Search Results

In today's online obsession, it's easy to forget that you also have an offline perspective. When our two aesthetics, our online and offline, don't match, guess what; we are unable to create the influence, have the power and the relationships, and create the conversions we're truly looking for. How do you make you're online aesthetic and your offline aesthetic match? If you're being real online, it shouldn't be that difficult. Yet, more and more, we find it challenging as we feel the pressure to make sure our Instagram pages are oh so perfect and filter every photo we do. Most importantly, not sharing the holisticness of our lives can be a challenge when people see us in the real world. We've all been there where someone showed you a beautiful photograph of themselves, and you think it was taken 10 or plus years ago. But they said they just got it done last week. Because it's been so heavily Photoshopped, it doesn't even look like the person standing before you. What is a brand to do? When trying to create social proof, here are a few things to consider. 1.Make sure to be you. Yes, Photoshop's great, and filters are great, but when you filter out everything and change everything about yourselves, of course, people are going to be disappointed when they see you in person. Make sure that your photos, your videos, truly are you. They need to be updated; they need to not be heavily Photoshopped or heavily filtered, and they need to be authentic to you. There's no point in having you have the most beautiful photo of yourself in a rainbow shirt if you would never wear that rainbow shirt in person. Stick with what you love. You're just always upleveling yourself. 2. Who are you? Are you a yoga pants-wearing person? Are you the flip-flop-jeans kind of personality? If you're not, then don't wear those items. If you are, then don't wear anything but those items. The thing is that when we look at the offline world, a.k.a. the reality, it's hard for us to consistently lie in that world and pretend that we dress better, speak better, and act better than what we do. When we put on those personas on social media of wearing three-piece Italian suits or owning a beautiful luxury car, and ours is a Honda. We end up disappointing not just the audience, but we end up disappointing ourselves and our subconscious minds as well. Therefore, we don't show up the way we're supposed to. Make sure that how you show up online is truly who you are in the real world. No one wants the three-piece Italian-suit-wearing person if you're a flip-flops and jeans guy. Trust me, they'll love the flip-flop and jeans kind of guy no matter what. 3. It's all about consistency. Just like in life, you show up in different ways in different situations. The same holds with your social media. We must intentionally show up on our social media in different ways. Be it showing up slightly differently on the platforms or showing the holisticness of our lives. We didn't minimize confusion about who we are in the real world. That way, if someone sees you traveling and you don't look your best, or sees you at the grocery store, and you're trying to run away, or someone sees you across the room at a cocktail hour, it all makes sense. In the real world of life, people have contacts. They understand that when you're at the gym, you're in a gym mood, wearing gym clothes, but that that person who is at the gym is not the same person who is the mom at the PTA meeting or the husband at the networking event or the person on vacation. They understand that you are showing up differently, dressing and acting and speaking differently based on the situation, but yet, it is still all you. Regarding social media, we must portray that holisticness of who we are. So that way, the people understand not just the depth of who we are as a personality but, more importantly, what it is like to truly have a relationship with us and, of course, our brands. Because, in the end, exactly what social media is about. It's supposed to be the real world online, yet we have made it into something that is anything but real. Make sure to create social proof for yourself and your business to create influence and create relationships that convert to something you desire. You must know how you show up the aesthetic of your life online and offline. When those two matches, it's amazing the synergy and the amazing things that are to come.

Organization and productivity is a hot topic. Everyone wants to know how you can hack yourself, your schedule, and your work to get more done, achieve more, and have the life you want. Well, the truth is that it's less about doing it in someone else's system and more about understanding your unique flow. When you understand exactly how you work, you can then design your life the way you want to, and more importantly, design your productivity to be in flow with your natural rhythms. Now, the great thing is being an entrepreneur; you control a lot of your schedule. You don't have to get up at a certain time. You don't have to go to a certain office building, and you don't have many of the have-to's that others have. But, there are certain obligations. Want to know how to design your flow? Simple as this. 1. Simply write down all your logistical obligations. Do you have to take the kiddos to school in the morning? Do you have to get up and make breakfast? What obligations do you have, time-wise, restrict when and where you have to be? Once you understand that, step two is simply taking into account, what are your natural rhythms? Are you naturally more of a morning person? Does your brain shut down between the hours of two and four? Do you tend to stay up later and be more creative? 2. Stop and see where you are now because just because you were a night bird in your 20s does not mean you're a night owl today. You could have changed your rhythms. You need to know who you are today, and you need to be constantly on guard for this. Because as you flow through different seasons of your work and your life, you can be changing when you are most creative, productive, and feel most confident. 3. Now, simply try it out. Try scheduling a work schedule that well, works for you. It works for the logistics and works for how you flow. It doesn't matter if you're shooting videos at two in the morning. It doesn't matter if it's a Sunday versus a Monday. Those time restraints of days weeks and hours of the day don't have to define you because, as an entrepreneur, they don't influence you most of the time. Choose what works for you, and forget what society says you should or shouldn't do. There are no shoulds and shouldn't when it comes to being productive in your flow. Try it out for at least two weeks, and see if the schedule begins to work. Then, of course correct. Maybe not binge-shooting all your videos is the idea. Maybe a little every single day for an hour creates more consistency in actually getting the job done with better quality. Whatever it is, stay consistent at it. See what works, keep those elements, and course correct along the way. And as your life changes, and the time obligations change, and your body changes, and your mindset changes, as life changes, then course-correct as those changes occur. That way, you are always in the flow of how you will produce the best quality. You don't have to worry about the trends of biohacking, scheduling, or what's the latest and greatest anything. Save your money, save your time, and trust yourself. Your body, your instinct, and your energy are telling you exactly when, where, and how to be the most organized and most productive you can be.

Though we know we should be owning our badass selves. The truth is most of us play it safe vs. making a statement regarding our style. Blame it on our biological tendencies to want to fit in or not want to look like a fool by risking one of those style fads posted all over Facebook- most of us play it safe and miss the opportunity to stand out as who we are. Making a style statement does not have to be scary. It can be a lot of fun. What kind of statement do you want to make? Do you want people to comment? If so, try a necklace. This is the number 1 item people always compliment on. Want a bold look? Then go with color. Most people stay far, far away from bold colors. Want people to take notice? Then you have to go with some killer-looking shoes. Want people to be in awe of you? Then you are talking about having the entire look down: clothes, accessories, bag, makeup, and fragrance. Want to make sure that your presence is always known? Then wear jewelry that jingles. No matter what you choose, remember that it must fit your body no matter what the label says. Because neck rolls hanging over a necklace that is too tight, a bag that when opened is completely disheveled, or cute shoes that you hobble in like Bambi- makes a statement, but the wrong statement. Have fun and be you on all levels.

Let’s be honest. I doubt you have a real marketing game plan. You may have thought about it. You may have read some articles and added random items to your “to-do” list, but you haven’t sat down and mapped out your marketing plan. Winging it can work to a certain degree, but not for long and not with long-term results. And in today’s marketing marketplace, it is more complex than ever before to create a marketing game plan that converts and that you can cash in on. Where do you begin with your marketing plan? With the end in mind. Are you wanting long-term clients or high turnover? If you want long-term clients, you have to find ways to add personalization. You also have to think about the long sale. So you aren’t going to send out a one-time-only sale email just because. As with your friends, everything must have a context to the mutually beneficial brand relationship at hand. If high turnover is your game, then short, sweet, and to the point is your purpose. You can be edgy and funny, but everything is fast. Your tone is fast. The sale is fast. Fast, fast, fast. Which platforms best create these types of relationships for your brand caliber? Long Term: Strictly talking social media Facebook and Pinterest are the two platforms that allow you to easily create these long-term relationships. But if your brand is luxury (and trust me, it is), you need to get offline and into the real world. Consider adding small tactical elements to your marketing plan. Think old school: handwritten cards, postcards just to say hi, a personal text or voicemail to let your audience know about an opportunity. This high-touch approach is what you need to keep your long-term clients loving you. High Turnover: Because of this approach fast, moving platforms are the only way to go: Snapchat, Twitter, and Instagram. You need fast content to reflect the brand relationship you are creating- a no-strings, no commitment, win-win approach. Luxury brands in this model can consider doing in-person events, but they do not have the same effect and payoff as the long-term plan. Instead, consider a scavenger hunt or partnering with an app like Pokemon Go to get people to interact with the real world and your brand.

Being a startup can be a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because you have the most passion, the most energy, and the most enthusiasm for what you're doing, but it can be a curse when all that begins to wane. When the energy isn't as exciting anymore when the drudgery of the logistics of the business overtakes your passion for it. What is a girl to do? Stir yourself up. That's what you're supposed to do. No one out there is going to keep you excited. Yes, your clients and the audience you serve when they give you positive feedback, it makes you happy. It makes you excited, but it's your responsibility as a startup to stir yourself up, to keep that passion and excitement going. The easiest way to do that? Take care of yourself. Yes, so obvious, and yet so not. Especially during the startup phase, many of us think we're superwoman, and we don't listen to our bodies. We work longer hours than we should. We take on clients that maybe we shouldn't, which creates more stress. And stress will make you unhappy about your business and make it harder to stir your passions up. But yet when you're well-rested, when you work with people that you love and you're doing the things you love, it's easy to stir your passions up. 2. You have to stay grounded. Meaning that no matter what anyone says, good or bad, it has nothing to do with you. When you realize this, and you embody that, guess what? What people say doesn't matter. Allowing you to stay intent on what you're about and keep yourself grounded. Because you want to accept all the positive accolades, but with every positive accolade, trust me, a negative one is coming. By staying grounded, it doesn't matter what positive or negative shows up. You're still there. You're still focused, allowing you to control your emotions and your energy so that way you can stir yourself up and keep ongoing. 3. The company you keep does matter. Make sure that you're only around people that believe in you. Being simply just around positive people doesn't help you if you're about ready to step in a big pothole or a big pile of poop. It doesn't help that they're positively happy about it. You'd rather have someone say, "Hey, walk around the dog doo-doo." So make sure you're around positive people who truly love you and have your back. When you know that you can trust that what you have to say isn't ever to harm but always do good. You're able to take any potentially "negative criticism" as what it truly is, a potential warning that you should maybe pause and fully think your next step through. When you have all three aspects in place, you can always stir yourself up because you aren't running on empty, you understand that anything people say, good or bad, has nothing to do with you, and you know the company you keep truly has your back. And that's how you keep yourself stirred up and passionate for anything in life, especially your business. Being a startup can be a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because you have the most passion, the most energy, and the most enthusiasm for what you're doing, but it can be a curse when all that begins to wane. When the energy isn't as exciting anymore when the drudgery of the logistics of the business overtakes your passion for it. What is a girl to do? Stir yourself up. That's what you're supposed to do. No one out there is going to keep you excited. Yes, your clients and the audience you serve when they give you positive feedback, it makes you happy. It makes you excited, but it's your responsibility as a startup to stir yourself up, to keep that passion and excitement going. The easiest way to do that? Take care of yourself. Yes, so obvious, and yet so not. Especially during the startup phase, many of us think we're superwoman, and we don't listen to our bodies. We work longer hours than we should. We take on clients that maybe we shouldn't, which creates more stress. And stress will make you unhappy about your business and make it harder to stir your passions up. But yet when you're well-rested, when you work with people that you love and you're doing the things you love, it's easy to stir your passions up. 2. You have to stay grounded. Meaning that no matter what anyone says, good or bad, it has nothing to do with you. When you realize this, and you embody that, guess what? What people say doesn't matter. Allowing you to stay intent on what you're about and keep yourself grounded. Because you want to accept all the positive accolades, but with every positive accolade, trust me, a negative one is coming. By staying grounded, it doesn't matter what positive or negative shows up. You're still there. You're still focused, allowing you to control your emotions and your energy so that way you can stir yourself up and keep ongoing. 3. The company you keep does matter. Make sure that you're only around people that believe in you. Being simply just around positive people doesn't help you if you're about ready to step in a big pothole or a big pile of poop. It doesn't help that they're positively happy about it. You'd rather have someone say, "Hey, walk around the dog doo-doo." So make sure you're around positive people who truly love you and have your back. When you know that you can trust that what you have to say isn't ever to harm but always do good. You're able to take any potentially "negative criticism" as what it truly is, a potential warning that you should maybe pause and fully think your next step through. When you have all three aspects in place, you can always stir yourself up because you aren't running on empty, you understand that anything people say, good or bad, has nothing to do with you, and you know the company you keep truly has your back. And that's how you keep yourself stirred up and passionate for anything in life, especially your business.

There are many experts out there that are happy to share with you exactly what they think your audience needs to hear. That your audience needs to know how-to steps. Your audience needs to know the top ways to do whatever in the world you do. But the truth is, the audience doesn't need to know those logistics. That's not what they're looking for. They have Google for that. How can you discern what your audience needs to hear from you? Hear from you online, hear from you during a phone call, hear from you on your website. What is the message they need? First, we have to discern the difference between listening and hearing. Many people listen because you listen with your ears, but you hear with your heart. When you hear with your heart, you hear the words in the message in between the literal words and messages being shared. It's like when your kid tells you they're okay, but as a parent, you know the message is, I'm not okay. The words are, "I'm okay," but the hearing with your heart is, "I need help, mom or dad." So we must be the parent on many levels to our audiences and listen to the deeper message. Read those social media posts, and be in the groups that they're in. Hear with your heart what it is that they're saying. Then you must be brave enough to speak to that because you will have no logical information. You will be going off of your instinct, AKA your gut. And though it may feel scary to respond from your gut, it's that deeper desire that is really what is the questions your audience has for you. Your audience needs to know you're there for them. They need to know that you have their back. They need to know that they're more than just an income source for you. When your audience understands these things, guess what? You become that friend that everyone wants. You become a friend who understands them when they don't even say a word. You become a friend who answers their questions before they ever even realize they were questions. And it all starts with hearing the message in between the words they're saying. This takes time. This also takes time to develop as a skill within yourself. To pause, stop doing, and pause to center yourself to hear the deeper message. But when you do, you will always speak and communicate in a way that will connect with your audience on a heart and soul level. You will always have the message they truly want, which means you will always have the audience you want.

Do you look in your closet and swear you have nothing to wear? If you are saying, “Yes,” then you are in a style rut. And you are also not alone. It is easy to get caught up in the goings-on of life and to deprioritize fashion in general. Multiply this a few years and you wake up one day and realize you have a closet full of clothes and nothing to wear. Having a style rut may not sound like a big deal, but it is. Your style is what people see before they ever speak to you. Your style is the first impression you make. Your style reflects your personality, goals, dreams, and desires. So if you are in a style rut, I bet there are other aspects to your life in a rut too. Getting out of a style rut isn’t about becoming a walking billboard for all things trendy. It is about discovering what you adore to wear. What makes you happy? What makes you feel good? The great thing is that this doesn’t have to cost you tons of money or hours in a mall. With services like Rent The Runway (my fav), Le Tote, or MM LaFleur, you can try lots of styles, cuts, colors, and designers in your real-world of life. And once you find the styles and colors that work for you, hire a personal shopper or box service to bring clothing options to your door. Don’t waste such a valuable piece of your nonverbal communication. Your style makes you feel good and shows the world who you are. So if you are going to get dressed, why not wear what you love?

It's easy when you're starting your business to think that all the answers are outside of you. You don't know how to build a successful business, so you look to others to define how to build a successful business and turn a successful life. But the truth is that the answers that you seek are all inside of you. You have to know how you define success. You have to understand how you define a successful life and a successful business. No one can tell you that, and if you believe the "experts" on this, if you believe their systems, their formulas of what means that you've made it, you'll never feel like you made it because it's not the priority to you. If you want to build a successful life starting now and in turn, have a successful business as well, you have to know your priorities. What matters to you, and what has meaning to you? Because if, in the end, lots of money in the bank account isn't exactly what you were looking for, then it's not going to mean anything to you, and your subconscious mind knows this already. When you set goals, like maybe your smart financial goals that don't meet the heart of what matters to you and set you on fire, then you're never going to achieve those goals. It will always be a struggle because your subconscious mind knows the truth. It knows it doesn't feed your SoulFire®. What's your Soulfire®, you ask? Your Soulfire®'s the whole reason in the world why you're here. What sets your soul, your unique spirit, on fire? It's the reason why you're here on this earth today, right now on this planet, in this country, or with the people around you. It's why you have insights into change, into your industry that other people don't have. You have a way to see it, speak it, and connect with it. It's the passion that you're truly meant to be. Now, if you, by chance, have lost your Soulfire®, and you're thinking this start-up is just a savvy, smart idea, but you don't have this uncontrollable fire and insight and passion for it, put a pause in that step and make sure you reconnect with what your greatest passion is. Unsure of how to do that? Here's the easiest way. Simply think back to when you were a child, as far as you can go. And start to think about what you naturally did, either that you got praise for or maybe that you didn't get praise for, that you got in trouble for. What did you play and imagine? What was it that you were imagining? It wasn't that you liked necessarily playing in the mud, but those mud pies maybe were food to celebrate and share with people or were a way that you created in expressing yourself. When we go back to as far as we can remember and begin to see what we instinctually did, good or bad, and we begin to fast-forward that through life, our Soulfire® begins to get pretty darn clear because we can see by the choices we've made in life, some of the missteps, some of the good steps, some of the hobbies and some of the jobs we've taken, a common running thread shows up of exactly what it is that we're all about, what it is that drives us. Now here's the interesting thing. When you connect with your Soulfire®, it's not going to most likely sound like a sexy marketing term. It isn't going to be this great buzz about business, but it is what everything in your mind should be built-in. You should always ensure that your Soulfire®, passion, and desires are always built into everything you do because when that's the case, no matter what you do, it makes sense to your audience. No matter what you do, it's fulfilling your life's purpose, which means you're to put your heart, soul, and subconscious mind into it, and that's exactly how you get the life and business you want in the end.

What is success to you? A lot of times, people have a definition that you can tell, it's not their definition. Success is being a millionaire, having three million dollars in their bank account, making a million dollars with their business, having a big house, and having fancy cars. Success, what people say, is things. But what I have learned over the last year, interviewing countless entrepreneurs around the world, especially e-mail entrepreneurs, who are building their empires for EmpiHER® TV on the Notoriety® Network, is that many times, females don't define success. We don't define success overall, and we don't define it with money. Most female entrepreneurs define success as hitting marks of contribution, giving back, or community, or they don't have a definition of success. And when pushed about why they don't have a definition of success, it's almost as if, if they define it, they won't get it. Now, if we can't define success or ourselves individually, we never know when we're getting close to it, meaning our workload and our job never get done. Honestly, I think that's half of why a lot of female entrepreneurs don't define success. They don't ever want their job done. But, as Type A personalities that most of us are, when we don't have a clear definition, a clear target of what success is to us, we will work ourselves to death, and I mean that literally. We will work, never thinking we have achieved, never thinking that we've been enough, done enough, or good enough. By defining success for ourselves, it doesn't mean that we stop our jobs when we get there. It doesn't mean the race is won. It means what we're doing is what we truly want to do. Defining success and knowing what the markers are for us become checkmarks along the road of life to say, "Keep going on. You're succeeding with what you want to succeed with." Or, "Pause for a moment because somehow, we're on the wrong track all of a sudden." What is success for you? It doesn't have to be money, but it does have to be what is valuable to you. Most important to you, your heart, and in turn, what you want your life to be about. When you define success for yourself, you will be able to see success more often in your everyday life.

Let’s be honest the gimmicks that all of us are seeing on social media leave us wondering, “is that what it really takes to get the business.” From the corny videos to the gimmicky outfits, to tell your deepest darkest secrets- is being so seemingly unprofessional the only way to make bank? The short answer is “yes.” The long answer is “no.” Yes, gimmicks, corny videos, and much TMI work well for the weak-minded, lonely, and desperate. Now before you write saying how horrible of a thing to say. It is true. Here is how. Gimmicky, cheesy, TMI moments work when we are already in overwhelm. When we are stressed out, we make poor choices. Our brains literally can't problem solve outside of fight or flight. Laughter reduces our stress levels and makes us feel happier at the moment. That happiness is associated with your brand. TMI makes us feel not alone there, for the brand is relatable, and in turn, people do business with people like them. Yes, these tactics gain short-term sales. But for long-term results. For an audience who isn't at the end of their rope, these tactics don’t work when they are presented with another offer- aka your offer. So if you don’t want to play the stressed-out lowball card, stick to your verbals, your visuals, and your brand’s purpose, and in the end, you will win the business. You aren’t playing the short game, but in the end, your heart wins out over hype every time.

Everyone wants to make marketing out into this complex system. People want to make it difficult, so that is the reason why they can’t do it or that they are not successful at it. It may be difficult to build that perfect 30-second Super Bowl Ad that becomes a viral situation. I don’t know. I haven’t created one of those yet. But to build a marketing plan that is doable, convertible, and profitable for an entrepreneur or small business - that’s a piece of a cake. Change your mindset. Your mindset is what is screwing you up before you have even left the gate. This isn’t about statistics and sales. Marketing is about connections that create cash. Marketing is all about being that cheerleader who is nice to everyone in high school. You can talk to everyone and make everyone feel special. It doesn't matter if they are your perfect customer or someone who has paid you big- you make everyone feel special and important at the moment. 2. Know what you are really selling. Rid yourself of the mindset that the logistics of your product or service is what you are selling. It isn’t. You are selling the bigger picture that your product or service creates. You are selling the experiences your audience can now have when they control their own schedule. You are selling strength and fearlessness when you feel confident in how you look. You are selling life. 3. Sell by being you. Just like the cheerleader makes people feel comfortable and connected just by being herself. Sharing about your work and caring about your audience should be an organic 24/7/365 obsession of yours. Yes, marketing isn’t a mystery. It just requires consistency.

Many entrepreneurs say it's a struggle for them to own their expert status. They say it, but I don't think it's the truth. We are taught in society to be modest to be humble because that's what a good human being is. If we would truly own our expert status, then we're not humble. We're not modest. So we're probably narcissistic, right? No one wants to be that person. But yet, as brands, if we don't choose to own our expert status. No one will do it for you, not your audience, not your business partner, nobody. Therefore, no one will know you. How in the world can you overcome these social stories that are playing in your head to truly and authentically own your expert status? Acknowledge them. When you acknowledge that, yes, owning your expert status doesn't make you a jerk. Owning your expert status doesn't mean that you have a big ego. It just means you're being honest about how you see what you deliver. Of course, you should think you're an expert at it because then why in the world are you trying to sell anybody on it if you don't think you're the best at what you do? 2. Own it. It doesn't matter if you know it or are unwilling to say it. The truth is, most of us don’t say it. However, when you talk about what you do with your best friend about how great you're at your work, that's the same way you need to communicate to your audience. Unapologetic and true. It's not that you need to be the best in every aspect of the industry. You can be just focused on this specific area that you like. That's fine, but you must fully own it from the inside out so you can own it from the outside in. 3. Unapologetic. Of course, there are going to be people who are going to disagree with you. You threaten many people, and that's all okay. You have to understand that's a game at hand. Sometimes people are playing the game. Sometimes it's just their insecurities and their own social stories that are showing up. Understand that it's a game at hand and understand how you win the game. For some people, that's using their hater status to their advantage. For others, it's about completely ignoring them and just keep going on their merry little way. Whatever it is for you, stick with it and keep with it, because just like being successful at any game, it's about understanding the rules that are at hand, understanding the game that's being played, choosing your method, and playing your game your way. Yes, you must overcome your fear of owning your expert status. They want you to step up and be the expert. No one wants to hire someone who's the second-best. They want to hire the best. If you are the best, own it, be it, do it, and claim it, not just for yourself but for your audience too.