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How to Put on a Successful Event + Get Sponsors with Lauren Goldstein, Sugar + Spice Summit

Lauren Goldstein created The Sugar and Spice Summit, which brought  influential female food industry professionals to Northwestern’s campus for a day of panels, breakout sessions, career workshops, and of course, tastings. Female chefs, food writers, food critics, social media personalities, and CEOs from the Chicagoland area and beyond will tell their stories, discuss trends, and network with Northwestern students, specifically female under-grads, interested in pursuing careers in all aspects of the food industry.

 

Big Take-aways:

  • Lauren saw the need for a summit and went for it. She secured a big guest first and used it to leverage it for other guests/speakers.
  • Lauren got involved in Spoon University.
  • Lauren helps Spoon Fest put on their community event + raise funds for their magazine.
  • To get involved in Spoon University, go onto your chapters individual page on Spoon University and apply. If your campus doesn’t have a chapter of Spoon, become a founder!  SU also has a high school chapter!
  • The Sugar + Spice Summit has opened doors for Lauren for jobs for the summer, as a junior in college. She’s working as a special events contractor for Spoon University.
  • Figure out what your attraction point is and use it when pitching brands. Make sure you follow up! Get them on the phone! Whatever it takes to get the person on the phone is worth it to me!

First Steps to putting on an event:

  1. What is the point of the event? What are you trying to achieve with the event?
  2. Figure out who your event is for? What is your demographic you’re targeting?

 

Find Lauren Goldstein + Connect with her!

LaurenPaigeGoldstein.com

Instagram: @lauren_goldstein

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Stick to your main mission and beliefs with LuAnn Nigara, A Well Designed Business

LuAnn Nigara is the host of the 5 star rated podcast A Well-Designed Business. A Well Designed Business is the definitive resource for interior design professionals interested in operating a profitable and productive business. Every Monday and Wednesday LuAnn conducts in depth interviews with interior designers and industry professionals who have created profitable careers. For Power Talk Friday she gathers experts from all fields eliciting their insights and lessons on all business topics including entrepreneurism, time management, marketing and beyond.

Stick to your main beliefs with @windowwork_nj #blissfulbitespodcast Click To Tweet

Big Takeaways

  • Stick to your main mission and core beliefs.
  • Her podcast benefits her main business.
  • She’s gained clients + built relationships from her podcast.
  • You have to know who is the right person that you are attracting for your business.
  • The clearer you get on that person, everything you do supports that.
  • Figure out what your niche is and TALK to them. Don’t worry about leaving the rest behind.
  • If you do your best every single day you have nothing to worry about.
  • Run this like a business, not a passion project. It should be 80% work, 20% passion.

You HAVE to stick to your company mission. You have to first know what your mission is and then you have to stick to it! When you’re a person with a lot of energy and a lot of talent creativities almost everyday of the week you can think of another idea that you do well. You have to filter them if you want to be successful and if you want to further the success of your main business. Every little shiny object that you come into, has to go through the filter of supporting that mission.

To start a podcast:

  • Make a clearly defined avatar.
  • Stick to your mission so they know every time what they’re going to get.
  • Tremendous marketing
  • It’s intentional! It’s an intentional business plan.
  • Get help and get a mentor to get you a roadmap.

Find LuAnn:

A Well Designed Business

Window Works

Instagram @luannnigara

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How to be Mentally Tough with Todd Herman, 90 Day Year

Your business moves at the speed of relationships. Todd Herman

Having two kids and two businesses, I could get caught up in A LOT of time wasting activities…and truth is I used to. I was busy all of the time and didn’t know what activities actually caused me to make money. This free video series that Todd puts out twice a year has absolutely changed the way I work. As a work at home mom, I have to be focused and smart about how I spend my time….and this series is the first step.

Listen to the interview and then check out his download + video series! 

Todd Herman

disclosure: I really want you to watch these free videos because I know they are SUPER SUPER valuable….by themselves! They only come out 2x a year and he adds new content every time. So PLEASE watch them! If you did decide to join the 90 day year which is beyond not required to watch these I would get a % commission. I love + support the program because it was a life + game changer for me….so watch the darn free videos! :

I had the chance to interview my biz coach + mentor Todd Herman and there are so many gems + A-HA moments that you’re about to have.

In this episode:

  • You’ll hear how Todd started out almost losing money in his sports coaching business
  • How he started locally with free workshops and grew his business
  • Why you should have a WOW mindset, not a OW mindset + how you can flip your mind to be naturally success minded
  • Todd has the complete inability to quit when he should…and why that’s paid off.
  • Why women are really good at task based thinking, but not so good at achievement.
  • The deathtrap of entrepreneurs
  • How to validate your idea
  • How doing 68 speeches in Alberta, Canada launched Todd’s business

todd herman interview

Best quote:

The thing about start up is a lot of the business you’re not good at yet. That’s natural. Don’t feel insecure about that. If you keep moving through it other people will stop. Just keep moving forward.

Listen to the podcast here on your computer

Listen to the podcast here in iTunes

increase income with 90 day year

Todd Herman

Check out the post I wrote in June about my progress because of the 90 day year! 

 

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Grow Your Facebook Page + Make Money too with Rachel Miller, Moolah

This episode is for you if you want to grow your Facebook fan page and make money from it!

Rachel Miller is the creator of multiple Facebook fan pages like Quirky Momma and Crazy Cat lady as well as dozens of other audiences.  These pages are profitable and a real source of income. She teaches Moolah: from page views to paycheck how to grow an engaged audience.

Join Rachel’s Moolah from Pageviews to Pay check course here!  (this is an affiliate link)

 

Grow Your Facebook Page + Make Money too with Rachel Miller, Moolah Click To Tweet

Big Takeaways:

  • Collect eyeballs and ask them what they want!
  • You don’t have to be perfect to make money!
  • Rachel made a system that she was able to grow again and again and turn it into money.
  • You have to learn who your customer is and how to make those people happy
  • You can find your competition and then have them do the work for you
  • Traffic, Emails + Sales are HUGE opportunities you can take advantage of on your FB page
  • Bumper Sticker: How your reader defines themselves inside their niche (Crazy Cat Lady)
  • Have the content on your Facebook page to speak for your reader
  • When your reader shares your post, they say… “I’m like this”
  • Think about who your reader is and how your page and celebrate that person
  • Realistically, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. Facebook is one piece of the pie.
  • Ask your readers to talk to you on the phone. Ask them what things irritate them, ask them what their successes are.
  • Find out what things your people are purchasing!
  • Your readers will love you when you help them!

If you have your readers trust you and trust that you have the best interests for them and if they can see that you’re doing as something that they can do you can have a huge impact on their lives and in your pocketbook too.

Join Rachel’s Moolah from Pageviews to Pay check course here!  (this is an affiliate link)

Grab Rachel’s Go Viral CheatSheet Below:

Join Rachel’s FB group here:

Join Rachel’s Moolah from Pageviews to Pay check course here!  (this is an affiliate link)

Get Rachel’s list of words to NOT use on FB below!

 

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Getting Your Blog Posts to Rank with Glenneth Reed, Glenneth.com

In this episode you will learn how to get your blog posts to rank in search and how to increase your understanding of Search Engine Optimization. This is for you if you want to increase your traffic in search and learn how to optimize your blog posts!

Big Episode Takeaways

  • Know where traffic is coming from and how you use your data.
  • 9 steps it takes to optimize old posts and current posts.
  • Not every post is going to rank. (Example: What I Ate Wednesday verse Gluten Free Banana Bread Pudding)
  • Spend time optimizing + promoting posts that WILL rank!
  • Go in Google Analytics + find your top 10 – 25 posts and see what’s resonating + evergreen. Optimize those posts!
    Start with the ones getting the most traffic + make those evergreen. Those will bring you even MORE traffic!
  • After you optimize, set them back up to promote after!
Learn how to increase your traffic with search on the #blissfulbitespodcast with @glennethdotcom Click To Tweet

SEO Myths

Myth: It’s just a word you’re optimizing for. Truth: Use Key Phrases – Optimize for something like Strength training for beginners. Use a long tail phrase.

get your blog posts to rank in search

What are great phrases that work?

Go to google.com and type in a phrase you’re thinking about. See what google suggests and also scroll to the bottom and see what it says.

Check common searched for terms and phrases.

When going to write a blog post:

  • Nail down what phrase you want to rank for.
  • Key phrase in mind.
  • Title
  • Then create your content.
  • Do your research using google.
  • Make sure your keyword is in first paragraph, last paragraph and in heading.
  • Images should have the keyword in their name and in their alt-text.
  • Optimize your meta description.
  • Make sure your meta description entices people to click through to your blog post.
  • Try to draw the reader in and ask a question.
  • Use your keyword in meta description.
  • Do your meta description last. Think about what people are getting from your blog post. What would make YOU read that post? What are you answering for people?

After you publish: start promoting across the board.

  • Make a promotion schedule for Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, Instagram.
  • Promote it for more than that day or that week.
  • Spend an hour so it auto-posts for the next 6 months.
  • Content creation may make you happy, but don’t forget to promote.

For every hour you spend creating content, spend 4 hours promoting your content!

SEO Things to Know!

  • SEO can take awhile!
  • It takes time to rank for a phrase!
  • Go for something attainable!
  • A big site is going to hold rank over you (for the most part)
  • Take a look at analytics once a month. Go back and optimize the posts that are doing well!

Glenneth Reed is an SEO and online marketing consultant for bloggers and online entrepreneurs. Her goal is to help make SEO and online marketing simple and quick. Glenneth lives in Knoxville, TN and works for an internet marketing agency full-time. Her hobbies are weight lifting, walking, and social media. Find her at glenneth.com

Find Glenneth and get her free SEO download! 

Email Glenneth for help + services information: me@glenneth.com

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How to Stand Out and Position Yourself Day 1

Do you have an understanding of how your audience sees you? Do you really understand what they view you as or what they think you do?

How are you positioned in the marketplace?

The STAND OUT workshop is for bloggers and health professionals who want to figure out how to stand out and grow their business.

The online world is so crowded and you really have to figure out how to build your authority. The standout workshop is three days taking you through exactly how to do that.

I’m actually teaching my new method that I’ve been putting together for the past year. It’s called the Authority method and it is what I use to help me and help my clients basically build awareness and authority for their brand to get more clients, to get more readers and to grow their businesses.

It’s really important to build your awareness and authority with your audience because you work so hard creating such great content. If you don’t know how to market it and if you don’t know how to position yourself to stand out in the marketplace then people aren’t going to really come to you or understand what you or your brand and your business is about.

Figure out what makes you different to stand out #blissfulbitespodcast Click To Tweet

What makes you different?

Every single one of my guests on the Blissful Bites Podcast has figured out how to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. They have something that makes them special. This week’s episode with Rebeka Borucki is a great example of that.  When she started out she wasn’t teaching meditation. She built her entire platform on fitness and then she pivoted to teach meditation.

When you’re listening to the podcast, think about what their differentiating factor is. Think about how they have differentiated themselves and how you can do that yourself as well.

The first thing to have a successful business is to start with that differentiating factor. It’s so important for you to set yourself apart. It’s not necessarily something that you’ll figure out immediately.  It has it’s taken me a while to not only come up with my own differentiating factor but to refine it. It is the big idea that I built my business around. My big idea and differentiating factor  is that page views do not equal success.

My message is that you should not wait to start a business or start making money until you reach a certain amount of page views or a certain amount of followers or a certain size of your community.

More important than the page views is that you can make a big impact on your audience no matter how big or small your audience is.

You can make an impact whether you are in front of ten people, 100 people, 1000 people or 100,000 people. I’m showing you exactly how to do this at the STAND OUT workshop.

You have an important message to share. The first thing is figuring out that differentiating factor, what really makes you set yourself apart, what makes you special and why are you different from other people?

The next thing is your positioning, figuring out how do you want people to see you and your business.

What do the people you want to work with care about? It’s about them it’s not about you.You have to position yourself so they understand what your business is.

Think about what is that special thing that sets you apart? Figure out your differentiating factor. Figure out the positioning for your business. That is the first step to growing your business, really understanding what your people are looking for ,how you can connect to them and how they see you. That is so incredibly important.

If you want to get started on this, you can watch these four videos. (FYI, the STAND OUT workshop is completely wait listed and not open!)

image78 - March 11, 2017

Additionally, if you’re struggling with comparing yourself…and want to figure out how to move on and forward, watch the video included here from Nickey Rautenberg. She’s talking about how to stop comparing yourself and how to really figure out why other people’s successes are really a good thing for you. She also gives you a little mind set trick to really figure out what is blocking you and stopping you from moving forward. 

So now…

  1. Figure out your differentiating factor.
  2. Figure out how your audience views you and your positioning.
  3. Stop comparing yourself! 🙂

 

 

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Genuine interaction is the best thing with Kirsten Oliphant, Create If Writing

Kirsten Oliphant is a writer with a Master’s degree in fiction and has been blogging for ten years. In 2015 she launched the Create If Writing podcast for writers and bloggers who want to build an online platform…without being smarmy. She is an email marketing nerd and is the author of Email Lists Made Easy for Writers & Bloggers. She is a mom to four (soon to be five!) kids ages 8 and under and lives with her youth pastor husband just outside Houston.

Genuine interaction is the best thing with @kikimojo #blissfulbitespodcast Click To Tweet

Big Takeaways

  • She’s a writer and a blogger and understands both world and talks about things you need to know to connect with your perfect audience.
  • She follows her own curiosity
  • With your blog ask yourself: What is your WHY? Who is the audience you want to reach?
  • She gets excited about connecting with her bloggers and readers.
  • Look at who your audience ACTUALLY is.
  • Be intentional with what you do and realize the cost of what you do!
  • Niching down may be best practice but if you REALLY don’t want to, then don’t but realize the cost!
  • Get out of share groups and go where your ideal audience is!
  • Look at what is already working for you and do more of it.
  • SECRET: There are great groups that are NOT blogger groups!
  • Don’t get stuck in the blogging bubble.
  • There’s not enough disclosure in affiliate programs.
  • Think about: Where do I want to put my energy?
  • You will learn as you go and improve. There’s no overnight success.

Kirsten Oliphant

Genuine interaction is the best thing you can do.

Links Mentioned in this Episode

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iTunes / Stitcher / Google Play

 

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Facilitating Those LIGHT BULB Moments with Nikki Elledge Brown, The Naptime Empires ™

Nikki Elledge Brown is known online as The Communication Stylist® and creator of A Course About Copy®. She’s a proud military spouse, mom, former park ranger and college professor who built a multi-six-figure business in under 18 months by helping thousands of entrepreneurs communicate with clarity and confidence.

*Note from Nicole: This is one of my most favorite podcast episodes ever. Nikki is the REAL DEAL. This episode is filled with tons of business gold + you’ll hear about Nikki’s new podcast, which I know you’ll LOVE!

Big Takeaways:

  • Nikki studied Social science of communication – how and why we communicate the way we do.
  • Before she started her business Nikki was teaching.
  • She loves facilitating those LIGHT BULB moments and helping people feel more confident.
  • Divine breadcrumbs: Always leading and pointing us to our path and true zone of genius and true mission in the world.
  • Nikki worked as a park ranger and started by volunteering and facilitating courses online.
  • Nikki felt a calling to share her gifts in a bigger way.
  • One step at a time she started helping entrepreneurs communicate more effectively.
  • Nikki got started by offering free sessions
  • You build a business through real genuine connections with people
  • From doing 1:1 calls Nikki took the themes + patterns that her clients needed help with and created a course around that!
  • Nikki VALUED her time and clearly communicated her value + laid out what they could expect. From her free sessions she had confidence, clarity and raving testimonials.
3 keys to business success with @nikkielledge #blissfulbitespodcast Click To Tweet

how to write great copy

Business Success Boils Down To:

  1. Know your value
  2. Know who needs it
  3. Communicate your value to the people who need it in a smart authentic way.

I love facilitating those lightbulb moments. I love helping people get more confident and comfortable.

Questions Nikki asked when figuring out her business:

  • What are ways people are sharing their messages
  • How are people adding value
  • How are people building a platform
  • ONE STEP AT A TIME

How do you write copy that sells?

  • Present information in a way that makes sense
  • Make it easy for them to see they want to do business with you.
  • You have to find the RIGHT people.
  • Sharing your value + communicating your value to the people who need it in a smart, authentic way.
  • Meeting me where I am (start a copy bank) pay attention to what your ideal customers are SAYING – use the words that they’re using!
  • It’s your job to help them hear you before they hire you.

At the top of any page – to get their attention, the magic words are THEIR words. When people feel heard and think “how did you know that” they’re going to start paying attention and think wow she knows me.  It doesn’t have to be hard, but whatever language they’re using, is what you should use.  Let them know you’re listening to THEM.

Basic copy tips:

  • Use contractions!
  • Take the BFF test. Would they roll their eyes and say “this is something you would never say?”
  • If you wouldn’t say it outloud – don’t say it in your copy!
  • Don’t have NEWS ANCHOR voice!
  • It’s cool to be who you are. Being who you are is what is going to draw in the right people!
  • Make it representative of you and what they’re going to get!
  • They want to know YOU.
  • It takes time – give yourself grace. It will evolve.
  • Be you ON PURPOSE!

Check out Nikki’s Podcast The Naptime Empires: refreshingly honest conversations on the realities of parenthood + entrepreneurship.

Links in this episode:

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iTunes / Stitcher / Google Play

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