feb 14, 2023

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Today we are talking about hiring in the current economic climate. The biggest layoffs since 2008 are taking place at the moment, and layoffs in the technology industry have actually surpassed those that took place during the Great Recession.

The common trend that we are seeing amongst business owners who have been operating for more than four years is a collective desire to move away from being the “doers” in their business and shift towards a leadership position where they can focus more on strategy and creative direction. This means needing to hire people who can take up the “implementer” type of work. A lot of the work we are doing with our clients is around how to make this pivot as smooth and successful as possible! It’s a challenge, but it’s such an important move to make if you are going to take your business to the next level.

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716: How to Identify and Prioritize Your Third Place Feb 09, 2023

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Today’s discussion is about an idea that has had a resurgence recently for a number of reasons. The concept of finding a Third Place is nothing new! It’s actually been around for a long time; it is just popular at the moment. No matter how trendy it is, it is worthwhile to discuss and integrate into your life. The ‘Third Place’ was coined by a US sociologist who wrote a book called The Great Good Place describing a place outside of your home or work where you can relax.

The concept is simple. Your first place is your home; a private and domestic space. Your second space is your work. However, a lot of us share a first and second place, with workplaces increasingly choosing to be remote/hybrid over the last few years. We spend most of our lives at work or home so what do you do when you need a Third Place? Somewhere to feel comfortable and safe, and have fun with no judgment? With loneliness and isolation levels rising, we have to be mindful of this!

In our opinion, a strong requirement is that your Third Place needs to be a public setting that hosts informal gatherings of people. Most people are loyal to their Third Place and often go there to socialize and unwind. It is also preferable that your Third Place is close to your home and workplace. This spot may be a coffee house, pub, bar, beauty salon, local library, dog park, or so much more!

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715: 5 Ways to Build Trust in Your Growing Team Feb 07, 2023

Show notes

A lot of our clients are currently in a space where they are wanting to add to their team but have concerns over how to make the right choices while maintaining the character and values of their company. We’ve recently expanded our team, and while it has come with some lessons, it has been an incredibly rewarding experience for our company and our team! In today’s episode, we unpack the five biggest barriers to trust, as outlined in an article by Fast Company called 5 Barriers To Break in Order To Build Trust Between Coworkers. Wediscuss the rules that all high-trust companies follow to ensure employees feel secure and confident in their work environment.

Growing your team can be intimidating, but with the right tools, you can do so in a way that is manageable and engenders a sense of trust amongst your team members. Tune in as we discuss how to foster an environment that is psychologically safe for employees, what you can do to ensure effective communication, how to make sure you hire and promote the right people, and much more!

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714: 12 Questions to Ask Your Current or Future Bookkeeper to Make Sure You're a Good Fit Feb 02, 2023

Show notes

We talk so often about financial literacy and creating sustainable businesses online that we’ve had a handful of clients ask us questions about bookkeeping. Based on all of the questions that come in, there are some things we want to share with our listeners about how to make sure that you have a bookkeeper that’s really well suited to you. Whether you’re interviewing someone for the first time or looking to get the most out of your existing relationship, this episode is for you.

So many of us really lean into trusting the experts in this industry, which is great! But over the last few years, there has been a new level of service that’s been expected and desired from clients. Now we want our financial professionals to go a little bit above and beyond just reconciling the books, to really help us understand and learn from our numbers. That is the biggest gap that we see happening for most business owners. That’s why we want to equip you with the best questions to ask to make sure that you find the right person to work alongside you; not just someone to “do it for you.”

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713: What's the Difference Between Payroll, Accounting and Bookkeeping Softwares? Jan 31, 2023

Show notes

Our mission in business is to help more women build profitable, sustainable businesses online. So much of that success is rooted in proper financial literacy. It’s so important to understand how to manage your finances so that you can take out enough money to live the life you want while at the same time ensuring that you leave enough money in the business so that it remains profitable in the long run. As you scale, money management becomes more complicated, but thankfully there are several different software for payroll, accounting, and bookkeeping that can help!

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712: Creating Habits that Stick Jan 26, 2023

Show notes

The onset of a New Year is often accompanied by an inordinate amount of pressure. From the onslaught of 30-day health and wellness challenges to the call to “be more productive,” it seems like we are constantly being asked to do more and be better. But what does “better” mean exactly? And who are we doing it for?

In today’s episode, we unpack how to create better habits that actually stick and discuss ways to bring positivity and intentionality to both our personal and professional lives. We discovered long ago that New Year's resolutions just aren’t designed for us and that everyone has a preference when it comes to building healthier habits. Tune in as we discuss everything from starting your morning with positive intentions to crafting a mission statement for your business, and much more!

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711: What Does a Year of Maintenance Actually Mean? Jan 24, 2023

Show notes

Anytime we have a big growth year, the year to follow is one to watch. It’s a lot of working on the business and less working in the business. We put systems back in place, bring operations up to date, and tackle all the things we were too busy to attend to the year before. We had to work some of this out while hiring seven employees. We find that identifying and communicating your focus for the year can make all the difference.

One recommendation we have is to figure out whether you’re in a red, yellow, or green year. Do you need to stop and do the bare minimum, maintain what you have, or go big or go home? Whichever method you choose, it feels better to remind yourself that you intentionally chose this as you are making decisions throughout the year.

We mindfully decided that 2023 was going to be a yellow year for us. A year of maintenance; not to restructure, but to solidify existing structures and to solidify our team. We’re building a really strong foundation and creating a sustainable business. But what does it mean to focus on creating stability and maintaining what we have?

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