Feel Good in Your Body so You Can Crush it in Your Business with Bridgitte Mallinson

Hey Small Business School! I am so excited for today’s episode because I am sitting down with Emily Baillie, a digital marketing strategist and AI trainer with a passion for helping Canadian businesses and nonprofits to grow. Emily provides marketing strategy advisory services and leads custom-tailored AI, social media and communications workshops. During our conversation Emily shares her expertise in leveraging AI tools to enhance your marketing strategies. This episode is about helping you stay ahead of the curve in this rapidly evolving landscape!

Topics Covered:

• The role of AI in revolutionizing marketing strategies for small businesses.
• Practical tips for integrating AI tools like ChatGPT, DALL·E, and Sora into marketing efforts.
• The significance of refining your prompts and understanding AI capabilities to maximize effectiveness.
• Considerations for data privacy, accuracy, and human oversight when utilizing AI in marketing.

AI is reshaping marketing practices for small businesses. Take over AI, don’t let AI takeover for you! Connect with Emily and dive in the transformative power of AI to harness it as a personal assistant to help your business grow!

Emily’s Links:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coachansleythrives/
Compass Content Website: https://www.compasscontent.ca/
Compass Content AI Training: https://www.compasscontent.ca/ai-training

Staci's Links:
Instagram. Website.

The School for Small Business Podcast is a proud member of the Female Alliance Media.

To learn more about Female Alliance Media and how they are elevating female voices or how they can support your show, visit femalealliancemedia.ca.

Head over to my website https://www.stacimillard.com/ to grab your FREE copy of my Profit Playbook and receive 30 innovative ways you can add more profit to your business AND the first step towards implementing these ideas in your business!

Hey there Small Business School! After years of observing countless businesses, I've noticed one crucial factor that sets successful entrepreneurs apart: the ability to understand customers' needs and how your business helps meet those needs. Connecting the dots for your customers helps them understand the value you offer in words they understand. In this episode I want to offer practical advice on developing this skill set, so let's get started!

Topics Covered:

• The importance of connecting with customers.
• Understanding customer needs and communicating how your business can help.
• Examples of businesses succeeding or struggling based on their ability to connect with customers.
• Practical advice for developing the skill of connecting with customers, including understanding emotional intelligence, active listening, and gaining confidence.
• The impact of effectively connecting with customers on business success and industry recognition.

How you communicate your business to customers is a cornerstone of your business, and it’s not something you can outsource! Know how to share your value and teach your team to do the same!

Staci's Links:
Instagram. Website.

The School for Small Business Podcast is a proud member of the Female Alliance Media.

To learn more about Female Alliance Media and how they are elevating female voices or how they can support your show, visit femalealliancemedia.ca.

Head over to my website https://www.stacimillard.com/ to grab your FREE copy of my Profit Playbook and receive 30 innovative ways you can add more profit to your business AND the first step towards implementing these ideas in your business!

Welcome back to Small Business School! Today's episode is another installment of our Boardrooms series, focusing on understanding the financial side of your business through the three profit levers. I'm here to guide you through building your financial muscle, and ultimately boosting your profitability. So grab your notepad and let's jump into some actionable steps you can take today!

Topics Covered:

• The Three Profit Levers: revenue, cost of sales, and fixed costs as the key components influencing your profitability.
• Understanding Overhead Expenses: Delve into fixed costs such as rent, utilities, administrative staff, and their impact on your business's financial health.
• Cost of Sales and Revenue: Learn how expenses directly linked to selling your product or service and your pricing strategy affect your bottom line.
• Learn actionable steps to increase profitability by brainstorming options within each profit lever and understanding their implications.

Weekly Challenge: Identify and breakdown each of your three profit levers. How much are you spending/making in each? Look at what different options you have to adjust each of these levers, what control to increase profitability do you have? This could be increasing pricing, cutting less profitable services, increasing sales through marketing, and more!

As always, I am here to help, send me a DM on Instagram if you have any questions and continue to tune into The Boardroom for more actionable steps to transform your small business!

Staci's Links:
Instagram. Website.

The School for Small Business Podcast is a proud member of the Female Alliance Media.

To learn more about Female Alliance Media and how they are elevating female voices or how they can support your show, visit femalealliancemedia.ca.

Head over to my website https://www.stacimillard.com/ to grab your FREE copy of my Profit Playbook and receive 30 innovative ways you can add more profit to your business AND the first step towards implementing these ideas in your business!

Welcome back to Small Business School! In this episode, I am joined by Sigute Zitikyte, a certified business coach and author of "Multi Passionate." She also writes a weekly column called “The Friday Newsletter”, which helps ambitious professionals find their voice, build a career off the beaten path, and finally embrace their multi-passionate selves. Sigute has consulted for hundreds of online business owners and helped launch and grow multiple 7-figure businesses, including Dharma Coaching Institute and Mindvalley Coach, as well as numerous creative projects for visionaries, including bestselling books and podcasts in the personal transformation space. I am so excited to dive into a conversation with her today on 

Topics Covered:

• Treating your career as a portfolio and being strategic about investments in different opportunities.
• Branding beyond attracting clients, emphasizing the value of building relationships for future partnership opportunities.
• Identifying the right platforms for engagement in your business. Could you benefit from a bigger LinkedIn presence? 
• Crafting authentic content aligned with personal values.
• Shifting your brand identity, particularly for those interested in venturing into speaking engagements or other new projects. ​​
• The importance of clarity, mission, and presenting yourself as an easy ‘yes’ for potential opportunities.

Create your movement with strategic branding, investment in authentic marketing, and embracing your multi-passionate nature. Check out Sigute’s book ‘Multi-Passionate’ and reach out to her on Instagram!

Sigute’s Links:
Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sigutezitikyte/
Website: https://sigutezitikyte.com/
The Friday Newsletter: http://thefridaynewsletter.com
Order ‘Multi-Passionate’: https://sigutezitikyte.com/book

Staci's Links:
Instagram. Website.

The School for Small Business Podcast is a proud member of the Female Alliance Media.

To learn more about Female Alliance Media and how they are elevating female voices or how they can support your show, visit femalealliancemedia.ca.

Head over to my website https://www.stacimillard.com/ to grab your FREE copy of my Profit Playbook and receive 30 innovative ways you can add more profit to your business AND the first step towards implementing these ideas in your business!

Welcome to Small Business School! I'm thrilled that you're here and investing time in your business growth journey. In today's episode, we're diving into the crucial role of financial stability for your small businesses and tackling the idea of doing less to make more. Is this strategy right for your business? Let's get into it!

Topics Covered:

• The benefits and risks of a do less to make more strategy.
• The importance of leveraging financial data to drive business growth.
• Establishing a foundation of financial stability to support you and your team.
• Overcoming common misconceptions about the cost of professional accounting services.
• Tailored solutions for businesses of all sizes.

This episode was brought to you by Thrive Accounting, where we're passionate about helping entrepreneurs move from surviving to thriving!

Have questions from this episode or want to get to the next level in your business, please reach out, our mission is to help Small Business owners like you!

Staci's Links:
Instagram. Website.

The School for Small Business Podcast is a proud member of the Female Alliance Media.

To learn more about Female Alliance Media and how they are elevating female voices or how they can support your show, visit femalealliancemedia.ca.

Head over to my website https://www.stacimillard.com/ to grab your FREE copy of my Profit Playbook and receive 30 innovative ways you can add more profit to your business AND the first step towards implementing these ideas in your business!

Welcome back to Small Business School! Today’s episode is a little bit different because I am joined by an extra special guest, my daughter, Madison! Together we talk about what entrepreneurship looks like to her and our family-owned business, ‘Love Powered Co.’ Get ready for a heartwarming chat with the youngest entrepreneur I know!

Topics Covered:

• Madison's experience running a bracelet business.
• The entrepreneurial journey, from idea generation to sales.
• Our family-owned business ‘Love Powered Co.’ and its mission of spreading positivity with Affirmations, Mindfulness & Gratitude for your Littles and you!
• The importance of caring for customers and making a positive impact in business

Business can seem scary and complicated but when you break it down it’s really simple, and it can be our way of changing the world, just listen to Madison!

Love Powered Co. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lovepoweredco/

Staci's Links:
Instagram. Website.

The School for Small Business Podcast is a proud member of the Female Alliance Media.

To learn more about Female Alliance Media and how they are elevating female voices or how they can support your show, visit femalealliancemedia.ca.

Head over to my website https://www.stacimillard.com/ to grab your FREE copy of my Profit Playbook and receive 30 innovative ways you can add more profit to your business AND the first step towards implementing these ideas in your business!

Small Business School! Today I have a transformational conversation with Lauren Loreto to share with you! Lauren is the seasoned marketing agency owner of ‘Brand Good Time’, a podcast host, and entrepreneur who specializes in helping brands increase their revenue and share of voice through innovative and sustainable strategies. She is known for helping businesses go from "just starting" to "profitable and growing" by providing strategic thinking, creative execution, and dang good times! Join our conversation about the importance of being the face behind your brand! 

Topics Covered:

• How continuous market research is key to understanding your audience's needs and preferences.
• Maintaining an active role in marketing as a founder, even as your business scales. Finding the balance between personal comfort and strategic visibility.
• Weaving your story into your brand narrative and consistently showing up in various channels can foster deeper connections that drive long-term growth and success.
• Turning sales calls into market research goldmines. Whether it's understanding your client's vision or probing into what's working and what's not.
• Integrating regular check-ins into your service model. This not only fosters a stronger client experience but also provides ongoing market insights.

Marketing should be fun! As a founder, your story, your market research, and your ability to connect with your clients emotionally will help you to cut through the noise!

Connect with Lauren, she knows how to make your marketing a true Brand Good Time! 

Lauren’s Links:
Personal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laureneloreto/
Brand Good Time Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brandgoodtime/
Website: https://brandgoodtime.com/
Podcast: https://brandgoodtime.com/podcast-links

Staci's Links:
Instagram. Website.

The School for Small Business Podcast is a proud member of the Female Alliance Media.

To learn more about Female Alliance Media and how they are elevating female voices or how they can support your show, visit femalealliancemedia.ca.

Head over to my website https://www.stacimillard.com/ to grab your FREE copy of my Profit Playbook and receive 30 innovative ways you can add more profit to your business AND the first step towards implementing these ideas in your business!

Welcome back to Small Business School! Today we are talking about something that too often gets overlooked amidst the excitement of bringing loved ones into our business ventures, the financial implications! I’ve had this conversation countless times with clients so I think it’s time to shed some light on it! In this episode I’ll cover:

Topics Covered:

• The common tendency to approach hiring friends and family with unwavering optimism, overlooking potential pitfalls.
• The significance of paying friends and family members a market wage to avoid resentment and maintain professionalism. Encourage open dialogue and clear communication regarding roles, responsibilities, and compensation to mitigate misunderstandings.
• Challenges of managing personal relationships in a professional setting and the impact it can have on productivity.
• Maintaining a balance between leveraging personal connections and ensuring operational efficiency to safeguard the bottom line.

Hiring friends and family can be both rewarding and challenging, but navigating the financial aspects is crucial for long-term success in your business!

Reach out and connect with me if you have any questions!

Staci's Links:
Instagram. Website.

The School for Small Business Podcast is a proud member of the Female Alliance Media.

To learn more about Female Alliance Media and how they are elevating female voices or how they can support your show, visit femalealliancemedia.ca.

Head over to my website https://www.stacimillard.com/ to grab your FREE copy of my Profit Playbook and receive 30 innovative ways you can add more profit to your business AND the first step towards implementing these ideas in your business!

Hey Small Business School! I’m so excited to jump back into the "The Boardroom" series. I designed this series to spark reflection and actionable steps for your business growth journey. Today I want to talk to you about how we can align where we want to get in our business to the action steps we are taking day to day! What might you need to change?

Topics Covered:

• Whether our actions align with our aspirations for the business's future rather than being tethered to past habits and experiences.
• Recognizing habits and mindsets that may hinder progress, such as reluctance to delegate or over-reliance on bootstrap methods.
• Evaluating where to invest time, money, and energy based on future goals rather than past practices, including mindset, skill development, and team building.
• Taking proactive steps, seeking accountability partners, and engaging with supportive communities to foster growth and overcome blind spots.

Weekly Challenge: Identify areas or habits in your business where you have been acting out of your past and not where you want to go or who you want to be. Identify an area for change and start plotting out your first action steps towards the business you have always wanted.

I hope that you try this week’s challenge and apply the lessons from the boardroom series! As always I’m here to help and would love to chat about where you are at in business!  Reach on Instagram!

Staci's Links:
Instagram. Website.

The School for Small Business Podcast is a proud member of the Female Alliance Media.

To learn more about Female Alliance Media and how they are elevating female voices or how they can support your show, visit femalealliancemedia.ca.

Head over to my website https://www.stacimillard.com/ to grab your FREE copy of my Profit Playbook and receive 30 innovative ways you can add more profit to your business AND the first step towards implementing these ideas in your business!

On today’s episode of Small Business School, I got to chat with Katie Dooley, the creative mind behind Paper Lime Creative, a branding and design agency based in Edmonton, Canada. Katie’s passion and talent for design have made her a first choice for so many businesses looking to amplify their branding. Her fresh perspective on life and business caught my attention when we met a few months ago so I’m so excited to get into our conversation!

Topics Covered:

• How Katie has built authority with her clients by focusing on their needs and prioritizing those needs over the wants of a business .
• The importance of branding as a business tool, not just for aesthetics but as a powerful means to convert prospects faster and create a cohesive user experience.
• The often overlooked aspects of branding, such as the impact of greeting cards and unique packaging.
• The Pitfalls of DIY Branding with Canva and AI. Katie advises against the use of tools like Canva and AI for branding due to potential trademark issues and the long-term benefits of investing in professional design.

Branding is a key tool in the long-term health of your business. Ready to take your branding to the next level? Contact Katie through her website!

Katie Dooley ’s Links:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paperlimecreative/
Website: https://paperlime.ca/

Staci's Links:
Instagram. Website.

The School for Small Business Podcast is a proud member of the Female Alliance Media.

To learn more about Female Alliance Media and how they are elevating female voices or how they can support your show, visit femalealliancemedia.ca.

Head over to my website https://www.stacimillard.com/ to grab your FREE copy of my Profit Playbook and receive 30 innovative ways you can add more profit to your business AND the first step towards implementing these ideas in your business!