I think, when it comes to running a small business, we talk a lot about the work aspect a lot but the one thing we don’t talk about enough is self-care. And I’m not talking about a cliché version of the word “self-care” that involves bath bombs and scented candles (despite the fact that all of the above are quite nice). I’m talking about just how important it is to take your own health and well-being seriously as the work that you produce for your clients/ customers every day. That’s exactly why I asked a nutritionist that works with busy, professional women to be a guest my show so that we could talk about how entrepreneurs who lead hectic lifestyles can squeeze time into their busy schedule for self-care.
What this episode covers:

• What Gaylene, this week’s guest, does at Compass Nutrition, and the types of women she works with.
• How a lot of her business is based on her own, personal health struggles.
• How a conversation with her husband about what she was learning while studying nutrition, was a major motivation for the mission statement behind her business.
• Gaylene’s past experiences working as a massage therapist; how getting an injury that didn’t allow her to continue practising massage therapy, and led to a career change, which allowed her to help people in a similar way.
• How Gaylene encourages her clients to do a combination of nutrition and other stuff that overlap too, such as getting a massage to really prioritize their self-care.
• Why she thinks it’s so common for professional women specifically to struggle with self-care, and why it’s often about putting others first.
• The other common issue: the all or nothing attitude: “if I can’t commit to this one thing, I’ll just do nothing at all” and what makes that mentality so damaging.
• Gaylene on what is a much more productive way to approach this: “the little things count”, and why it’s so important for professional women especially to put their own health first
• Why learning to nourish your body is so important.
• The role of body image in the work Gaylene does with her clients, and how she addresses that.
• Why she doesn’t teach calorie counting and restrictive eating: “because it sets us up for failure.”
• The reality that all it takes is something like a birthday or a period of a lot of travel to fall off track, and how that can cause people to quit and look for the next best thing.
• How Gaylene finds that nourishing your body with good healthy foods, but also having stuff like birthday cake once in a while is the best way to avoid that.
• How creating healthy habits is really about creating a healthy routine to combat unexpected changes in your schedule.
• The most important criteria for any nutritionist you go with: “find someone you can really trust and be yourself with,” according to Gaylene…
• The best way to do that: find a referral, and how to pull that off.
• The importance of having a good relationship with your nutritionist and choosing someone you can feel really comfortable with.
• The one thing Gaylene wishes more people knew about working with a nutritionist: “one session isn’t going to fix everything, and it’s not all or nothing.”
• The very important role of mindset, especially when trying to make lifestyle changes in social situations.
• Why having a conversation with others about your lifestyle changes is important.
• How to approach conversations about making changes in your diet and living a healthier lifestyle. It’s all about creating a support network…and how to make sure that exists.
• How to not avoid stuff like birthday cake at the office altogether. It’s all about nourishing your body outside of those time, rather than avoiding those social situations altogether.
• What to do if you don’t have a supportive group of friends or family that get what you’re doing with your change in diet and lifestyle and the options you have.
• Why “I’m too busy” isn’t an excuse, and why it’s really about including small but important things in your routine that is just part of your day.
• The “what if” question Gaylene often asks her clients that is all about putting consequences of not taking care of yourself, in the context of the things you do every day.
• The most important take away of that: if you’re not taking care of yourself, how can you take care of others?
• When the temptation to give in to bad nutrition choices, in situations like travel…. “sometimes those temptations are what gives us pleasure”. More specifically when everything’s on track, and everything’s working well.
• The only exception: if we’re treating ourselves more than we’re nourishing ourselves.
• Why that’s all about not being overcome by guilt.
• The secret to healthy eating on a budget. The key essentials that you need to eat healthy without spending a ton of money. It’s all about the “dirty dozen” the foods that often get pesticide sprayed the most, such as spinach, cherries, etc., and things from the clean fifteen.
• The reason why these things help save a lot of money, and what they are so that you can primarily focus on getting just those foods in an organic format.
• Why you don’t actually have to eat all organic to be healthy.
• The value of support and community for keeping motivated and getting questions answered.
• How asking friends or any online groups you are part of, who they already know can be a great way to work around a lack of people who get what you’re going through.
• The importance of not just choosing the first person to pop up, especially if they’re offering within 24-hour results.
• The importance of feeling like you have that sense of connection with whoever you choose.
• Why Gaylene recommends Facebook and the reason why she finds she gets a lot of her clients through recommendations on that platform.
• The most important takeaway: not having an all or nothing mentality and having some sort of relevant guidance along the way.

About this week’s guest:
Gaylene Gomez is a Certified Holistic Nutrition Coach for women and Owner of Compass Rose Nutrition and Wellness. She helps busy, professional women lose weight and reduce bloating with simple lifestyle changes, so they can have more energy and confidence.  
 
Where you can find Gaylene online:
 
Website: https://www.compassrosenutrition.ca/
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/CompassRoseNutrition/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.ca/CRoseNutrition/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/compassrosenutrition/
Free Nutrition Resource Library: https://www.compassrosenutrition.ca/nutrition-resource-library
 
How you can follow this podcast (and learn more about its host)
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Because I realize that not “all” of my listeners have pulled the trigger, and launched their business, I thought it would be a great idea to have a website launch expert on the show. In fact, this episode answers a very important question: What makes a website “launch-ready”? And what if you’re not yet at the point where you can outsource your website copywriting and design to a freelancer? What are the absolutely essential components that you need to attract clients?
What this episode covers:

• What this week’s guest, Liz Theresa does
• The copywriting masterclass Liz just launched and what it covers
• The similarities between the personalities of Liz and her clients
• How a job interview for a job that involved writing product descriptions for an E-Commerce business that sells wigs, led to an important “ah-ha” moment about what her business should cover.
• How an amazing word of advice from her mom to not wait to get permission to do what she wants to do was the push she needed to get started
• How I can so relate to Liz’s story of how she got started and the tough dilemma of taking a stable job or starting something new.
• We both talk about why we didn’t really know that we’d become an entrepreneur but ended up doing that anyway!
• Why so many people at first didn’t seem to think it was going to work at first, but it did anyway!
• The reason why…no matter what stage of their business Liz’s clients is at, going online creates thousands of different fears.
• Why Liz feels like she’s different than her clients…in a sense that she didn’t feel like she had to worry about appearances, but she understands why that’s an issue anyways.
• The reason why Liz starts by asking her clients what they’re afraid of and forcing them to choose which life they would rather pursue
• Why she’s not a fan of the words “I just do…whatever”, and why building relationships with her clients are about a lot more than just that.
• The reason why what makes your business special is about you as “you”, and how this makes “DIY” web copy challenging
• Why being proud of what you put online is key when it comes to hitting “publish”, but if you just find it okay and you’re doing it yourself that’s alright too!
• The reason why Liz thinks Squarespace is a better option for those who are going the “DIY” route with their website than something like Wordpress or Bluehost
• Why she’s a huge believer in taking courses to prep you for launching a business, in the areas you’re not already strong
• The importance of making some entrepreneur friends in the process, because well…yeah, entrepreneurship can be lonely!
• My story of how co-working has helped me work around that.
• I admit that I underestimate the value of Wordpress, simply because that’s the medium I was trained in, and how I really realize how that’s something others might find challenging
• How taking a specialized course that benefits your business can really help
• How it can be really hard to write and create your own web copy, even if it’s what you specialize in, and the workaround: getting an objective eye to look at it can help
• The tendency to overinform on websites, if you’re the one doing the work on your own brand.
• The most common problems with web copy: saying too much or being too abstract.
• The value of saying what you mean when it comes to web copy, and how both our experiences working in customer service informed both our belief in that.
• How what’s valuable has changed since Liz first started
• Why it’s more important than ever to make it clear who you are and what you do
• How it’s now more powerful than ever to have a very “real”, authentically your voice. See my solo episode on customer loyalty to see why I’m a huge believer in this
• The value of getting someone that doesn’t know your business at all to look at your website and determine whether or not what you’re saying makes sense.
• Why Liz believes that putting everything from your site into a word doc and getting rid of everything you hate is a great idea.
• The reason why you should focus just on who you are and who you serve.
• The value of also including details about who you are and what you do, and how that can help…getting straight to the point is important.
• Why people get a bit afraid talking about their ideal customer, and the importance of telling your authentic story.
• Why being authentic about your story can be so important…because it’s what you’ve got!
• How exercises that get in the head of the target audience really help, and why we’re both not fans of customer avatars
• An example of how Liz’s “I really get you” exercises work: we use the example of a for-hire firefighter as an example…
• How the point really is just to focus on people’s problems and how you can solve them.
• Why you actually don’t have to be a great writer to have great copy.
• The problem with flowery copywriting: “clarity over cleverness” being the key objective.
• Why clarity is so important.
• Liz’s most important word of advice re those who are launching…. you already have all the answers, stop looking at your competition!
• The importance of focusing on what makes you excited about this, and looking at things from the point of view of what you want out of your ideal customer
• How talking about your business, the same way as you would talk about it to your friend is so important
• My additional tip on this subject: how learning how to explain things to people who don’t understand my industry has taught me a lot.
• Why we both agree that people need to stop asking others for opinions about small things like their logo in Facebook groups
• However, they’re great for support and relationship building!
• The hundreds of ways to get help for free, and why Facebook shouldn’t be one of them.

About this week’s guest Liz Theresa, business coach and founder of LizTheresa.com, has been helping entrepreneurs find clarity and uniquely market themselves with confidence for the past 7 years through her strategic website design and clever copywriting services. She wants every entrepreneur to rise and be the star of their own business. She’s also the creator of Concept to Creation™, her flagship branding and web design program and you can download a free copywriting training video from her at freecopyvideo.com.
Where you can find Liz online:
Check out her website: https://liztheresa.com/
Like her Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/liztheresa
 Listen to her podcast: https://liztheresa.com/podcast-archive/
 Sign up for her copy masterclass: https://copymasterclass.com/
How you can follow this podcast (and learn more about its host)
Twitter
 Get podcast news and updates in your inbox
 Check out my website

​Never participated in a photoshoot or hired a photographer before? Not really sure how to prepare or what to tell your photographer? Consider this episode to be your pre-photoshoot guide to approaching the experience with confidence.
 
Because chances are you’ll need photos that look professional for your website, brochure, etc. at some point!
 
What this episode covers:

• What this week’s episode is brought you by: Blog On: A Blogging Starter Kit for Entrepreneurs, an e-book by yours truly.
• Why I chose to have yet another photography focused episode (there have been two others so far, not including this one for instance)
• The focus of Mira Whiting’s business (in other words, what she photographs/ who she photographs)
• What portrait photography actually is
• Why Mira sees the essence of people as being the focus of her sessions
• How the locations and settings Mira suggest varying from person to person, profession to profession
• How newborn shoots tend to be different than professional shoots
• The importance of breaks and heating in newborn sessions
• What she communicates to her clients about pre-photoshoot, especially in terms of what is the most special to them/ what they want to focus on.
• Why she finds that with kids especially communicating with them about something they’re interested in is so important.
• Why connecting with her clients as humans is so important for Mira.
• How she uses this same tactic to do her business photoshoots as well.
• The attire that is the most practical, and how to judge what works best for your industry.
• The misconception that people have that you need to be super dressy regardless.
• Why Mira encourages her clients to take pictures with their cellphone of things they’re considering for their photo shoot for their attire, in order to get feedback.
• Why Mira encourages her clients to consider outfits that are a little bit modular.
• Why bringing along lots of accessory options is such a great idea
• How changes in light and weather can impact the photographer’s decision for what accessories are appropriate
• Why planning out your outfit can mean that the various angles you use won’t change up what’s necessary to make the photos ready for everything from brochures to website banners.
• The secret to preparing from a confidence point of view: reducing the amount of negative self-image, and how to get rid of that completely. Spoiler alert: it’s all about the people who love you the most making you feel better about yourself.
• How Mira tries to use the same approach with her clients: and why it’s so much about reminding them of their own self-worth.
• The unfortunate reality that negative self-image is so engrained in adult women especially
• How the selfie has changed our perception of how pictures are taken, and an important tip that it’s standard practice to shoot from slightly above.
• How Mira’s physical size contributes to how she approaches her portrait photos, especially because so many of the adult women she photographs are about the same size.
• The conversational feel that Mira typically goes for and what it entails.
• The importance of talking to your photographer if you have particular needs and insecurities they need to know about.
• When Mira thinks they her clients are at their best during a photoshoot, and how she creates a judgement free zone.
• How this tends to vary with kids, and how she finds letting them have input helps.
• How she uses things like telling jokes to ease children into the process.
• Why one of the most important takeaways from this episode is that it’s all really just about communication and being heard to pull off great results, rather than the “scary” medium of the camera.
• Why Mira wishes less people were scared of the camera, and what she wants people who feel that way to remember. And…the fact she is totally sympathetic as well.
• How that experience with hating being on camera helps Mira understand her clients.
• The fall and winter sessions Mira is looking forward to the most.
• Unfortunately, the audio for the Patreon page got cut off a bit. If you want to donate, go to patreon.com and then search for “rosemaryrichings” (all one word)

 
About Mira:
Mira is a portrait photographer living just outside Boston with her husband and three kids. Mira works with families and individuals who want updated portraits, striving to make everyone more comfortable in front of the camera. She is the recipient of the #1 Readers’ Choice Award and HulaFrog’s Most Loved Family Photographer Award and has placed as a finalist twice for the Boston A-List Best Photographer award. When she isn’t behind the camera, Mira enjoys spending time with her family, knitting, and cooking.
 
Where you can find Mira Online:
Visit her website: http://mirawhitingphotography.com/
Like her Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/mirawhitingphotography
Follow her on Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/mirawhitingphotography
 
How you can follow this podcast (and learn more about its host)
Twitter
Get podcast news and updates in your inbox
Check out my website
 

Think marketing is too expensive or complicated? This episode will change your point of view. Because I looked at things from the point of view of the loyal customer. This involves analyzing examples of wonderful things my favourite small businesses have done in the past to keep me coming back for more.
 
Because building trust and loyalty isn’t just cheap. It’s also one of the most powerful forms of advertising.
 
 What this episode covers:

• What this week’s episode is brought you by: Blog On: A Blogging Starter Kit for Entrepreneurs, an e-book by yours truly.
• How still living in my hometown makes my relationships with many of the local small businesses extra special
• The one thing all the businesses discussed have in common: the proof of how little you actually need to spend to keep customers coming back for more
• The story of a coffee shop just down the street from me rewarded my loyalty in a small but meaningful way. They’re called Empire Espresso by the way if you’re ever in the Toronto, Canada area!
• What made that small, friendly gesture so special: “she technically didn’t have to do that”
• Why despite the fact it wouldn’t lead to immediate profits, that gesture was a good idea, and peaked my interest in going back in the future.
• Why the little, small kind gestures towards the people who seem the most loyal are so important, and who falls under that category.
• A roti shop that retired recently, and how they rewarded my family for their decades of loyalty.
• The symbolism of that kind gesture.
• Why a personal connection is a hundred times more important than having Google ads or spending a fortune on any other type of advertising.
• My tea sommelier’s emphasis on “remembering”, “listening”, and picking up on subtle details, and why that keeps me going back for more.
• The biggest takeaway from the tea sommelier’s approach: offering value, being present, offering one-on-one support. And why that’s best way to prove you care about more than just your customer’s money.
• Why it’s more important than ever to make customers feel like they’re loved, supported, and truly belong.
• The importance of being vulnerable with people and personal.
• A great example of this: the first Medium Digest article I’ve published in a while. And why I felt like it was my chance to be truly vulnerable with people.
• What that article was all about: my history of finding public speaking hard, and how that has changed over the years.
• The podcast guest experience that inspired that article.
• Why I sincerely hope that you’ll be equally as vulnerable with your audience, and the value of that.
• What vulnerable content is really about: “making people feel like they really know you before they buy from you”, and why that’s so important.
• An awesome example of a brand that does this really well, Buffer. FYI:  if you want a more in depth explanation check out my blog post: “How Buffer’s Transparency Approach Changed My Life in The Best Possible Way”.  
• What Buffer chooses to be transparent about. Their official transparency page is available right here, in case you want to go back to it in the future.
• What transparency is really about, and why you might want to take it seriously.
• How that desire to keep being transparent relates to this podcast.

 
About me 

I specialize in blog content promotion and audience outreach strategy.
 
My work has been featured on sites such as Buffer and Search Engine Journal, and I have worked with clients such as Yellowpages Canada and E-Bay. My blog, Rosie Writing Space, and podcast, People Behind the Business, are dedicated to providing practical advice for people who are “putting themselves out there” in the digital space.
 
I am based at the Centre for Innovation in Toronto, Canada.
 
For more info about my work, check out www.rosemaryrichings.com.
 
How you can follow this podcast (and learn more about its host)
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Get podcast news and updates in your inbox
Check out my website

​Ever dreamed of starting your own independent publication? Not sure what it takes to get readers, subscribers, advertisers, and contributors to participate?
 
Recently, I spoke to Ashley Rector, the founder of Harness magazine about the good, crap, and totally awesome parts of starting and running your own magazine in a digital age.
 
If you have a great idea for an independent publication but are worried about its financial sustainability, there’s a lot you can learn from Ashley’s story of how she builds Harness from scratch. On this episode, you’ll learn exactly what it takes to run a successful independent publication.
 
What this episode covers:
 

• What this week’s episode is brought you by: Blog On: A Blogging Starter Kit for Entrepreneurs, an e-book by yours truly.
• The similarities between Harness Magazine’s focus and what keeps the podcast going in the first place!
• Ashley’s intro to what her magazine covers
• What kind of material Harness covers
• How Ashley got started at Harness, and why she’s super excited about its three-year anniversary
• Why she started Harness, and how the things she was interested in submitted not really having a proper home was a huge part of it.
• How the tendency for women to bond over shared experiences was a major source of inspiration
•  What Ashley loves about often being the first place where first time writers are published
• The struggle she had in the beginning to figure out if she was going to be in the digital or print space, and why that was a major thing she had to consider.
• Looking back her advice for others that have the same interest is basically this: ask yourself “what is the goal, and what you want it to be?” and why that should be priority number one!
• What Harness used to be vs what it used to be now, and how Ashley made the switch in publication schedules, and made it possible to do both web and print versions.
• How Ashley used social media to create a buzz, and attract writers, readers, and etc., and how that has evolved.
• What the submission process often looks like, and why it’s often about being inclusive but also maintaining quality at the same time.
• What she looks for in submissions and why it’s about what’s lacking content wise, and largely subjective.
• What gets rejected: “often there has to be something really wrong with it,” and what qualifies as “wrong”.
• The hardest part of managing submissions? The large amount of submissions. And why Ashley’s interest in always wanting to let people know regardless of the result is part of that.
• How getting a team has helped manage the large amount of submissions.
• Why Ashley sees giving one-on-one feedback to the writers as so important.
• How the themes are driven by Harness’s social media, and the tools/ systems that Harness uses to plan things out.
• Ashley’s advice to listeners: “you have to sit down and decide what’s most important and take it in bite-sized pieces”, and why launching a magazine is about starting small
• Why Ashley recommends using publishing group forums on Facebook to ask for help when you’re really not sure.
• Why the most important thing to decide is this: “do you want to be like Vogue or an indie magazine?”
• Why advertising partnerships for Ashley are about partnering with brands that match their mission.
• The truth about pricing for ad partnerships...? It really depends and all the factors that tie in.  
• Why a lot of the ad income goes towards printing and distribution costs.
• The Harness media kit, and how it has helped. If you’re stuck on creating yours Ashley recommends checking out Harness’s as a guideline.
• What to include in a media kit, how her graphic designer has been helpful, and why you might need to reach out to freelancer if you don’t already have access to a graphic designer.
• Why being in love with what you do is so much an important part of starting your own publication. And why doing your homework/ research is important too!
• The new issue that Ashley is currently working on, and the new website that’s coming soon in the new year.

 
About Ashley Rector, this week’s guest
 
Ashley Rector is a small business and passion coach, attorney and the founder of Harness Magazine. Harness is a digital and print publication dedicated to empowering women through creative expression. Simply put, Harness publishes the articles, artwork and poetry from real women around the world.
 
Where you can find Ashley Online:
 

• Website: https://www.harnessmagazine.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/harnessmagazine/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/harnessmagazine
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/harnessmag

 
How you can follow this podcast (and learn more about its host)
Twitter
Get podcast news and updates in your inbox
Check out my website