#123: Kristina Pierce- What to Do Before You Pay For Ads

It’s hard to pick between more than one priority when you believe in each of them.  In a perfect world you can delegate things.  Bring in more people and accomplish more than you can do alone.  Unfortunately there are things that you just can’t delegate.  Some things are yours and yours alone.  This podcast is one of those things for me.  I get plenty of help with the editing and the promotion but I’m the one on camera.  As summer approaches and I look at all the things on my plate I have to make some hard choices.  Listen to this episode to hear how I look at this pod and the amount of my time it consumes.

 

Timestamps:

03:04- Scheduling 27 hours in a 24 hour world

06:25- The work you can’t delegate

12:41- Podcasting is hard

20:08- How I’m using a side project to test my skills

 

If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:

http://www.reynoldsobm.com

Join Kellys’ facebook community here:

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To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:

http://www.reynoldsobm.com/gyat

Melinda Lee realized that her entire family line was full of silenced women. That realization led her to follow a calling as a communications and presentation coach.  Melinda saw that a lot of the challenges we all have to clear communication and public speaking were things that had nothing to do with memorizing the words.  In this interview we talk about dealing with “the inner critic”, how our bodies are living in the past, and the special needs that entrepreneurs have for presentation skills.  Melinda also shares some practical tips for public speaking that include what footwear you should have on.

 

Timestamps:

02:48- An extraordinary history of silence

06:40- Should I write out what I want to say beforehand?

11:10- Speaking in person vs. Zoom vs. Podcast

14:07- “The Inner Critic”

16:58- Our bodies are living in the past

20:02- Entrepreneurs need to speak

26:12- The things we can do to prep to speak

 

Want more from Melinda?

Email her here:

melinda@speakinflow.com

Or connect on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mpowerall/

Follow her on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/speakinflow/

Or just go directly to her site:

www.speakinflow.com

 

If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:

http://www.reynoldsobm.com

Join Kellys’ facebook community here:

https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/

To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:

http://www.reynoldsobm.com/gyat

Email is still the best way to market to your audience.  It builds familiarity, establishes authority and trust.  It can also be horribly misused and cause a lot of ill will when done wrong.  This week I talk to Liz Wilcox who teaches online business owners how to make email genuinely effective.  Liz shares how to build a great welcome series.  Explains why we should stop using the word “copy” and shows me that I’ve been making email much too complicated.  This talk was a big help to me and I hope it saves you as much time as it’s saving me.

 

Timestamps:

01:36- A strange background

04:54- Lose the word ‘Copy”

14:10- It’s a newsletter not a novel

24:06- Repeating yourself

39:44- The biggest mistakes people make with email

41:55- Outsourcing your emails

46:20- Getting people to reply

 

Want to contact Liz?  Visit her site:

https://lizwilcox.com/

Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/thelizwilcox/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/The-Liz-Wilcox-103239837942432

 

If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:

http://www.reynoldsobm.com

Join Kellys’ facebook community here:

https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/

To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:

http://www.reynoldsobm.com/gyat

Nathan Hirsch runs a bunch of companies. In college he bought and sold textbooks until the school hit him with a cease and desist order.  Then he became a drop-shipper and sold millions of dollars of baby products. Later he and a partner would sell their company and walk away with life-changing money. So is he relaxing? Nope. Today he has a company that teaches small business owners how to hire, train, and use VAs and freelancers and another pair of companies that provide bookkeeping services to digital businesses.  Nathan talks about how quickly he’s been able to get out of the day-to-day in his companies, how good SOPs and solid books set him up for a stunningly fast sale, and why he isn’t just sailing around the world in a yacht these days.

Timestamps:

02:53- When you have to pivot your entire business

07:37- The decision to sell the company

15:52- From Hiring VAs to teaching how to hire them

18:11- Walking away

24:10- What entrepreneurs need to focus on

 

Connect with Nathan on LinkedIn:

 https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhirsch/

Learn more about AccountsBalance (mention the show for 2 free months!):

Accountsbalance.com

Check out all of Nathan’s tools and resources for hiring and training freelancers:

OutsourceSchool.com

If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:

http://www.reynoldsobm.com

Join Kellys’ facebook community here:

https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/

To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:

http://www.reynoldsobm.com/gyat

Delegation is one of my most talked about subjects here on the pod.  There's a good reason for that; I’ve spent a lot of time and energy thinking about it and building practices I can rely on to delegate effectively.  The other thing is that when you run an agency you’re essentially a middleman between the delegation your clients use you for and the things you delegate to your team.

 

In this episode I break down some best practices on delegation.  Things you should be thinking about from the moment you want to hand something off, to the way you can build practices to make the entire experience repeatable with a minimum of fuss.  

 

As always, please take a moment and give the show a review.  It makes a big difference.  

 

Timestamps:

02:10- Hire for tasks not job titles.

04:10- Don’t try to make 5 jobs 1 job.

10:20- Make the Scope clear

13:54- The value of systems in delegation

If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:

http://www.reynoldsobm.com

Join Kellys’ facebook community here:

https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/

To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:

http://www.reynoldsobm.com/gyat

 

What do you do when you have a breakdown after working for a tyrant of a boss… but the boss is you?  That happened to this week’s guest Lydia Lee, who we spoke to in Bali where she spends half her year. It turns out that a breakdown like that is a real wake up call.  Now Lydia coaches mid-career professionals who are looking for something different from the rest of their work life.

 

This is a great conversation about building the work life you want to live with; not a bigger career or a smaller career, just the right one for you.  We talk about entrepreneurship, delegating work, running a 1-person company, who to work with and how to repell the kinds of people you want to avoid.

 

More than anything we talk about being deliberate with the choices you make about you’re work life. Consciously or unconsciously you’ll make a lot of choices and the quality of those choices will impact everything from your compensation to where you live to your health.

 

Timestamps:

03:32- The early mistakes people make when they start a business

09:34- Work can be joyful

13:04- Corporate jobs a damn risky

18:04- Making your business… smaller

24:15- Why Lydia won’t hand over content creation

30:44- Working in the Sweet Spot

33:45- Follow Deep Interests NOT Passion

37:40- Right… for right now.

45:16- Attract the right people. Repel the right people.

Want to contact Lydia?  Email her at:

lydia@screwthecubicle.com

Follow her on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/cubiclecrasher/

Subscribe to her YouTube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/screwthecubicle

Connect on LinkedIn:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lydiallee/

Watch her adventures on Instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/screw_the_cubicle/

If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:

http://www.reynoldsobm.com

Join Kellys’ facebook community here:

https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/

To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:

http://www.reynoldsobm.com/gyat

 

Ads!  The average American sees between 4000 and 10,000 every day.  Most of them are junk.  Some of them work.  Marketing isn’t black magic, it’s a process you can be better or worse executing.  Today I talk to Kristina  Pierce who, for 25 years has been crafting, buying, and monitoring ads across a wide variety of media.  From her HQ in upstate New York, Kristina now runs Pierce Media, an ad agency specializing in social media ads for service based businesses.

 

Kristina knows a tremendous amount about advertising and happily shares with me details about strategy, the math of advertising, and deep geek stuff about the platforms.  Don’t just listen to this, bring a pencil.

 

Timestamps:

02:03- The conversation that happens before you buy ads.

07:20- People make decisions in a certain way.

12:42- Get yourself some specialists.

22:29- Testing Your offer

34:45- Vanity metrics

40:20- Pinterest, Bing & other useful forgotten platforms

 

Want more from Kristina?  Visit her site or on social media:

Website: www.kpiercemedia.com

FB: www.facebook.com/kpiercemedia

IG: www.instagram.com/piercemedia

Linked: www.linkedin.com/in/kristinapiercemedia

 

If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:

http://www.reynoldsobm.com

Join Kellys’ facebook community here:

https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/

To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:

http://www/reynoldsobm.com/gyat

 

Let’s talk about money!

 

How much money should your business have put in reserve?  How much in profit?  How much money should you save in taxes?  Should these bundles of cash be stored in one place or many… and where? Lots of businesses out there struggle to make the right moves with their cash.  Many even struggle with the idea that there ARE right moves to make.

 

Yet clearly there are better and worse ways to manage your company’s cash.  One of the better ways is to follow the “Profit FIrst” model which this weeks’ guest Jenni Davis is an expert in.  Jenni’s company helps scores of small (and not so small) businesses to deploy the “Profit First” methodology in their finances.

 

Instead of assuming that what the business owner gets is what’s left over when the bills are paid, “Profit First” places the owner at the center of the business’s transactions.  It says that the owner should be the FIRST person paid, not the last; and here at Reynolds OBM we agree.

 

This week while so many of you are thinking about tax day we thought it would be the perfect day to rebroadcast this gem.  Originally episode 85, it returns now as the team here takes spring break.  Enjoy!

 

If you’d like to know more about profit first contact Jenni:

https://jmdbusinesssolutions.com/

Check her out n FB:

https://www.facebook.com/JMDBusinessSolutions

Try this primer to Profit First:

https://reynoldsobm--jmdbusinesssolutions.thrivecart.com/profit-first-simplified-diy/

If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:

http://www.reynoldsobm.com

To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:

http://www.reynoldsobm.com/gyat

Join Kellys’ facebook community here:

https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/

 

Jen has a lot going on. Like many entrepreneurs, this daughter of teachers was driven to business ownership by life events.  In a twist of fate it was the forced choice to run her own company that convinced Jen she doesn’t have to make choices like that ever again.

 

Yes, you can have it all.  Jen publishes the Becoming Iconic magazine, coaches business owners, and runs an agency which provides branding, marketing, and operations support to the female entrepreneur who refuses to compromise.

 

 Jen and I explore a bunch of different corners of business ownership including just how underrated the difficulties are, the mental game of entrepreneurship, how being able to repeat things is what success looks like, solopreneurship vs. CEO, and a great deal more.

 

Timestamps:

 00:47- Jen’s on a mission.

03:29- Why the company is called “Becoming Iconic”

09:49- Things go wrong.

13:00- When you have it all and still want more.

16:48- Innovation is at the core of entrepreneurship.

22:04- Why “solopreneurship” is overrated

27:22- The best piece of advice for entrepreneurs

30:11- You can’t enjoy things when you’re dead.

33:40- “Obsessive Gratitude”

39:15- How to enjoy life more than your husband’s next wife.

46:40- Listen to a dog bark

Want more from Jen?  Follow and connect with her here:

Becoming Iconic

https://www.instagram.com/becomingiconic/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jen-szpigiel-931499195/

 

If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:

http://www.reynoldsobm.com

Join Kellys’ facebook community here:

https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/

To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:

http://www.reynoldsobm.com/gyat

 

Bureaucracy.  Even the word makes some people groan.

I had a realization the other day that a lot of small businesses don’t see any daylight between good systems and unnecessary bureaucracy and frankly that’s a shame.  Just because you’re a startup doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be developing systems for doing things efficiently.  Just because you’re an established company doesn't mean your systems are efficient.

Your goal as the business owner is to make sure that your business can run without you.  IT’S ALSO YOUR JOB to see that your business runs the way you want it to.  One without the other and you’re not going to be happy.  In this episode I talk about a few ways that I run Reynolds OBM that should make sense to all of you.  I talk about a few small projects you can start that will reduce the amount of questions you get, decrease the amount of time you spend looking for things and decrease the number of calls you get from people who don’t know what to do or where to look for something.  Take a listen.

 

LINK TO KELLY’S FREE URL TRACKER:

https://www.getyouracttogether.co/urltrackersignup

If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:

http://www.reynoldsobm.com

Join Kellys’ facebook community here:

https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/

To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:

http://www.reynoldsobm.com/gyat