Business Resources
5 Best Business Builder Tools Under $20
It’s the Holiday season and the end of the year is on the horizon. If you’re anything like me, you like to shop “One for me, one for them.” I get asked a lot what tools and systems I’m using to scale and grow my business, and I decided to make a video sharing my 5 favorites under $20 – so if you feel like getting yourself a business present or three, these are so useful and won’t bust the bank. Captions on Facebook Live – free When you’re done recording click the edit button on your video, there’s a captions tab. There’s a magic wand where Facebook automagically generates them. All you have to do is clean them up in editing and voila! Captions on your video, which increases engagement. Win! Zapier- $20 a month The most expensive thing … Continue reading
$15 Frequency Forecasts: why you need them an...
Welcome – I’m so glad to introduce you to Frequency Forecasts, a fantastic way to understand yourself and the energy that surrounds your month and year. If you’ve never heard me talk about Frequency before, watch this overview video. WATER -1918, 1927, 1936, 1945, 1954, 1963, 1972, 1981, 1990, 1999, 2008, 2017 FIRE -1910, 1919, 1928, 1937, 1946, 1955, 1964, 1973, 1982, 1991, 2000, 2009 MOUNTAIN EARTH- 1911, 1920, 1929, 1938, 1947, 1956, 1965, 1974, 1983, 1992, 2001, 2010 PRINCESS -1912, 1921, 1930, 1939, 1948, 1957, 1966, 1975, 1984, 1993, 2002, 2011 EMPEROR -1913, 1922, 1931, 1940, 1949, 1958, 1967, 1976, 1985, 1994, 2003, 2012 EMPRESS -1914, 1923, 1932, 1941, 1950, 1959, 1968, 1977, 1986, 1995, 2004, 2013 BAMBOO -1915, 1924, 1933, 1942, 1951, 1960, 1969, 1978, 1987, 1996, 2005, 2014 BEANSTALK-1916, 1925, 1934, 1943, 1952, 1961, 1970, 1979, 1988, … Continue reading
Fire Frequency Business Profile: Claire Pelletreau
Claire Pelletreau is a Facebook ads and conversion optimization expert. She’s been playing with Facebook ads since 2011 and sharpened her skills running paid campaigns for Laura Roeder’s five and six-figure launches. Now she applies her arsenal of knowledge to help other small businesses bring in more subscribers and sales than they ever imagined. She’s also the host of the addictive and informative, Get Paid Podcast. She’s invited us in for a behind the scenes look at how understanding her Fire Frequency has impacted her bottom line. Tell us a bit about your business – how do you primarily make your money? I’m a Facebook ads consultant who trains other business owners on how to use Facebook ads in their businesses. A large chunk of my income used to come from managing other people’s campaigns, but I’ve pivoted and now … Continue reading
Water Frequency Business Profile: Parrish Wilson
Parrish Wilson is a Writing Coach and Editor for solopreneurs ready to share their wisdom and brilliance so that they may inspire others to flourish. She believes in writing from the heart and has developed a signature process to help business owners do just that. Parrish is a Water Frequency, and she’s invited us in for a behind the scenes look at how understanding and harnessing this has impacted her bottom line, schedule and services. Tell us a little bit about your business, how do you primarily make your money? Through a combination of small group, online workshops, and 1:1 work. Most people start working with me through one of the workshops and then move into a bigger 1:1 partnership. Water Frequency business owners often need a lot of time to float and just be with themselves. How do you deal … Continue reading
Earth Frequency Business Profile: Racheal Cook
Racheal Cook is a business and lifestyle design strategist for heart centered entrepreneurs. She teaches clients how to design a business that allows you to work when and where you want, providing the lifestyle you wish for yourself and your family. Allowing you to serve with your whole heart, a lovely side-effect of a full inspiration tank. She’s also an Earth Frequency. While I frequently talk about Earth Frequency business owners as extremely heart driven and family focused, her use of those exact words to describe her work is entirely her own. Her success is particularly relevant to Earth Frequency business owners because she exemplifies leading with her heart and creating slow and steady growth – hallmarks of an Earth Empire. She’s invited us in for a behind the scenes look at how understanding her Earth Frequency has impacted her … Continue reading
Stop Feeling Like You Are Starting Over
All too often I see entrepreneurs feeling frustrated and dissapointed, because they feel like then need to re-start their business or can’t truly grow in the way they want, because they feel trapped by what they’ve built. One big reason is that they’re too focused on their ICA (ideal client avatar) to build a strong, sustainable empire. I propose we start with our own personal mission and message, and then decide whose lives we want to change. How do you do that? I explain it all in this video. Here are some questions to help you dive into your north star mission + message: What’s the change that you really want to see made in the world around you? If you had a magic wand to wave (that could change the world), what change would you make? What’s the one thing that … Continue reading
5 Steps To Launching An Online Quiz
It’s no secret that online quiz’s are conversion machines. Who doesn’t want to take a test to learn more about themselves? Buzzfeed figured this out years ago. So when I first considered creating my Find Your Frequency quiz, I thought it would be a speedy, simple process. Write some questions, get a plugin, and bam! Rolling in the opt-ins. This article is part 1 in a 2 part series, How To Launch A Profitable Online Quiz. (You can read part two here.) It turned out to be a much more complicated process, and now that I’m on the other side of it, I’m sharing the 5 steps it takes to successfully launch an online quiz. Begin with your end goal in mind This is paramount. You need to know what the point of your quiz is. What do you want … Continue reading
Summertime Business Snack Pack
Summertime growing up meant my family would go camping around California. Often involving a 4+ hour drive with three kids, my mom would mix up these incredible snack packs to keep us munching (and quiet) on the car ride. They were always different, so they always had the element of surprise and something exciting happening. Right now I am deep in creation mode. I’ve got a few super exciting things I’m working on that are not quite ready for you yet. I also have cool things to share! Rockstar women putting together amazing ways to help you grow your business. Here is my summertime business snackpack for you. A mixture of deep, entertaining, money making and wildly smart. Summertime business snack pack First in the mix is this mega powerful interview I did with my real-life amiga Elle Griffin. We’ve … Continue reading
Recipe To Rock Your Intake Sessions + Book Yo...
What I wish someone had told me when I was first starting out in my business, is there are very specific steps you take when someone says they’re interested in working with you. It’s such an important, delicate time in your business – the hang time between someone expressing interest to becoming a paying client can be intense for the business owner. There is so much resistance to talking about money and process, I wish someone had spelled it out for me, because once I figured it out, everything in my business started running so much smoother. If you run a service based business, it’s likely you talk to your clients before they book with you. (Sidenote: This is a really common thing these days, and if you don’t already do this, and wish you had more clients, you might consider opening up some … Continue reading
Learn To Surf The Bschool Sales Cycle, Not Ge...
Today’s excellent marketing can sometimes feel overwhelming. It’s no secret we’re in Bschool season, and that means dozens of very famous names talking about how you totally need Bschool to change your life in all these shiny and exciting ways. There’s an incredible affiliate program, complete with top-seller competition, so everyone is amply motivated to say nice things about it. They seem to really believe in the program, but it’s impossible to talk about the Bschool marketing machine without also mentioning the payout. I think Marie has done an incredible job rallying the troops and creating a well run affiliate program. Honestly, it seems like at this point, she could cut the affiliate program and keep her money since her reach seems real deep. But that’s just my hit on it, we haven’t talked or anything 🙂 I enrolled in Bschool the first … Continue reading
Struggle With Boundaries? Meet Your New Best ...
I work with a lot of really smart, talented people building their businesses. And in the first few years of business, they have the totally understandable desire to please everyone. They want to help everyone, they want to work with everyone, and they’re willing to do whatever it takes to make some money and get their business off the ground.
Which, I can understand because we’ve all been there, and when you have nothing, it feels natural to try to do ANYTHING to make something happen.
But you end up sacrificing yourself. And as your business grows, that adds up. You end up without any boundaries between you and your clients and your work. Burnout central.
This is a problem because it never lets you fully unplug, or stop working. And that is terrible for you, your relationships (because you never know when to plan around your hectic, always on work schedule), and ultimately, your clients, because if YOU’RE rundown, you won’t have as much to give.
It also can undermine your professionalism. After you book a client, and they are ready to work with you, you say “I don’t know, when works for you?” It’s awkward. And it takes up a lot of time on email. Potentially getting this reply “thanks for being so flexible! Can we meet at 8pm on Tuesday?” And honestly, do you really want to take a client call at 8pm on Tuesday?
But you want to work with them! You want to be flexible! I hear your cries, and I’ve been in your shoes. And if you struggle with boundaries, saying no, unplugging from your work, and feeling professional about your work, all* your problems are about to be solved.
Amazing business owner, meet an online scheduler. Online scheduler, meet the folks that desperately need you.
Yep. Online schedulers are a game changer. Here are the many ways I love them and they’ve changed my business:
They let me determine when I work. Working from home, for myself, it’s so easy to work all.the.time. Which at first feels great, but then, it sucks because I am the type of person that needs extended quiet time to dive into and work ON my business, creating new and interesting content, partnerships, programs, etc. If clients are popcorned all over my calendar, I never really get the time to dive in.
So, I now work with clients certain days of the week. PowerSessions have their own time frames that I schedule them, and I have a few full days reserved for moving my business forward.
I also stop working with clients at about 3pm. Which any former co-worker of mine can tell you is my fuzzy hour. I’m not ideal at 3, and I no longer have to muscle through! I just, don’t let clients book with me then. My whole life feels easier because of that one shift, and it’s entirely thanks to my online scheduler that blocks that time off.
It makes it so, so easy for me and my clients to find a time that works for us. My clients mostly live in different time zones and have busy schedules. Sending my wonderful clients one link for them to choose a time that works for them has cut down on hours of back and forth emails I used to send. It’s also eliminated the “I thought we said 9PST…oh, EST?” human error conversation that can befall email scheduling.
They send reminder emails. I haven’t had a client miss a session with me in years. And it used to happen monthly. I think this is partially me really stepping into and owning my professionalism, but also, my online scheduler empowered me to do that! And they send reminder emails, so if my client scheduled something way in advance, they get a nice reminder.
The best part, is I never need to explain the fact that I just don’t want to work at 8pm on Tuesday, or 3pm, any day of the week. Because it’s no longer about when I want to work, it’s about when I’m available. Which my online scheduler manages beautifully. It feels professional, easy and clear to me and my clients.
And that’s REALLY what you want, is to make it so easy for your clients to work with you.
So if you’re struggling with boundaries, or not having a set schedule, or people pleasing (sure I can work at nighttime…) you need one of these. It’ll save you hours and energy.
Ready? Here are some to look at getting you started:
Appointlet – simple and cute, I like it because they make it super easy to customize the button.
ScheduleOnce – totally robust, and I love that I can have different calendars and availability for different services.
Acuity – I didn’t love how they sent out emails, but they just redesigned.
All of these will sync with many calendar types, manage time zones, send reminder emails, and most importantly, have a free version you can try out.
So pick one and give it a go, and enjoy your newfound schedule freedom to do all those other things your business needs.
Want to beat the summer slump and strategize your Fall?
I’m Ellen, Money Making Expert. I help creative business owners make more money and revolutionize their businesses.
It’s my mission to help you boost your bottom line and start really creating the opportunities you want for yourself. Ready to find out what’s possible when we work together? Book your power sesh here. 20 minutes, you and me, totally free.
“If you have any struggle with being stuck or not knowing where to focus to make money in your biz, contact Ellen immediately. Best money you’ll ever spend.” Jessica Kupferman, Lady Business Radio
*totally not all but some, for sure.
The Most Important Business Trap To Avoid
I like to call this the sand trap. Because once you’re in the sand trap, it takes a LOT of effort and focus to get out of it. Usually, you just end up dumping more sand on top of yourself and feeling bad + frustrated about it. Or at least that’s how I play golf. Here’s how it goes: You set a big shiny goal for yourself. Land my first client. Get 3 guest posts published. Quit my day job. And then, as soon as you do that thing, you IMMEDIATELY look to the next thing, or feel bad about the goal that you just achieved. I landed my first client! Only 10 more to go…. Or Only 3 guest posts out….I need to do like 10. Better not go out tonight. or Holy crap I have no more stable income! … Continue reading