Sometime between millennials being labeled "lazy" and "entitled," and the growing trend of entrepreneurship, rest was out and hustle was in. Then, unsurprisingly, came the burnout epidemic. 

I saw a quote on Twitter the other day that said "Rest is not a reward. You don't have to earn rest. You need rest. You deserve rest. You are worthy of rest simply because you are a living being. And don't ever feel guilty for taking time to rest." As a millennial myself, and one that despises the lazy title, I found myself working until 2 or 3 am every night. I say "found" like it's past tense, and I have gotten better, but I'm still guilty of overworking myself pretty frequently. So this blog is as much for me as it is for you. 

But the truth is, you can't pour from an empty cup. We'll actually get more done if we let ourselves rest properly vs. trying to work incessantly without a break. Research has shown that with regular breaks, productivity actually increases and more is accomplished. 

Re...

When I was younger, I was a voracious reader. As adult life took over, that pastime sadly suffered. After I graduated college and got done reading all the required textbooks, I realized I missed it. I missed learning. And so, my love for audiobooks emerged. I listened to almost 30 books in 2020 and I'm sharing with you my very favorites. Some were fiction (historical fiction is my jam), but most are geared towards self-development and business. 

1. Untamed by Glennon Doyle

2. Building a Storybrand by Donald Miller

3. Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert

4. Think Like a Monk by Jay Shetty

5. Super Attractor by Gabby Bernstein

6. Atomic Habits by James Clear

7. Stories That Stick by Kendra Hall (I later took her course that was great as well)

8. Superfans by Pat Flynn

9. Profit First by Mike Michalowicz (this completely altered my perspective and approach to money)

10. Braving The Wilderness, Daring Greatly, and Rising Strong by Brene Brown (sorry, I cheated but I loved them all)

I ...

Let's chat freebies. Do you have one? How many? Are they working for you?

A freebie may not make you money directly, but it will be the most important resource you create in your business because this is what will "hook" people and get them interested in what actually does make you money. Freebies are also known as list builders or lead magnets. 

You want your lead magnet to be straightforward and simple, something that can provide your audience a quick, immediate win. Freebies commonly take on the form of checklists, templates, or worksheets. Quizzes are another direction you can pursue to obtain leads. They don't offer the value that the other freebies might, but for some reason, everyone loves a good quiz and they typically work extremely well. 

My best performing lead magnet to date has been a free welcome email template. I've also had a lot of success with an entrepreneur-related Harry Potter quiz (yes, I'm a huge HP nerd).

Now, my Harry Potter quiz was extremely successful, b...

Marketing is all about connecting right? And nothing fosters connection better than stories. They have the ability to get people to relate to what you're saying on an emotional level like no other marketing strategy can. This is where the power in stories lies. 

 Any story can be used to further develop your marketing strategy, from the things that completely change your life to the every day situations we all come across. No matter the kind of story it is, I highly suggest including all the details you can. The details are where connection happens. For instance, if you're recalling a time from your childhood, and you mention the old Coke machine in the corner... that brings with it a whole feeling of nostalgia for so many people. Maybe the Coke machine isn't technically pertinent to the story, but that's something your audience can connect to. This is not to say, however, that your stories shouldn't have a conclusion or point...they absolutely should. A story with no conclusion is ki...

Environment is everything. It impacts how we feel, the way we work, and even how productive we are. I've learned this the hard way: from a series of less than ideal living situations that negatively affected me in many ways, only to make me appreciate my current environment that much more. 

Let me take you back. After graduating from high school, I moved to the Twin Cities to attend a private college. Even though my roommates were amazing, living in such close quarters with 3 other girls in a big city, which has never been my thing anyway, was pretty terrible. Then I transferred schools and moved in with my boyfriend and his parents. He traveled most of the year, so at the time, it didn't make sense to pay on his own place when he was hardly there. Again, his parents were great, but that's no one's ideal situation. Next came a rental that was always meant to be short-term, even though it ended up being longer-term than we had planned. The common denominator with all these places? I co...

Even as a kid, I was always responsible with money. I grew up with parents that dealt with finances completely differently, so finding a healthy balance between the two when it came to a relationship with money was challenging. But I was always counting the coins in my piggy bank, keeping track of how much I had and scheming ways I could make more, like the lemonade stand at our garage sale or selling toys I no longer wanted.   

My relationship with money is still a work in progress and I'm no financial advisor, but the following is how I paid off $40,146.11, if we want to get specific, in just 3 years. I had saved up all through college, because I knew come graduation, I'd have some significant loans to pay off and the thought of paying interest makes me want to dig a 6 foot hole right here and now. I had even received multiple academic scholarships and the sad part is, my loans were relatively insignificant compared to what many graduates come out of school with. 

If you're familia...

This is how it all began. I was 25. I had just gotten passed over for a job I had literally already been doing as a temp and felt a lot of pride in the work I had done so far. I knew a lot of people felt I was too young for the position, too young to be taken seriously and make an impact. So now I wanted to prove everyone wrong. ⁣
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Fast forward to my very first course launch ever with the business I had started after failing to land that job. Cart opens day 1... no sales. Ok it’s fine, it’s only day 1. Live webinars come and go... no sales. A steady, thrumming panic starts to take over my body. Just under the surface, but it's always there. Doubt seeps in... maybe I was right to get passed over for the job. Maybe I shouldn’t be doing this at all. Maybe I should stick to what I’ve been doing. Day 7... I finally confide to my boyfriend that I’m scared I won’t make any sales. My thought process before was if I don’t say anything, it won’t be real.. but I couldn’t take the incessant thrummi...

Whether you're aware of it or not, you are leading your customers through an experience every time they purchase from you. It can be positive or negative, purposeful or not, but it's there. What I want to show you though, is how to create a purposeful and strategic customer experience that will increase your brand loyalty and get you remembered by everyone that buys from you.

Chances are, other business out there offer something similar to what you do. So how do you set yourself apart from them? How do you get noticed in the crowd? Two words: customer experience. 

I have a digital marketing course for small business owners that I launch a couple times a year. When someone purchases my course, I send them a surprise gift package that goes along with the course material. How many other course creators do that? This is one aspect of my course experience that my students rave about. Do you think they're going to forget me and their unique experience any time soon? Nope! I want to make th...

Let me give you a little background. I was a minimalist before being a minimalist was cool. As a little girl, I'd love getting rid of toys I didn't play with anymore or clothes I had outgrown. I didn't have a label for what I was or how I acted, it wasn't trendy or popular, but I knew it felt good. Fast forward, and I'm a self-admitted minimalist living the nomad life in a Tiny House. And you know what? I couldn't love it any more than I do. 

So naturally I was curious about how I could apply minimalism to my business. First, I suggest sorting through all your "digital clutter." Digital clutter includes: files, emails, pictures, apps, Facebook groups, social media accounts, etc. This will take some time, but go through them all; delete what you don't absolutely need and organize what you do. Can you tell I'm not one of those people that has 20,459 unread emails in their inbox?

There's also a second part of digital minimalism that I teach in my masterclasses and course, The Digital Ma...

Have you heard of curiosity marketing? Better yet, are you implementing it in your business? As someone who hates being salesy and using pressure-inducing tactics to make money in my business, curiosity marketing is one of my go-to strategies. 

Think of curiosity marketing as a mutual engagement of information. Content is purposefully created in a way that will leave your audience wanting more. Instead of you as the seller trying to get people to listen to what you have to say (or sell as it may be), they're reaching out to you with questions or wanting more information. Pretty nifty, huh?

You can do this in all kinds of creative ways, but here's an example: maybe you run your own beauty business. You might make a post featuring a customer wearing the eyeshadow you sell and a caption like "Kim says this is, hands down, the best eyeshadow she's ever worn." So instead of naming the eyeshadow brand, the color, the price, and all its features, you're instilling a sense of curiosity in yo...