Brandmerry Blog Archives
Lessons in Marketing: Resiliency Pays Off
Marketing can feel like a lot of work and to be honest a lot of entrepreneurs throw in the towel on their strategies too early. Today on the blog, I'm sharing why resiliency in marketing pays off and my top marketing lessons.
Lessons in Marketing: Resiliency Pays Off
BY MICHELLE KNIGHT
When it comes to marketing, you've got to be in it for the long game.
Despite what you might see posted on Facebook Ads, the reality is most people aren’t making $10k in 10 days in the beginning. It takes longevity and dedication, something I’m here for, in order to create sustainable growth as a business owner.
Wouldn’t you rather have consistent $10k months than one week with $10k? Not that you have to choose, you can have both, but from what I’ve seen many individuals create one-hit-wonder marketing strategies that aren’t sustainable.
Resiliency matters as a marketer and if you don't have this resiliency, if you're not really paying attention to the data, to the details, you're going to struggle in marketing your business.
So, in today’s post, I’m sharing.
MARKETING LESSON #1: HAVE MEASURABLE GOALS
I don't know if you have noticed this, but sometimes you plan things, you put in a lot of energy, a lot of time, and you write all the emails, you do all of the things, you put in all the strategy, and then you're like, okay, something seems to be wrong; something's not working.
We're going to talk about how to actually identify what's not working in just a minute, but this is going to happen in business.
I think it's really easy when we're looking at the way specific marketers are talking about their products and services, and think it will automatically work for me and my business. We know this is not true.
So much of a strategy working depends on your audience and who you ultimately want to attract to your brand and your business. But when we go into marketing with this idea, or with this expectation that this is going to work exactly how we have it mapped out, we're really setting ourselves up for a lot of failures.
There's a difference between these crazy expectations and having clear, measurable goals.
As a marketer, it's really important that you have these clear, measurable goals that say, okay, in 30 days let's see where we're at.
If we haven't noticed a 2% or 3% or 4% improvement, then let's talk about some changes that we could make. Let's watch it again another 30 days and see.
Then after that, maybe we have to decide that this isn't right for us.
Or maybe we have to decide to implement something else into our strategy.
That's essentially what I'm talking about when I'm talking about this resiliency in marketing.
You've got to be in it for the long game.
This is the thing about marketing, my friends. It is a long game. But so is being a CEO and a business owner. You don't want a business for two months and then you're like, "I'm done with that."
You put a lot of time and energy into making that happen. So, this resiliency as a business owner is incredibly important and it’s going to help improve your marketing.
MARKETING LESSON #2: DON’T QUIT TOO EARLY
Once you’ve gotten super clear and specific with your goals, it’s so important to put in the energy and effort consistently, but a lot of small business owners quit too early.
They quit right before things start to shift.
One of the things that happened to me a couple of years ago when I launched You! Branded is that it wasn't working in the beginning. It wasn't selling and I had signed up for a whole program to support me in making this happen.
So I kept making small adjustments and then I kept making small adjustments, and then we started to see a little bit of an increase and I'm like, "Okay, let's keep making some small adjustments."
Then within a year, that product alone brought in six figures to my business because of those small adjustments.
Could you imagine what would have happened if I would have been like, "This doesn't work! Screw this." Which is what a lot of small business owners do.
We often get the first response to something, or don’t see the sales we imagined and we immediately throw in the towel, but this resilience and dedication to making small improvements can result in consistent income in your business.
If you’re constantly setting goals and then throwing in the towel when they don’t work right away you’ll always be creating and not selling.
SMALL IMPROVEMENTS FOR MASSIVE CHANGE
One of my favorite books is Atomic Habits by James Clear. It's helped me so much with my daily habits in both life and business, and what he talks about and what we don't focus enough on is 1% improvement every single day.
The same is true for your marketing.
We're typically looking for something to go from 10% to 90% in 48 hours. There's no proof that shows it’s going to happen. The growth we see is incremental growth, changes that have to happen to lead to the larger leap.
If you are improving even a little bit over time, just 1% daily, that's going to snowball to ultimately be that 90% improvement.
You have to be open to making changes.
You have to be open to making these small adjustments.
You need to set clear goals for yourself.
LESSON #3: DATA DRIVES DECISIONS
Why are the goals you’re setting so important?
The answer to that question is that data drives decisions.
When it comes to marketing, data should be driving your decisions.
The fact that you're like, "Oh, but I really, really love this title. It's so great." But, the data shows that nobody else loves this title or nobody else understands what you're saying. If you’re not willing to change then you’re too emotionally attached to it and not reading the data.
Or, "But, I really love this color." Yeah, but the data shows that that color on a button does not work for you.
Data needs to drive your decisions, especially your marketing decisions and when we're talking about this resiliency and making these small improvements, then you want to make sure that you're looking at the data to know what to adjust.
DATA YOU SHOULD BE PAYING ATTENTION TO
When it comes to data there are obviously numerous things you can measure. However, here are some of the most popular for business owners to monitor and track.
Landing Page Conversion Rate:
How many people land on the page and how many people actually follow through with what you're asking them to do? In this case, an opt-in to your lead magnet and email list.
Typically if you’re promoting something free to a cold audience, you're looking for at least a 30% conversion. We share this information inside of the Academy, by the way. So if you're ever, like, "I don't even know what these conversions should be," we talk about your data and your numbers inside of the Academy a lot.
Email Open Rates:
When we're talking about email open rates, if no one’s opening them, it’s a sure sign that your subject line is underperforming.
It could also be deliverability, but that depends on your email platform. That's why we love ConvertKit.
Typically, it changes based on your list size, but 18% to about 24% is average.
If you have 10,000 people on your email list and you're hitting a solid 22%, great. If you've got 40 people on your email list and you're at 90%, fantastic. As your list grows your conversion will shift as well.
If you're feeling like your email marketing doesn't work, then look at your numbers, starting with your email open rates. If your people aren't opening your emails, it's because your subject line sucks. So, let's focus on increasing that first - remember to make one small change.
Click-Through Email Rates:
If people are reading your emails, but they're not clicking through, then that's your CTA (call to action).
What are you saying in your email? Are you using the right messaging to get people to take action? Sometimes we group everything together and we're like, "It's not working." And, then we don't make these small adjustments that would probably shift everything.
When you start to get into the habit of making those small adjustments frequently and looking at the data, you can make these informed decisions.
It took me about five years to like webinars. I'm in my fifth year of business now. There were periods of time where I was convinced I would never do a webinar again.
It wasn't webinars that sucked. It was that I wasn't great at doing webinars. I needed to fix my game. I needed to get really, really clear on what I was teaching on that webinar. I needed to get better at my CTAs.
I have clients who are like, "Live video doesn't work." And I'm like, "Live video does work, but let's figure out why yours isn't working and let's fix it."
Put your marketing hat on and ask yourself very specific questions to discover what’s not working, rather than generalize the entire thing.
BTW, a good click-through rate for your emails is 1-3% and on a webinar, you’re wanting between a 2-5% conversion rate.
WHAT TO DO IF YOU DON’T HAVE THE DATA
If you don't have a ton of data, try looking at what your audience is responding to.
What kind of posts do people like that you post on social media?
What type of blog topics get the most click-through rates in your email marketing?
What are people asking you about over and over again?
When it comes to marketing we want a clear target and we want to take actions to get us closer to that target. That's how you create marketing that works for your business.
MARKETING LESSON #4: CREATE MARKETING GUIDELINES
One of the things that I implemented a few years ago to help drive my decisions in marketing, were marketing guidelines.
These marketing guidelines for my business specifically helped me step into the CEO role of my company.
I talked about it in this post a few weeks ago.
My marketing guidelines as a CEO are that:
I don't need to post fresh content daily.
I focus on longevity, so I never want something that's going to disappear or that I can't keep and repurpose. That will allow me to create high-value content.
I drive traffic to my home base (aka website)
Those are my three guiding principles when it comes to marketing.
You want to create your own because that's going to allow you to come back to these very specific pieces when things aren't working or when something new comes out and you’re wondering if you should implement it into your strategy.
There’s always something new and you can’t keep up with all of it or you’ll burn out!
These guidelines will help you determine if it is in alignment with how you want to run your business.
The example that I gave a few weeks ago was Clubhouse, which is a great platform and people absolutely love it, but it does not hit my criteria.
It's high value, I will give it that. But it requires you to show up often and the longevity is not there because things disappear. That's just not in alignment with my core guiding principles as a marketer.
So, when it comes to resiliency in marketing, you want to say, what are my principles?
What are the things that are important to me?
What are my values as a marketer?
Make sure that when you're committing to a new marketing strategy and that you're putting in the time and energy to get the data you need. Because marketing is about resiliency and it's about longevity and it's about consistency.
MARKETING LESSON #5: CONSISTENCY IS KEY
This isn't a fluffy word. There's a reason that we talk about consistency in business and why it is so important.
If you're setting a goal to see how blogging works and then you post one blog every month, it’s going to take you a while to know if blogging works for you.
But if you set a goal to see how blogging works in 60 days and you’re diligent and post weekly, then you’ll have the data to look at and make a decision on where you go from there.
Thinking of redoing your entire website because you’re convinced it doesn’t work?
Well, let’s fix what you do have because redoing it is going to take you a long time and maybe some money. Let's instead make some of these tweaks and modifications. Let's see if that helps before you now waste six months of your time writing new copy and redoing your entire website.
Now, of course, there's a time and a place to redo your website, if your brand has changed, if your ideal customer has changed. But we're so quick to not put that marketing hat on and say, "Let me look at this with a lens of data and see, what could I change?"
We’ve recently made changes to our marketing strategy at Brandmerry because of what the data was showing. To hear all the behind-the-scenes of that change be sure to LISTEN to Episode 7 of The Brandmerry Podcast here.
CONCLUSION
Data-driven decisions are so important as a business owner and I really, really hope that you see that.
This message that I wanted to share about resiliency in marketing, it cannot be 100% an emotional decision. You need to follow the data and you need to know what’s working and why!
This is what we teach inside of Brandmerry Academy. You can go to brandmerryacademy.com to check it out.
I hope that this was incredibly helpful for you. I hope this motivated you to start looking at the data to really look at marketing in a way of its longevity.
It isn't a one-hit-wonder strategy. It can't be a one-hit-wonder strategy
We have to keep ourselves on our toes with marketing, it's essential. And so if you struggle with that, if you want more accountability, if you want to know how to look at the data in the right way, we cover that inside of The Academy.
- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -
DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES
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MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR
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MEET MICHELLE
Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.
I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.
I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.
This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.
3 Key Factors for Telling Better Brand Stories in Marketing
Brand storytelling is all the rage because it improves marketing!
And everyday you should be sharing stories as part of your marketing strategy.
Here are 3 factors to improve your overall marketing strategy.
3 Key Factors for Telling Better Brand Stories in Marketing
BY MICHELLE KNIGHT
We often think about brand storytelling as our brand story. That's typically what you see written on an ‘About Me’ page, a couple of different places on your website and your social media handles.
But a lot of brands stop here.
They've got that brand story and then they do nothing else, and they're missing out on an incredible marketing strategy by doing so.
Brand storytelling will elevate your marketing.
It will elevate your content creation.
It will elevate your customer experience when you fully embrace it.
Today, on The Brandmerry Podcast, I wanted to not only share how important brand storytelling is but also three key factors that are necessary for telling stories in business.
One of the little secret sauces that I have over here at Brandmerry is the power of storytelling.
It's in everything that I create and teach. I have been featured on multiple podcasts, talking about brand storytelling. I have been featured by HoneyBook, leading an entire workshop on brand storytelling.
My goal is to get you to think of storytelling as a powerful tool not just in your brand foundation, but also in your marketing!
IMPORTANCE OF BRANDING AND BRAND STORYTELLING
What branding focuses on the experience that you are providing your audience.
While the business side of things is very much the marketing, how you're showing up every day, the products, the services, etc...
Branding is focused on a core foundation of who you are, who your ideal customer is, strong messaging, and understanding the emotional component to create an overall experience for your ideal customer.
I've already shared how storytelling plays a role in that, but essentially storytelling allows you to identify who you are, why you're doing the work that you're doing, and the mission statement that we talked about in the first episode.
It helps you identify your brand values, which are a guiding light in the choices that you're going to make.
It helps you get deep into who do I want to work with?
Why do I want to work with them?
Who is my product for, who is my service for?
Who is this whole thing for?
Storytelling can play a major role in the branding process. It is the core foundation of everything that I teach inside of my program, You! Branded.
Inside of You Branded, we are focused on getting clear on your story, your ideal customer’s story, the story that you want to tell through your messaging, the story of your offer, your authentic voice, and ultimately the emotional brand.
Once we have that, you have got so much to get started, to move into that marketing phase, to start showing up, sharing content, and building that know, like, trust factor with your growing audience.
Once you have that, you’re ready to move into the marketing phase. This is why the branding phase is so essential - it builds the foundation and sets the tone for everything you’ll create moving forward to make money in your business.
STORYTELLING AND MARKETING IN YOUR SMALL BUSINESS
The marketing piece is how you're showing up, how you're attracting your ideal customers, how you are bringing in those leads and how you are leading them to the purchase.
This is the area of brand storytelling that so many people neglect, but it's so important.
Incorporating storytelling into your content and into your marketing gives you the power to increase the likelihood that your audience will actually remember it.
Your audience is 22 times more likely to remember something that you share on social media, in a blog, in an email, on a video, because you've incorporated storytelling.
Storytelling is a universal language and it does amazing things to our brains as humans and ultimately consumers.
It fires off dopamine which makes us feel good. Neural coupling is happening, which basically states that it's not about the story, it's about the art of telling a story that triggers different things in your customer's brain that attracts them to the message because they can connect it to their own story and something that's happened to them - even if it’s not identical.
That's why storytelling is incredibly powerful for bringing in your ideal customer and captivating them.
By incorporating stories into your everyday pieces of content and your marketing, you're actually giving yourself an incredible advantage on social media, on blogs, in email marketing, and when you're selling on a sales page.
HOW STORYTELLING INCREASES SALES
In 2009, Rob Walker and Joshua Glen held an experiment that has become known in marketing as The Significant Object project and it’s a great example of how storytelling plays a role in our marketing and ultimately the purchase conversions of our services and products.
Yep, you heard that right - storytelling can increase sales!
In 2009, Rob Walker and Joshua Glenn asked 100 creative writers to invent stories about $129 worth of items. They bought $129 worth of items, they hired creative writers to make up stories about each item.
They listed these products on eBay.
The result was a net profit of $3.6 million. It was a 2700% increase in the final markup!
One of the examples that's sold was a paperweight. As you know, we can get these for like a dollar. They specifically bought theirs for $1.47 and it sold for $197. It was a simple paperweight with a story that sold!
This experiment proves that we, as human beings, are drawn to and connect with stories and that we make purchase decisions based on stories and emotional connection.
It is incredibly important for you as a marketer to incorporate storytelling into your entire process!
3 KEY FACTORS FOR BRAND STORYTELLING
We’re focused on brand storytelling today, and I’m not going to sugar coat it - it’s a lot!
Inside of my free training, Build a Better Brand Method, I break down some of the key pieces of brand storytelling and you can watch it for free here.
Inside of my program, Brandmerry Academy, which is my membership community that teaches you how to market off of social media, we talk about storytelling and the different ways that you can create content around storytelling.
There is also this guide if you want to explore further.
So, please know these three factors will get you started, but there is more work to dive into and you’re in the right place at Brandmerry.
WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE AND WHAT IS THE VALUE
I'm laughing a little bit on the inside here because if you've worked with me or listened to any of my live videos, you know how much I stress the importance of doing ideal customer work. It's non-negotiable over here.
Do you have a content creation problem? It's because you don't know who your ideal customer is.
Don't know what kind of copy to write? It's because you don't know who your ideal customer is.
Don't know what kind of stories to tell? It's because you don't know who your ideal customer is.
Ideal customer research is important, and I'm not talking about just getting on the phone with people and chatting with them all day, every day. There are a lot of strategic ways to do ideal customer research through free tools online, like Answer the Public, to posting a survey, to asking questions in your Insta Stories.
Ideal customer work is something that we teach inside of module two of my course, You! Branded, and it's so important for moving forward in branding and marketing your business.
It’s imperative when it comes to brand storytelling because as business owners, we're not just telling stories to tell stories. We're not just talking about a fun thing we did today. Because that's not going to get people to invest in what we're selling.
We ultimately are using stories to build connections and make sales. So when you're thinking about the types of stories to share, you want to be super clear on the audience that you're telling those stories to.
If you were writing a speech for a TED talk, you would need to know who's in the room.
If you were being asked to speak on stage at a conference for photographers, you wouldn't go in to speak at a conference for people who sell a product. That’s a different audience and you would choose your stories accordingly.
You need to understand who your audience is at their core, so you can choose the stories that are ultimately going to connect with them because that's what running a successful business is about.
In addition to that, one of the best practices that I love to teach my clients is identifying the value before you even craft the post, or the email, or the story on a video. So not only are you sharing the story, you've run it through your checker of how it'll connect to your ideal customer and the specific value that it's providing them.
Remember, value doesn't necessarily mean five tips on this, although that's helpful. It can also be humorous, entertaining, inspirational, motivational, or educational.
Remember…
…what is the story?
…how does it connect to your ideal customer?
...what value do you provide?
And then you will know that you've got a story that is going to help move your business forward.
THE 4 C’S OF STORYTELLING
The second thing that you want to keep in mind, one of the key factors in storytelling, is the four Cs. They are character, conflict, conclusion and CTA.
Let's break these down.
CHARACTER
There has to be a central focus for the story that you're telling.
If you're telling a story about something that happened to you, you might be the character.
If you're telling a story about a client testimonial, they might be the character.
If you're telling a story where you want the reader to picture themselves in the story, then it is your reader.
Your character could also be your product or service you’re selling.
The goal is to have a focus on who the story is ultimately about.
CONFLICT
The second thing you want in your story is conflict.
You can call it conflict, obstacle, or decision, and it’s anything that causes some tension in the story. This is important because we, as people, as human beings, need a resolution from conflict, so having this in your story makes it interesting!
Then we offer the conclusion or resolution after introducing the conflict.
CONCLUSION
Having both the conflict and conclusion is a great way to not only hook your audience but keep them engaged.
I was watching WandaVision, not that long ago, and every week I was like, “Oh my gosh. Man, now I have to wait 'til next week!” And I was genuinely frustrated about it, but I also made a note in the back of my mind that I cannot miss next week's episode.
This is what happens in our brain when we are introduced to some sort of conflict and need a resolution. It's called open looping.
As humans, we need resolve. So that's where the conclusion or resolve comes into play.
If you can present the character, you can showcase some sort of tension or conflict, a decision, or a question that was presented and then resolve that and share the conclusion, you're doing that full arc in your ideal customer's mind. That's where the dopamine gets released!
CALL TO ACTION
As business owners, we are not only focused on connection, but we also want to make profits.
So having some sort of call-to-action is important with your stories. That CTA doesn't have to be, “click here” or “visit my bio.”
It could be, “drop me an emoji”, “what did you think about this”, “answer yes or no”, “share this.”
Those are all CTAs. You don't want to miss that piece.
Character, conflict, conclusion, are key in all stories, everywhere. Movie scripts, sitcoms, books that we read. The CTA is that business element that we don't want to forget about.
So again, include character, conflict, conclusion, and CTA in all of your stories.
PAINT A PICTURE
I often have clients who are worried about a story being too long, and as a result, they cut out crucial pieces of the story and ultimately impact the effectiveness of your storytelling.
Now, I’m not saying that you want to write something incredibly lengthy that your audience will never read, but be aware of the language you’re using to enhance the story.
Some of the things that I encourage my clients to do when it comes to painting a picture, is to be descriptive and share emotionally charged language.
If you know things about your ideal customer, about their pain, about their pleasure, things that they would say, incorporating those into your story is powerful. Being descriptive and showcasing the individual pieces.
One of the small parts of my founder’s story is a great example of this.
“I remember sitting on the couch in a postpartum fog, breastfeeding my one-month-old son. I looked up, turned to my husband and said, “I don’t want to go back to work.” He looked up, took a deep breath and said, “Ok.” That was the start of Brandmerry.”
You can see inside of this story how I’ve painted a picture for my audience. If I would have taken out the descriptive elements it would have just been, “I was sitting on the couch and I looked at my husband and I said, I want to leave my job. And he said, okay, let's do it.”
That’s pretty boring.
What I did instead was set up the scene, where I'm talking about being in a postpartum fog, I'm sitting on the couch and breastfeeding my son. You can imagine what that looks like. You might even be seeing yourself in that situation.
I talk about lifting my head, turning to my husband. I share what I said. I talk about him taking a deep breath in, letting it out, turning to me, and saying what he said.
That did not make my story incredibly long, but it enhanced the story 150% and it made it better.
Don't miss out on the opportunity to paint a picture, be descriptive, and use that strong, emotionally charged language when you're sharing your stories online. Especially on social media, because you want your stories to captivate your audience and not just sound like everyone else.
CONCLUSION
Let’s recap the three key factors for storytelling in your marketing.
Number one: Know your audience and the value the story provides.
Number two: Include the four C’s of character, conflict, conclusion, and CTA.
Number three: Paint a picture.
As I've mentioned, you can be showing up and sharing stories all of the time in your marketing.
In fact, I challenge you to incorporate a single story in every piece of content that you create moving forward.
One of the great ways to start is by going back and listening to some of the previous episodes on this podcast for ideas.
In episode one, I talked about creating a mission for your business. Write your mission, and then share various stories about your mission. Why you believe in your mission, when you wrote your mission. If you have a story about why you have a mission, share the story about that.
In episode three, we talked about brand values. Identify your brand values, and then pick out different stories that you can tell from your life that showcase those brand values.
Those are ways that you can get started right now.
You can share your founder’s story or your “About Me” story, which we're going to dive into in a future episode. That's another story that you can break down and share on social media.
So you've got what you need to get started in sharing stories online.
Don't forget to catch the free On-Demand training, the Build a Better Brand Method. You can go to betterbrandmethod.com to learn more about my signature six-part method. You're going to learn more about elevating your messaging. I've got a trick in there on doing your ideal customer research that you're not going to want to miss where I’m talking about telling your brand story.
You can also check out youbrandedcourse.com to learn more about my paid branding course. This is truly where you get the step-by-step system for building a strong brand foundation rooted in story, understanding your ideal customer and mastering your messaging.
- FREE GIFTS YOU'LL LOVE -
DISCOVER YOUR BRAND STORY IN UNDER 5 MINUTES
LEARN HOW TO WRITE AN ‘ABOUT ME’ PAGE THAT CONVERTS
MAP OUT 30 DAYS OF CONTENT IN UNDER AN HOUR
- READ THE LATEST POSTS -
MEET MICHELLE
Hey there, I'm Michelle Knight and I an online branding and marketing consultant for female entrepreneurs.
I believe in the power of storytelling and using that superpower to brand and market yourself online...oh and to set yourself free.
I'm obsessed with living a life of freedom, so much so, that my family and I now travel full-time while running my business from the road.
This blog serves as a home base for all things branding, marketing, content creation and more.
Episode 14 | The Hard Stuff with Michelle Knight
The Hard Stuff with Michelle Knight
Free to Be Podcast | Episode 14
In today’s episode, I’m sharing The Hard Stuff from 2018. As we prepare for the year ahead it’s important to me that I’m fully transparent with you in the hopes it will help you in feeling seen, heard and understood.
2018 was a very difficult year, but it’s taught me some of the most important lessons that I will carry with me in the year ahead. It is my personal hope that 2019 brings more transparency in branding through the power of storytelling, and I’m starting right here with this episode.
Things I talk about in this episode:
↠ How my year started and the role it played in my business.
↠ Dealing with grief as an entrepreneur, mother, wife and woman.
↠ How my perfectionism challenged me in 2018 with the hiring of team and expanding my brand.
↠ One of the biggest mistakes I made in my business.
↠ My top tips for consistently growing in life and business.
↠ Removing the shame and guilt we feel as women.
↠ The single biggest lesson that keeps smacking me in the face.
↠ My goal for this brand in 2019!
CONNECT WITH ME
Web: brandmerry.com
Instagram: @brandmerrycoaching
Facebook: @brandmerrycoaching
Biz Group: Authentic Brand Builders
LOVE THE FREE TO BE PODCAST?
I kinda secretly hoped you'd say yes! I love you right back lady and I'm so honored you tune in every week for massive inspiration. I've got a favor to ask. Would you be so kind as to leave a review of the podcast on iTunes (if you haven't already)? It means so much to me to read your reviews + it allows more people to get their hands on the amazing interviews and content. Let's spread the love, shall we? REVIEW ON ITUNES ↠
Featured Review of the Week
Authentic. Warm. Real - Review by momofapis
”Everything that Michelle does is truly authentic. She has a warm heart and is passionate about helping you to succeed at gaining a life of freedom. Subscribe to this channel now! Find Michelle everywhere she is and follow her! You will cherish the time spent listening to her nuggets of wisdom. {ps. Thank you for being such a committed creator Michelle, you are amazing!}”
Listen to More
Episode 13 | Whole Mother Level with Tiffany Alblinger
Whole Mother Level with Tiffany Alblinger
Free to Be Podcast | Episode 13
I’m so excited about today’s topic with today’s guest. My amazing Doula, cousin and friend, Tiffany Alblinger and I are having an intimate conversation about the freedom to design your own birth, to question “what’s always been done” and erasing the stigma around motherhood.
I’m also sharing my own birth story from Cal’s home birth three years ago and the difficulties I faced postpartum. I believe MORE women should talk about these topics so we can all start to remove the shame often experienced by mothers everywhere.
Tiffany’s gifting Free to Be listeners a 10% discount off the Whole Mother Level apparel. Just use FREETOBE at checkout: WholeMotherCo.com
Things we talk about in this episode:
The freedom to chose your own birth experience.
How Tiffany supports mothers from birth to postpartum all the way into motherhood.
The stigma around mother’s having to “do it all” and “have it ALL together.”
Tiffany’s top questions to ask before choosing a birth location.
How to get support when you want to go against the norm in regards to your birth experience and your role as a mother.
Removing the pressures and shame around motherhood and asking for support.
Our hope for mothers everywhere!
Tiffany Alblinger
Tiffany Alblinger is a homeschool mom to daughters, homebirth midwife in San Diego and Co-founder of a give-back online mom shop called Whole Mother Co. She is creating community around women-centered topics and normalizing the struggles of motherhood while providing practical support for the journey.
Whole Mother Co is a fun give-back mom shop that connects everyday motherhood to causes that directly support the empowerment of moms. The Whole Mother Level shirt donates $3 to Improving Birth, an organization that works to improve birth outcomes for moms and their babies.
Connect with Tiffany
Instagram: instagram.com/tiffanymidwifery
Instagram: instagram.com/wholemotherco
Important links mentioned in this episode:
Whole Mother Co (Code: FREETOBE to save 10%)
Lip and Tongue Tie Breastfeeding Resource
CONNECT WITH ME
Web: brandmerry.com
Instagram: @brandmerrycoaching
Facebook: @brandmerrycoaching
Biz Group: Authentic Brand Builders
LOVE THE FREE TO BE PODCAST?
I kinda secretly hoped you'd say yes! I love you right back lady and I'm so honored you tune in every week for massive inspiration. I've got a favor to ask. Would you be so kind as to leave a review of the podcast on iTunes (if you haven't already)? It means so much to me to read your reviews + it allows more people to get their hands on the amazing interviews and content. Let's spread the love, shall we? REVIEW ON ITUNES ↠
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Michelle is the Real Deal - Review by Katie Phillips Creative
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Episode 12 | Planning Tips for 2019
Planning Tips for 2019
Free to Be Podcast | Episode 12
Today’s episode is a little impromptu because I think it’s needed! I’ve been watching so many entrepreneurs over the past year fly by the seat of their pants, and while I see incredible value in leading with inspiration, I also see too many entrepreneurs taking action from a place of desperation. My secret to avoiding this has always been planning.
In today’s episode, I’m sharing how you can plan for 2019 starting today and set yourself up for major success in the new year.
Things we talk about in this episode:
↠ How to start taking your shit seriously
↠ What made the biggest difference when I started my business
↠ How to avoid the entrepreneur end of the year trap
↠ The exact four-phase process I use to plan for the year ahead
↠ The exact questions I ask myself when planning for the year ahead
Speaking of planning, don’t forget the doors are now open to my signature program Roadmap to Freedom, but are closing soon! Roadmap to Freedom is my 6-month LIVE group program for the new female entrepreneur who is ready to launch an online business that allows her to make money on her own terms.
It's for the woman who is tired of just guessing at creating her profitable business and wants to seriously start making sh*t happen!
This program was designed to give you the COMPLETE roadmap, to remove the feeling of overwhelm and give you the support and accountability from someone who has been exactly where you are now so you can dig deeper than you could ever do on your own.
Learn more here: brandmerry.com/freedom
Questions from today’s episode:
Reflection:
What worked for you in 2018?
What didn’t light you up or excited you?
What did you accomplish or celebrate in 2018?
Based on 2018, what’s on top of mind for 2019?
What will you create or release in 2019?
Dreaming:
Visualize what you are doing in 10 years.
Why do you want it?
What action can you take in 2019, that will get you closer to your goal?
Planning:
Where do you want to be by the end of 2019?
How does that make you feel?
How does this contribute to your 10-year vision?
Now break down your main steps to get there into quarterly plans.
First 90 Days:
What is your #1 focus for the year ahead?
Decide on your Big 3 for the first 90 days.
Create actionable and measurable steps to get you closer to those goals in the first 90 days (get specific with each month).
CONNECT WITH ME
Web: brandmerry.com
Instagram: @brandmerrycoaching
Facebook: @brandmerrycoaching
Biz Group: Authentic Brand Builders
LOVE THE FREE TO BE PODCAST?
I kinda secretly hoped you'd say yes! I love you right back lady and I'm so honored you tune in every week for massive inspiration. I've got a favor to ask. Would you be so kind as to leave a review of the podcast on iTunes (if you haven't already)? It means so much to me to read your reviews + it allows more people to get their hands on the amazing interviews and content. Let's spread the love, shall we? REVIEW ON ITUNES ↠
Featured Review of the Week
Review by Awecoolio
A True Expert - “Michelle knows what she is talking about and openly shares all that she has learned. With a heart for women entrepreneurs, she is your ally in building a platform that will put you in touch with the people who need what you offer! Tune in, get inspired and get ready to change the world!”
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