“The best way to know what’s going on in your business, and to know your business intimately, is to know your business numbers.”

—  Melissa Houston

Is it better to have $1 million in revenue or $300k in revenue? That’s a trick question — and this episode explains why.

My guest Melissa Houston is an certified accountant and financial strategist who makes it easy to understand your business finances — and loves empowering women entrepreneurs to make that money. (I highly recommend checking out her columns on forbes.com.) 

Confession: I find it a little overwhelming to look at my own numbers. But trust me, you don’t have to be a numbers person to get BIG value out of this episode, so grab a pen before hitting play.

In this episode, you’re going to learn why all of those 7-figure launches you keep hearing about may not be as impressive as they seem.

Hit play to hear Melissa break down the real and important difference between revenue and profit, how to fix your money mindset, and five steps for revamping your financial picture!

You’ll learn:

• What you should take into account when setting your rates (no, you shouldn’t just rely on Google!)
• The #1 thing that business owners struggle with the most when it comes to their finances 
• How to grow your wealth through diversifying your offers, building new revenue streams, and making investments

Subscribe now and never miss a single episode!

About Melissa Houston: Melissa Houston is a Certified Public Accountant, life coach, and entrepreneur who helps 6-figure successful CEOS grow to 8 figures+. She is a Forbes columnist and host of the Business Society Podcast. Her first book Cash Confident: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Running a Profitable Business will be available in 2023.

Highlights:‌ ‌

00:32  Intro

02:02  Meet Melissa Houston!

05:29  Setting your hourly rate

06:27  Profit v. revenue

09:22  How to build wealth in your biz

12:51  Biggest problems business owners face

14:34  Fixing your money mindset

16:25  Unique ability of biz owners to create wealth

21:28  5-step framework

25:22  Where to start!

28:20  ‌The Christy Questions

Please remember to subscribe, rate, and review!

---------------------------

Melissa Houston

https://www.melissahoustoncpa.com 

https://melissahoustoncpa.lpages.co/5-step-biz-finance-roadmap

https://thebusinesssociety.co    

https://www.thefractionalcfoagency.com 

https://ca.linkedin.com/in/melissahoustoncpa 

Instagram: melissahoustoncpa  

---------------------------

CONNECT WITH CHRISTY ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/christycegelski

Ready to fill your calendar with consistent clients? Grab my Instant Funnel bundle and snag a TON of goodies, including a brand voice and messaging guide and more swipe files than you can shake a stick at!

https://christycegelski.com/instant-funnel 

“This is one of the self care things that I did: delete social media altogether for 90 days.”

—  Amisha Shrimanker

We’re busting some myths on this episode of Captivate + Convert! First up: to grow your business, you have to HUSTLE.

My guest Amisha Shrimanker is living proof that the hustle myth falls flat — taking time off is actually part of her business strategy. Amisha heads up The Copy Crew, a boutique copywriting agency that works with online entrepreneurs and coaches.  

I’ll tell you right now: this isn’t a rah-rah motivational episode where we pat ourselves on the back for building businesses we love. We get REAL about the struggle of having to take a cold, hard, honest look at your biz — and then fix everything you’ve been getting wrong.

In this episode, Amisha spills the deets on how she went from being a freelancer with ZERO boundaries to someone who books Fridays off and takes regular vacations from updating her socials!

Hit play and find a new way to work! You’ll learn:

• How to take an intentional, proactive approach to connecting with your dreamiest clients — and stop taking every random job that comes your way
• The mindset shift that helped Amisha say no to an amazing opportunity (and why it was the right choice for her biz)
• How building regular, non-negotiable CEO time into your schedule will help you create offers that POP!

Subscribe now and never miss a single episode!

About Amisha Shrimanker: Amisha Shrimanker is the founder of the boutique copywriting agency The Copy Crew.

Highlights:‌ ‌  

00:33  Intro

02:12  Meet Amisha Shrimanker!

03:21  From freelancer to agency owner

05:40  The hustle myth + 2020

07:55  The cold hard look

10:08  Extended social media breaks

12:23  Proactive + experimental approaches

18:55  Mindset + scheduling

21:26  Saying no to big opportunities

24:46  Scaling up

26:48  Finding balance

29:12  Restructuring offers

30:25  The “right way”

33:04  Setting boundaries + niching

38:19  Finding a fresh perspective

42:17  The Christy Questions

Please remember to subscribe, rate, and review!

---------------------------

Amisha Shrimanker

https://thecopycrew.com 

https://thecopycrew.com/shop/the-ceo-essential-email-scripts 

Instagram: @thecopycrew 

---------------------------

CONNECT WITH CHRISTY ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/christycegelski

Ready to fill your calendar with consistent clients? Grab my Instant Funnel bundle and snag a TON of goodies, including a brand voice and messaging guide and more swipe files than you can shake a stick at!

https://christycegelski.com/instant-funnel 

“The most effective copy is going to come straight from your customers’ mouths.”

—  Melissa Harstine

There are many reasons to choose entrepreneurship over a traditional job. We love to talk about time freedom, the personal fulfilment of being your own boss, and the joy of doing what we love… and yes, all those things are great! 

But many of us also start businesses out of health-related necessity — and we don’t talk about that enough!

Customer research specialist Melissa Harstine left her 9-to-5 to build a biz that would allow her the time she needed to manage her chronic illness while rocking her clients’ worlds.

The key? Stripping it down to the most profitable, impactful, manageable elements… and learning how to say no and ditch the rest.

By carving out a super specific micro-niche, Melissa has built a biz that works WITH her strengths and limitations and allows her to thrive on her own terms. In this episode, she shares the goods on how to do less while still delivering AMAZING results… and how having constraints may actually work to your advantage!

Hit play and find a new way to work! You’ll learn:

• What it means to take a subtractive approach to business — and how it looks in practice
• How hiring a customer research specialist can dramatically benefit your biz
• Melissa’s secret to marketing her services online WITHOUT social media (spoiler: it’s genius!)

Subscribe now and never miss a single episode!

About Melissa Harstine: Melissa Harstine conducts voice-of-customer research for time-starved copywriters and boutique agencies. 

Highlights:‌ ‌

00:34  Intro

01:46  Meet Melissa Harstine!

02:40  Melissa’s journey

04:37  Subtractive approach to business

08:16  Finding the right niche

11:47  Case studies + customer research

14:37  Benefits of micro-niching

18:40  Know when to say “no”

21:11  Marketing WITHOUT social media

25:40  Roundtable breakdown

28:35  Benefits of constraints

32:08  ‌Smarter scheduling

34:25  The Christy Questions

Please remember to subscribe, rate, and review!

---------------------------

Melissa Harstine

https://www.melissaharstine.com

https://www.melissaharstine.com/roundtable 

melissa@melissaharstine.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissaharstinecreative 

---------------------------

CONNECT WITH CHRISTY ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/christycegelski

Ready to fill your calendar with consistent clients? Grab my Instant Funnel bundle and snag a TON of goodies, including a brand voice and messaging guide and more swipe files than you can shake a stick at!

https://christycegelski.com/instant-funnel 

“It’s almost unavoidable now, to see ‘success’ being a certain dollar amount, and that should be the metric for everybody… I never started thinking that I was going to have a 6-figure anything in my first year. I went into it wanting to work for myself.”

—  Katie Kastner

This episode is for all of the mom entrepreneurs out there. 

Being a business owner is hard work, but navigating the path of entrepreneurship while ALSO raising young kids turns the dial up to 11 — and I think it’s important to talk about that!

Content writer and strategist Katie Kastner is a mom of two under 10, so she knows ALL ABOUT the challenges of juggling building a business with managing a household.

“I’ve learned that I have to be really patient and graceful with myself, and understand that I am a mom and I am also an entrepreneur,” Katie says. “It’s not like I decided to take on this job and I brought in a team of people to take care of everything else.”

From celebrating small wins to overcoming mom-guilt, we get INTO IT. So put the kids to bed, grab a cup of tea (or wine), and hit play!

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How Katie found balance as a mom and entrepreneur — and how she deals when things go haywire
• Why it’s important to be able to ask for support and give yourself grace
• Why you need to reframe “success” and “perfection” on your own terms and not fall into the social media trap

Subscribe now and never miss a single episode!

About Katie Kastner: Katie Kastner is a content writer and strategist who helps small business owners decide on a content marketing strategy that will work best for their business — and then helps them put that plan into action, so that they can discover, connect, and nurture their relationship with their ideal customers.

Highlights:‌ ‌

00:34  Intro

01:34  Meet Katie Kastner

04:53  Discovering copywriting

06:57  Early entrepreneurship struggles

10:13  Reframing “successful business”

15:50  Finding balance

19:59  Reframing “perfection”

23:45  Instant Funnel Bundle

24:46  Letting go of shame around support

29:57  Good enough is good enough

31:16  The Christy Questions

Please remember to subscribe, rate, and review!

---------------------------

Katie Kastner

https://katiekastner.com 

https://www.facebook.com/katiewiththewords 

https://kastner102.medium.com 

Instagram: @katiewiththewords 

---------------------------

Ready to fill your calendar with consistent clients? Grab my Instant Funnel bundle and snag a TON of goodies, including a brand voice and messaging guide and more swipe files than you can shake a stick at!

https://christycegelski.com/instant-funnel 

Become biz besties with your subscribers + convert them to clients organically with my brand new freebie How To Write Emails That Sell plus 20 Must Read Newsletter Ideas. This is the most value packed freebie I’ve ever created and I can’t wait for you to get your hands on it! 

https://christy-cegelski.ck.page/26510b4993 

CONNECT WITH CHRISTY ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/christycegelski

“There is this outside pressure that we have to reach a certain bar, and I think that’s not the way to go about it… Don’t worry about what the other guru is doing and what your business bestie is doing. This is YOUR business — where were you last year and what do you want to do with it this year?”

—  Donna Dube

Let’s unlock a secret weapon in your business: your metrics.

In this episode, Productivity Plus founder Donna Dube shares some great insights on how to match your mission and vision to the metrics that you should be focusing on, in order to maximize your time and your revenue.

Looking at numbers may not be as fun and creative as other aspects of your biz, but they’re definitely going to help you push the needle — if you understand what they’re telling you! 

Your metrics help you figure out not only where you’re spending your energy in your business right now, but where you SHOULD be spending it in order to make the biggest impact.

This means the offers and initiatives with the biggest, juiciest profits…

The social platforms driving the most conversions…

… and the content strategies pulling in the most engagement.

You’ll definitely want to take some notes on this one (I did too!)

Hit play and find a new way to work! In this episode, you’ll learn:

• The data you SHOULD be tracking regularly… and the vanity metrics you don’t need to worry about
• Why it’s important to know where your website traffic is coming from
• How to redefine what success means for YOU

Subscribe now and never miss a single episode!

About Donna Dube: Donna Dube is the founder of Productivity Plus. She offers her entrepreneur clients personalized strategic business planning and operational management that creates ease, establishes priorities, and provides clarity.

Highlights:‌ ‌

00:33  Intro

01:44  Meet Donna Dube

04:53  Why we don’t like looking at numbers

06:17  What should you track?

08:07  Vanity metrics

09:32  Traffic metrics

12:46  Launch examples

15:38  Comparison game

17:14  Instant Funnel Bundle

18:13  Donna’s process + outcomes

23:41  Redefining success

26:48  Strategic planning

31:59  ‌The Christy Questions

Please remember to subscribe, rate, and review!

---------------------------

Donna Dube 

https://www.productivityplusva.ca

https://www.productivityplusva.ca/10-kpis-you-can-measure-today 

Instagram: @productivityplusva

---------------------------

Ready to fill your calendar with consistent clients? Grab my Instant Funnel bundle and snag a TON of goodies, including a brand voice and messaging guide and more swipe files than you can shake a stick at!

https://christycegelski.com/instant-funnel   

Become biz besties with your subscribers + convert them to clients organically with my brand new freebie How To Write Emails That Sell plus 20 Must Read Newsletter Ideas. This is the most value packed freebie I’ve ever created and I can’t wait for you to get your hands on it! 

https://christy-cegelski.ck.page/26510b4993 

CONNECT WITH CHRISTY ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/christycegelski

“If we are focused on the visibility and why we’re afraid to show up, we’re making it all about ourselves, versus making it about the people that we get to impact, whether it’s one person or one million people. ”

—Lisa Benavidez

Not sure where or when you should show up online in order to connect with your dream clients — and not interested in posting on your socials 24/7? This episode is for you!

Showing up and being the face of their business can be a struggle for a lot of women, especially if they’re also juggling motherhood. So keeping it simple is a MAJOR priority.

My guest is Lisa Benavidez, a business strategist who helps women entrepreneurs and leaders create simple and effective visibility strategies that get them front and center when it comes to their ideal clients.

Best of all: you don’t need to be on ALL the platforms… and you DEFINITELY don’t have to be perfect.

You just need to be crystal clear on your messaging.

Your messaging will lay the groundwork for your visibility strategy — and this episode gives you the tools you need to come up with a killer one!

Hit play and find a new way to work! In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What main, supporting, and cornerstone social platforms are, how to choose ‘em, and how to use ‘em
• Lisa’s 5-step process for creating 90 days worth of content (yes, please!)
• How to identify client-attracting conversations that’ll help you boost your profile — and follower count!

Subscribe now and never miss a single episode!

About Lisa Benavidez: Lisa Benavidez is a business and visibility strategist who helps her clients create a bold online presence that attracts their ideal audience, and then show up, serve, and sell in a way that feels authentic and powerful.

Highlights:‌

00:34  Intro

01:32  Meet Lisa Benavidez

04:42  Lisa’s own visibility challenges

07:43  Your messaging is the groundwork

10:00  Identifying client-attracting conversations

11:14  Choosing your platforms

14:45  Instant Funnel Bundle

15:45  5-step process for 90 days of content

21:05  You need to repeat yourself

21:43  “Consistent” doesn't mean “every day”

25:44  Lisa’s goodies

28:27  The Christy Questions

Please remember to subscribe, rate, and review!

---------------------------

Lisa Benavidez

https://www.lisabenavidez.com

https://www.lisabenavidez.com/pva [$50 off promo code: Captivate}

https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisabenavidez

Instagram: @lisa_benavidez

---------------------------

Ready to fill your calendar with consistent clients? Grab my Instant Funnel bundle and snag a TON of goodies, including a brand voice and messaging guide and more swipe files than you can shake a stick at!

https://christycegelski.com/instant-funnel

Become biz besties with your subscribers + convert them to clients organically with my brand new freebie How To Write Emails That Sell plus 20 Must Read Newsletter Ideas. This is the most value packed freebie I’ve ever created and I can’t wait for you to get your hands on it! 

https://christy-cegelski.ck.page/26510b4993

CONNECT WITH CHRISTY ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/christycegelski

“One of the things that helped me the most was taking a step back and being realistic... Continual learning is important, but you have to be realistic about how much you can actually take on and how much content you can consume.”

—  Peta O'Brien-Day

Where would you end up if you had to rebuild from nothing?

Peta O'Brien-Day is a copywriter and former social worker who had a super challenging path to entrepreneurship after the unspeakably tragic early death of her first husband. 

(This is the second half of my convo with Peta — if you haven’t heard last week’s episode, I highly recommend checking it out first to get the full story!)

When we left off last week, Peta had just launched her new copywriting business while caring for two young kids.

In this episode, we dig into the nitty-gritty of the early days of building her biz, including her time management strategies, how she took advantage of time zone differences to better balance her childcare, and how she sifted through best practices and self-help tips to find what worked for HER. 

Listen now to learn about Peta’s top advice for biz owners — and why you DON’T actually have the same number of hours in a day as Beyoncé!

Hit play and find a new way to work! In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How to make time to work on your biz WITHOUT setting an alarm for 4 am (um, no thank you!)
• Why you need to get over the burning need to do All The Things and join all the groups — and why podcasts can be your best bet for learning 
• How Peta found her way back from her darkest days — and where you can follow her story

Subscribe now and never miss a single episode!

About Peta O'Brien-Day: Peta O'Brien-Day is the wordsmith behind Words By Peta. She helps her clients bring that local, brick-and-mortar business vibe to their website’s marketing content. 

Highlights:‌ ‌

00:34  Intro

01:29  Early days of entrepreneurship

04:10  Being realistic about time management

05:24  Peta’s top advice for biz owners

07:13  Hidden teams behind success stories

09:17  Motherhood + entrepreneurship

11:24  The Christy Questions

Please remember to subscribe, rate, and review!

---------------------------

Peta O'Brien-Day

https://secondtimearound.blog 

https://wordsbypeta.com 

https://www.facebook.com/wordsbypeta 

Instagram: @allwordsbypeta 

---------------------------

Ready to fill your calendar with consistent clients? Grab my Instant Funnel bundle and snag a TON of goodies, including a brand voice and messaging guide and more swipe files than you can shake a stick at!

https://christycegelski.com/instant-funnel 

Become biz besties with your subscribers + convert them to clients organically with my brand new freebie How To Write Emails That Sell plus 20 Must Read Newsletter Ideas. This is the most value packed freebie I’ve ever created and I can’t wait for you to get your hands on it! 

https://christy-cegelski.ck.page/26510b4993 

CONNECT WITH CHRISTY ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/christycegelski

“I’d grown up being sure that my purpose in life was to have a vocation that really helped people… I don’t think anymore that life should be all about serving other people. Being nice and doing good things for other people is great and really important, but I’m important, too.”

—  Peta O'Brien-Day

This week’s episode is the first of a two-parter that digs into some pretty heavy topics. 

Peta O'Brien-Day is a nurturing copywriter who helps biz owners nail a clear brand voice and connect with their dreamiest customers. 

She’s also a mom who’s had a HELL of a rough road to entrepreneurship.

When Peta was 32 with a two-year-old son, her husband Mark was diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer, told he had 18 months to live… and passed not long afterward.

Unbelievably tragic.

Peta was left to guide her toddler and herself through their grief, totally rethink her work and lifestyle… and eventually find love again. Along the way, she started a blog that shifted her career aspirations and led to launch her own biz.

Listen now to hear how she found her way to entrepreneurship after life on hard mode — then tune in next week for Part 2!

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How Peta successfully started over again after unthinkable tragedy (while caring for a tiny human by herself)
• How to talk about death more helpfully with people who are deeply grieving — and why the usual go-to platitudes just don’t cut it most of the time  
• How blogging led Peta into a career she had never even considered before

Subscribe now and never miss a single episode!

About Peta O'Brien-Day: Peta O'Brien-Day is the wordsmith behind Words By Peta. She helps her clients bring that local, brick-and-mortar business vibe to their websites and marketing content. 

Highlights:‌ ‌

00:33  Intro

01:37  Meet Peta O'Brien-Day

02:45  Peta’s story

08:37  Grieving process

10:37  Starting over 

13:04  Support networks

14:58  Speaking about death

19:03  Instant Funnel Bundle

20:03  Leaving youth work

24:20  New love, new work, new baby

28:51  Transitioning to copywriting

32:55  International clients

34:38  Power of blogging

Please remember to subscribe, rate, and review!

---------------------------

Peta O'Brien-Day

https://wordsbypeta.com 

https://www.facebook.com/wordsbypeta 

Instagram: @allwordsbypeta 

---------------------------

Ready to fill your calendar with consistent clients? Grab my Instant Funnel bundle and snag a TON of goodies, including a brand voice and messaging guide and more swipe files than you can shake a stick at!

https://christycegelski.com/instant-funnel 

Become biz besties with your subscribers + convert them to clients organically with my brand new freebie How To Write Emails That Sell plus 20 Must Read Newsletter Ideas. This is the most value packed freebie I’ve ever created and I can’t wait for you to get your hands on it! 

https://christy-cegelski.ck.page/26510b4993 

CONNECT WITH CHRISTY ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/christycegelski