Avanti Business Academy for Women

This week I've learned a lot about leadership, that it starts with self-leadership, having a rudder, guiding values - like integrity, service, and honesty. Values that are lived, even when they don't feel good and are hard to live out.

I got sick this week and was unable to co-host my in-person retreat that I have been planning with my partner since the beginning of the year. It was heartbreaking, disappointing, and devastating to say the least. This week has been one of the toughest of my career as an entrepreneur and I had to go through it alone, in isolation. 

When these things happen, because we all find ourselves in tough situations sometimes, or alone in our decisions, we find out who we really are as leaders, when everything and everyone else is stripped away. 

So, this is what I’ve learned in a much deeper way...

Leadership is not the easy way out, it's lonely, it's hard, it's bravery, it's standing for what we believe, even when...even when others around us are unsure, unc...

“What is the change you seek to make?” 

When I enrolled in Seth Godin's course, The Marketing Seminar, a few years back, this is the question he began the course with. 

I struggled to answer it. 

I was providing great done-for-you content solutions and marketing services but I didn’t think of myself or anything I was doing as a huge “change-maker.” And my lack of mission showed up in my business and everywhere else in my life too.  

The question got stuck in my mind...I had to answer it. And through years of asking, answering, asking some more and answering some more I uncovered the answer that was always inside me, just buried under shame, embarrassment, and my fears of what others would think. 

Now, I know to the depth of my bones how to answer the question...I am on a mission to help women entrepreneurs build more six-figure businesses than ever existed before in history and achieve their impossible dreams of having exceptional business and fulfilling lives. I want my daughter ...

A few years ago I created a beautiful online course and I was convinced THAT was how I was going to scale my business and make a million dollars. Looking back...I think I was more interested in making the money than serving up amazing value to my students. Not surprisingly, the course was NOT a success and I did not make a million or anything close. 

Through that experience I learned something…

There are ideas that come to us out of inspiration and there are ideas that come to us out of perspiration. I was operating from perspiration. Knowing the difference is the key to knowing what’s going to be worth our time and energy to implement. 

Ideas from inspiration smell sweet, grow our business, grow our self-concept, grow our audience, grow our impact, and connection to our people. They come from a place of abundance, service, love and expansion. This is how I’m making decisions in my business now.

Ideas from perspiration come from a place of thinking about what we’re lacking…mainly m...

What should I be doing now to market? How can I keep my business going during the pandemic?

I’ve had a chance to speak to countless entrepreneurs and small business owners about their businesses and these are two questions I’ve heard and discussed time and time again. 

Truth is my friends, we need to be working to adapt, pivot if necessary, but definitely uplevel our outreach to keep our momentum and our businesses going.   

Here are some of my thoughts on what we all can be doing now to uplevel our outreach and keep our businesses going strong:

1. What does your ideal client need to feel comfort to buy? Understand what your ideal client is feeling right now and what she needs during this season to feel comfortable to buy from you. For example, let clients know how you are now conducting business differently for safety, take a video or photos of how doing business with you has changed, so that when your customer visits, they know exactly what to expect. You can post any instruction...

We are not meant to be alone. And especially as women building businesses.

I know because I tried it. For the first ten years of my being in business I was committed to doing it all on my own. Alone. And I did it, but it was lonely and my growth was slower than I wanted it to be.

At my house we’ve been watching the reality TV series “Alone.” It follows contestants dropped off in remote locations to survive by themselves and whoever lasts the longest wins $500k or $1 million dollars (in later seasons). It’s on Hulu, if you’re interested.

It’s fascinating to me to watch and listen to the workings of the human mind in isolation. Each one of the contestants copes differently but they universally struggle with being away from people.

My husband and I find ourselves talking out loud to these people telling them that what they’re thinking or perceiving to be true is NOT true, but just something they’re thinking is true. Those thought errors regularly lead to them tapping out and going ...

My clients are such bigger badasses than I was at their stage in business. 

And here’s why...

In the early years of my business, I never thought to invest in coaching or learning or help, and it shows. It’s taken me 15 years to get where I am in my business using the ‘school-of-hard-knocks’ method.

I was arrogant enough to think I could do it all by myself.

Only in the past five years, following some big goals and big failures, have I discovered coaching and the power of having an advisor to help me see my blind spots and guide me to better results. I’ve exponentially grown since then....in so many ways I never imagined!

My clients, on the other hand, are investing thousands of dollars in coaching NOW...in the early stages of their businesses. They are investing in themselves and their businesses. They are doing the work and committed to the process I’m taking them through; showing up in their businesses in big, bold, new ways and it’s so stinking inspiring!

I believe to the core...

“I’m bad at marketing.”

“I don’t have a real plan for my marketing.”

“I’m not consistent enough with my marketing.”

These are common marketing issues that clients come to me with - lack of consistency, they feel bad at marketing, unsure if they’re doing the right things, confusion, lack of time or money to “do it right,” no cohesive marketing plan, no time to market their business. 

I too have experienced every single one of these issues in building my business over the last 15 years. And I tried for years to “fix” them...without much success.

What I know for sure...from my own journey and working with my clients is that there are two sides to each perceived marketing issue...the obvious or tangible issue - like “I’m not consistent enough.” And then there’s what’s lying beneath the surface of what we can see, the intangible issue. The intangible issues - your thoughts, beliefs, and emotions - are what’s always driving your actions - or lack of action! - in your marketing, yourself...

Do you fear that no one is taking you up on your offer because your copy is boring, bland, or not worth stopping the scroll? Want to know how to change it?

I got you, friend! Read on!

I was talking to a client yesterday about starting an email newsletter. She knew it was the right next step for her business but she just couldn’t bring herself to produce the next boring email newsletter clogging up inboxes and taking a whole bunch of her time and energy but not creating any new business. 

Yes, there is a better way, I told her! And it’s so much easier too! 

Here’s the big REVEAL: Let your emails and any other marketing communication be more of a reflection of you...your personality, your sense of humor, your tone of voice.

Here’s how:

>> Write like you speak. Be a normal human. Forget what corporate professional culture tells us! Break the mold and just be yourself in your writing...and all communications for that matter. If you have trouble with writing how you would talk, use th...

Can being on social media actually be fun?

For many of you I've talked with recently, you'd say no (or even, ‘hell, no!’)! 

But you think you “should”  be there to grow your business.

You’re uncomfortable with the technology of it or how to do it ‘right.’

Or you don’t know what to share.

You’re sick of all the politics.

You’re sick of the scroll...compare...despair cycle.

OR..it feels so impersonal and you’d much rather just meet people in person.

I can totally relate...I felt like this in the worst way when COVID hit and could no longer meet and network in person...I had a total fit about it.

I DID NOT want to have to do all my networking online. I L.O.V.E. meeting people in person, the energy is different, I can hug (I'm a hugger...FYI), and I enjoy the interplay of conversation and body language with other humans!

But if I was going to grow my business like I'd planned last year, I was going to have to make a decision to figure it out...and here's what I figured out that's...

Oftentimes marketing myself and my business feels awkward. 

I tell you this because I want to normalize feeling awkward. I want you to know that it’s OK to feel awkward, it doesn’t mean anything has gone wrong or that you’re doing it wrong. 

The truth is... you can just allow the awkwardness...maybe even give voice to it by saying that you feel awkward or you feel uncomfortable but that you are showing up anyway because you have something important to share.

Sometimes revealing our humanity is precisely the freedom that we need to just be ourselves.

It also allows others to connect with us as humans creating a human to human connection. We are not unfeeling robots, even though that's what our minds tell us we should be to be professional.  But at the end of the day, what we really crave is connection with other humans trying to find our way in this human existence.  We want to connect as a human to other humans in our humanity.

So, think now of a marketing activity that you would ...