When people ask when the best time is to get their website updated, my answer is “yesterday.” Your website is your home base, where people find out about you and your services, where they fill out your contact form, schedule discovery calls with you, and book your services. Your website needs to be firing on all cylinders to be doing what it’s supposed to be doing which is make you money.

For all the women wondering if you can have it all… I’m attempting to answer that question today. First off, Happy Mother’s Day. Whether you’re preparing for when you are a mother, or are already chasing toddlers, this post is for you.

Branding your business, or setting up your website is a big undertaking and finding the right person to help you bring your vision to life is no small task. That’s why I’m excited to share several things you can do to make the process easier - AND you can start NOW, rather than down the line when you want your website up next week. 

Have you noticed that one year in an online business is like three years in the outside world? It’s true! If you’re new to the online space that may come as a surprise. But if you’ve been here awhile you’re probably nodding along with me. Things move quickly online and that’s why a year can feel like a reeeaaalllllyyy long time. And if you’re in the online business world for more than five years you can feel ancient! (I know I do! Especially talking about how blogging used to be back in 2016).

Does the idea of reworking your website or sitting down to Canva to create an opt-in seem completely overwhelming? I understand the feeling. Making a huge improvement in our small business behind the scenes can seem so huge and so daunting that what can end up happening is putting your own small business on hold, and deciding you’ll get to it “one day.”

Before we dive in, I think it’s important to address that success is different for everyone. No two people have the same definition of success and it’s really important to get clear on what success is to you. 

As I sat in my chair behind my iMac in my little home office, a wave of excitement shot through me. I was in charge of my whole day. Not only that, my whole year. 2019 would have so much to teach me, but in this moment, I felt freedom and joy at the expansiveness of the week, the work I would get to do, and the control I had over my life.

Branding is a lot like making chicken tortilla soup. There are a lot of key ingredients and working them in together can bring out the perfect combination–and recipe–to satisfy your customers. Building a brand that resonates with people, is in high demand and builds trust is not complex, but it does take a lot of work. I will share with you 5 key essentials that will build your brand longevity, authenticity, and trust with your audience.

Blogging is kind of like exercising. It’s a great for your business’s overall health and has some surprising benefits that you may not know about. While I’ve been consistently blogging for over a year I still don’t consider myself a blogger. I just view blogging as a way to keep my business healthy, moving forward and further establish my expertise.

Let’s talk marketing, more specifically, let’s talk about your marketing PLAN. If you’re like me, you’re probably thinking, uh, marketing plan?! What’s that?! Let me tell you, I was in the same boat. Just weeks ago I had no idea what a marketing plan was or that you needed one. And I was thinking, Oh crap! Another thing to add to the to-do list! *cue the sobbing emoji.

When you first step into the world of online business it can be overwhelming, to say the least. There is so much you “need” to do, or “should” do when you have an online business.

I want to encourage you, if you are just starting out, congrats to getting this far –but don’t get distracted with all the “shoulds” cause trust me, there’s a lot.

I think we can all identify with the fact that we have a lot on our plate... and it seems like we're only told to put more on. And sometimes we think there's a cure for this feeling of overwhelm, and the cure is to take a vacation. This is what I thought, at least.

When you start your business, you know that content marketing is important, but you may not be sure how to go about it. Or, quite possibly, you didn't know that it was a thing. Well, let me be the one to tell you, content marketing is one of the most important and valuable ways to find customers and sell your product or service.

As a side-hustler, I feel like I look over the fence to my friends who work for themselves full-time and I sigh and say, ahh that would be nice. You get to work from home, work in your pjs, get to spend all day working on projects you love… the list of wonderful-ness goes on and on.

One of the biggest mistakes I see new business owners making is they think they need a logo when they're just starting out. Heck, that's what I thought when I started out too. And having a logo is important but what you really need is a game plan. A strategy.

There’s a lot that goes into starting a business. One of the main things people (like myself) get hung up on is branding and visuals. But, I'm here to tell you, it's at the bottom of the list of things you should be doing when you first start out.