Episodes
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Thought Leadership vs. Content Marketing: Fueling an audience who knows, likes, & trusts you
Let’s answer all of your questions about thought leadership! This week, we are diving into what it is, where it should go for your audience to find it, how to keep it safe, and how to repurpose it for your preferred social media channels. We even address a common misconception: the difference between thought leadership and content marketing.
Importance of Thought Leadership
Establishing, growing, and maintaining your business requires a content marketing strategy, but the true strength of your credibility lies in your thought leadership. From picking your topics to establishing a sustainable cadence, this episode will give you the information you need to be confident in establishing your expertise with your audience.
Staying Inspired
This week, we also share our favorite thought leader role models who inspire with fresh, impactful content. You’ll hear how they keep ideas flowing and manage to incorporate lessons from real-life experiences, which they then use for content on socials or in books. Plus, we’ll cover a variety of content formats to bring your ideas to life, from visuals and writing to audio and video.
This episode really is jam-packed with useful tips and insights on how to create content and thought leadership. Your business and authority will never be stronger than when you continue to create.
What’s In This Episode Definition and importance of thought leadership Need for consistency and focus Various formats for thought leadership and content Building recognition and trust through frequent content publication Strategies to overcome these challenges with time management and content prompts What To Do NextVisit lisalarter.com/e173 for all resources from this episode.
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Take your website from good to Google-worthy.
Welcome back to the second episode of our “Strategic Marketing For Your Business” series where this week, Cass Bald, my Senior Team Manager, and I are talking you through our top 10 recommendations to start having your website work for you. Our discussion ranges from simple, quick fixes to more complex website maintenance, and we even dive into SEO tactics to help your business rank on Google.
Create A 5-Star User Experience
When building a website, your customer should always be the lens through which you view your site. Is it easy to navigate? Can I browse my site for 60 seconds and come away answering the questions, what do I do, and what do I offer? We address how to create a site that guides and informs the user in a way that converts them to customers. In fact, we reveal one simple misstep many businesses make, and you’d be shocked by how obvious it is!
Technical Tricks & Savvy SEO Tips
Whether you manage your site yourself or have a team to do it for you, you don’t want to miss hearing the horror story of a website disappearing and how to avoid it from ever happening to you. Plus, while you may know SEO is important and links to your Google ranking, we go over how to create an SEO strategy to keep yourself relevant in Google’s eyes with regular recurring content.
I hope you enjoy this episode and that it gives you some smart ideas for improving your website. If this was valuable to you, be sure to tune into next week’s episode, where we’ll talk about thought leadership and content marketing!
What’s In This Episode 10 strategies to audit the efficacy of your website Clear communication of business offerings Calls to action should be in clear places on relevant pages Benefits of regular recurring content Clear and minimal navigation tactics Create a contact page utopia for inbound leads SEO guidance for keywords and keyword phrases for the pages and posts of your website What To Do NextVisit lisalarter.com/e172 for all resources from this episode.
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Missing episodes?
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Your customer experience starts with your positioning and messaging
Take a peek behind the curtain of what it's like to work with us as your marketing team! I'm here with my Senior Team Manager, Cass Bald. We're starting a new series where we walk you through five of the key elements of creating a marketing strategy for your business using the same strategy we would use. It’s called the Strategic Marketing Roadmap, or SMR for short.
In our first episode of this series, we focus on branding, positioning, and messaging. We address misconceptions about brands and dive into what a brand truly is. We discuss how what your brand makes people feel is the real impact you're looking for and the importance of tapping into what people remember most about you and your business.
One key point we make, and you don't want to miss hearing what we have to say, is about alignment. Aligning your brand with your personality builds more trust with clients than any impressive marketing strategy. We even share our own stories of misalignment between brand and business owner to explain why.
Lastly, we differentiate between messaging and positioning. Differentiate and leverage these two elements to appeal to your ideal customer. The words you use on your website, in your content, and the way you position yourself within the market set the tone for their expectations.
After listening to this episode, you'll be equipped with tips to assess and adjust your brand to make the best impression.
We hope you use these episodes to assess how strong your marketing strategy is as we make our way to the end of the year and prepare for new goals in 2025.
What’s In This Episode Common misconceptions about branding Importance of brand alignment and consistency Distinguishing positioning and messaging Aligning messaging with customer expectationsWhat To Do Next
Visit lisalarter.com/e171 for all resources from this episode.
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Navigating Transitions, Pivots, & Retirement of the Modern Entrepreneur
We are back with one of my favorite types of episodes - an Ask Me Anything! This week, Kathleen Mundy is taking over the microphone to guest-host and ask me all the questions she can about how I've approached the many pivots in my business, selling a business, and how to do it all with confidence.
Kathleen, a longtime friend and fellow dachshund mom, transitioned from a successful career as a multi-million dollar entrepreneur to looking for her new passion in life after retiring in 2022 and moving to Niagara-on-the-Lake. Realizing her retirement wasn't as fulfilling as expected, she founded the Retirement Innovation Lab to help others navigate retirement with joy and purpose. Partnering with Yasmin Nguyen, 22 years her junior, they created a platform offering innovative solutions for retirees.
Kathleen's journey from business success to finding her new passion serves as an inspiring example of resilience and optimism.
To Pivot Or Not To Pivot? How I decide.
Listen in to hear my thought process about how I decide if a pivot makes sense for my business and my brand and if it aligns with my values. I also touch on how I manage to feel confident when making some pretty big shifts and how I prepare for them.
Check Before You Invest
As an entrepreneur and a quick-start, I'm constantly thinking of new ideas, but I realize not all of them will be viable. Kathleen and I discuss my method of testing ideas before I invest extensive time and money into creating or marketing a project or opportunity. You won't want to miss hearing about my invitation marketing technique, which I've used for years to determine if my new ideas have the potential to be a success. The best part? I'm not risking a large investment or missing out on ideas my clients love.
It's always a pleasure to have my friends on my podcast, and Kathleen came prepared. This episode is beneficial for anyone of any age, so I hope you listen in and get some great advice on how to apply your unique gifts as an entrepreneur.
What’s In This Episode The challenges of entrepreneurship, including addressing self-doubt, resilience, and difficult decision-making The importance of personality, service delivery, and thought leadership Transitioning to Entrepreneurship in Retirement The importance of hiring mentors and investing in your business when transitioning to entrepreneurship Minimizing risk with financial preparedness, risk assessment, and trusting your own capabilities What To Do NextVisit lisalarter.com/e170 for all resources from this episode.
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Capture Inspired Moments and Finally Finish Your Book
Welcome back Michelle Weger with our second podcast in a row with her! In the previous episode, we celebrated the release of her new book, Don't Snooze Your Dreams: Lessons from Life with Narcolepsy. Now, we're going to talk about how Michelle was able to write her book so quickly and even managed to get it published ahead of schedule.
Michelle is an accomplished entrepreneur, speaker, and now #1 International Best Selling author of Don't Snooze Your Dreams. As the founder of Venture Creative Collective, home of the innovative 'Website in a Day' service, Michelle helps small businesses thrive with innovative automation and web development solutions.
Living with narcolepsy, Michelle has transformed personal challenges into powerful lessons, inspiring countless individuals to pursue their dreams despite obstacles. Her engaging keynotes draw from real-life experiences, offering practical strategies and inspiring stories. Michelle is accompanied by her medical alert service dog, Quinn.
Keep Moving Forward
Michelle managed to finish her book in record time of under a year of writing, and it was published five days ahead of schedule. She achieved this feat by disregarding habits we've grown to expect from authors. Instead of continuously sitting at a desk day after day, hoping she'd be inspired until the last word was written, she took a completely different approach. Listen in for the various ways she turned traditional writing on its head and created a book that is so conversational and comfortable that one reader described it as talking with a friend over a latte.
One Book Written With A Much Bigger Picture In Mind
Michelle's reasons for writing this book are incredible and inspiring. She wants to help others achieve their dreams with her DREAM method, but she also wants to help others like her be diagnosed as quickly as possible by spreading awareness of her journey from not knowing what was wrong to her diagnosis. You won't believe how big she is thinking when it comes to how she'd like her book distributed and who she would love to help her realize her dream.
I've loved having Michelle on the show for these two episodes! If you're currently stuck writing your book or have always wanted to write a book, then this episode is your inspiration. Maybe something we say will be the tactic that works best for you to finally move forward and finish your book!
What’s In This Episode Unconventional methods for writing a book Natural ways to start collecting stories and advice without spending hours writing at a desk Set word count goals Focus on quality over a self-imposed deadline How to test if your content resonates with your audience What To Do NextVisit lisalarter.com/e169 for all resources from this episode.
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Deconstruct the Fears Holding You Back
Welcome back for a very special episode! We're celebrating the release of Michelle Weger's book, Don't Snooze Your Dreams. Michelle and I have been working together for 7 years now, and I've seen her do some really hard things. I'm so proud of her for writing this book and sharing how she reframes fear to accomplish her dreams and helping you all do the same.
Michelle Weger is an accomplished entrepreneur, speaker, and now #1 International Best Selling author. As the founder of Venture Creative Collective, Michelle helps small businesses thrive with innovative automation and web development solutions. Living with narcolepsy, Michelle has transformed personal challenges into powerful lessons, inspiring countless individuals to pursue their dreams despite obstacles.
Consequences of Advocacy
As someone with an invisible disability, Michelle discusses how she's grown in her advocacy. She's faced a lot of tough pushback and consequences because her service dog is "too big," or people don’t believe she’s a service dog and don’t believe Michelle even has a disability. After seeing how her mother, friends, and colleagues stood up for her, Michelle realized if she stood up for herself now, she would also be helping others.
Only Two Types of Fear
In her book, Michelle identifies only two types of fear we all suffer from. We have a social fear, which, boiled down, is the fear of embarrassment, and physical fear, which is fear of something that could actually kill or harm us. The metaphors she uses in the book are brilliant in reframing how you feel about fear. Keep your ears open for when we talk about the paper dinosaur and the terrorist in our heads.
Fear and adversity are ever present throughout our lives and our careers. Whether we're facing a promotion at work or an autoimmune disease diagnosis, we will always be battling our paper dinosaurs and terrorists in our heads. Listen in to hear about Michelle's DREAM method, which anyone can use to overcome whatever obstacles they're facing in life and achieve their dreams.
What’s In This Episode Facing adversity for a non-apparent disability like narcolepsy Role models help bolster advocacy for yourself and, eventually others Metaphors for fears holding us back from our dreams Tactics for doing hard things DREAM method for overcoming fears and achieving dreams What To Do NextVisit lisalarter.com/e168 for all resources from this episode.
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Add value to your user experience without alienating clients and prospects
It’s time for the finale of the Leveraging AI series with Mary Fearon! We're wrapping up with a final discussion on improving customer service with AI.
When to Start & Stop with AI Automation
Chatbots and automated messaging systems are the most common AI solutions for customer service and prospecting. These solutions certainly have their place, but at what point do they become harmful to your brand?
In this episode, we discuss the harm of over-relying on AI to be the solution to your (or your customer’s) problem and how to avoid this mistake in your business.
Behind-the-Scene Uses of AI to Benefit Your Customers & Clients
When you think about customer service, the goal is to provide a valuable experience. Tune in as Mary and I discuss how AI can enhance this by acting as a personal assistant, quickly handling labor-intensive tasks like writing customer-facing documents and accelerating research to understand new clients. Want all of our suggestions on how to save yourself time while building a deeper connection with your clients? This is the episode for you.
Interested in attending our AI workshop? Sign up for our waitlist at lisalarter.com/ai to be the first to know about the investment, format, and details. Mary and I can't wait to help you start experimenting with AI in your business.
We had a lot of fun recording this series together, and we hope you're inspired to jump into this next phase of business operation with the help of your AI personal assistant!
What’s In This Episode Experimenting with AI for business improvement Personal and business relationships AI cannot replace AI-generated user guides, onboarding documents, etc. Importance of inspection to ensure AI tools maintain brand integrity What To Do NextVisit lisalarter.com/e167 for all resources from this episode.
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The Perks & Risks of AI for Content Creation
Welcome to the fourth episode of our Leveraging AI series! Mary Fearon and I are back to share our perspectives and experiences using AI in our businesses. Missed the introduction to this series? Go back and listen to episodes 163, 164, and 165! In today's episode, we talk about one of AI’s most common uses—content creation.
Valuable Content is Never 100% AI
Anyone using AI will usually input the same prompt and receive the same generic response. To turn that response into something that is actually valuable, you must inject your opinion, perspective, and wisdom. Stand out from the massive amount of AI-generated content that is currently saturating digital spaces by using it as a tool to brainstorm and develop strong content faster instead of letting it do all your thinking for you. Using AI should speed up the process but never replace your voice.
AI Is Not An Easy Button—Here Are Smart Ways To Use It
Mary and I discuss how we use AI as a springboard to come up with ideas to write about. We ask AI to condense writing into social media posts, bios, or website copy with a set character limit. Sometimes, we ask it to provide different versions of already-written copy using more persuasive or pithy language. Listen in to hear how we even use AI for more effective SEO when writing blogs or web pages!
We'd love for you to join us for the AI in Business workshop Mary and I plan to host. For more information, sign up for our waitlist here: lisalarter.com/ai.
What’s In This Episode Strategies for optimizing content length using AI AI for creating website starter copy and headlines Finding the balance between AI and personal voice Warning against overreliance on AI Adding personal value and perspective to AI-generated content What To Do NextVisit lisalarter.com/e166 for all resources from this episode.
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Cut Out the Heavy Lifting—Use AI To Gain Momentum For Your Ideas
Welcome back to week 3 of our 5-week series, Leveraging AI: Proven, Practical, & Tactical Approaches to Using AI in Your Business. Today, we're diving into how we use AI for idea generation and our top tips for writing powerful, time-saving prompts.
This series is in collaboration with my friend and colleague, Mary Fearon. Mary, if you have yet to hear in the previous two episodes, is a fellow marketing agency owner. She is the Founder and CEO of OnPrPose, a company that helps entrepreneurs and businesses tell their stories effectively, both internally and externally.
If you just found this series, go back to our introduction episode, AI: Introducing Your New Unpaid Team Member.
Today, we are focusing on how to be the best “creative director” so that whatever AI tool you are using can give you usable, valuable ideas as a brainstorming partner. The magic all lies in your prompts.
How to Talk to AIWhen using AI, you have to shift your mindset around how you request information. With a search engine, you would input strings of keywords and find pretty relevant search results. When using AI, you have to expand your prompt to give context and background for the work you're producing, just like you would to a member of your team.
By taking the time to craft thorough prompts, you're limiting the amount of back-and-forth and getting hyper-relevant copy or ideas in response. Listen in for our top tips on how to frame a thorough prompt for AI!
What Do We Use AI For?As marketing agency owners, Mary and I use AI to do a lot of the heavy lifting that once took hours for our team to do. For example, Mary uses AI for competitive analysis. Instead of having to comb through several websites and social media pages, AI can give you an overview.
In this episode, we go over many more ways we use AI in marketing, including creating and writing in our clients' voices, creating client avatars, and even ideas for increasing engagement on social media.
AI allows you to take an idea, cuts down the drafting time, and gets you to a place where you can apply your expertise, style, and perspective in just a few minutes. Mary and I have had so much fun finding different ways to use AI in our businesses, and we hope you're getting inspired on how to start using it in yours!
If you'd like more information about the AI in Business workshop Mary and I plan to host, sign up for our waitlist here: lisalarter.com/ai.
What’s In This Episode Shift from traditional search queries to conversational prompts for AI usage Mary and Lisa's experiences using AI to generate fresh ideas for podcasts, newsletters, and workshops Viewing AI as a tool to deliver more value without replacing individual perspective and expertise Using AI for competitive analysis, establishing a client’s voice, and creating avatars or personas for targeting content to appropriate audiences What To Do NextVisit lisalarter.com/e165 for all resources from this episode.
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Our favorite AI tools, user tips, and privacy considerations
Mary Fearon and I are back with the second episode of our AI series! In this series of conversations, we deep-dive into how we use AI in our businesses, and today's episode is all about how we use AI in meetings.
If you missed it from last week, Mary is the founder and CEO of On Prpose, a company helping entrepreneurs and businesses tell their stories effectively. With a keen eye for uncovering hidden narratives, Mary and her team excel at distilling complex information into compelling, relatable content.
Mary and I both run marketing agencies, and it goes without saying we attend a lot of meetings every single week. There are lots of meeting notes to keep up with and action items to implement, so it is imperative we have reliable meeting notes. Having AI take those notes and summarize our action items has been a huge time saver, but there has been a learning curve as we get used to using this tool and find our favorite AI notetakers for our needs.
Let's Compare & Contrast
Mary and I go over the AI tools we started with, got rid of, and our overall favorites for making our meetings more productive and our implementation even faster. We hope our experience and advice help you decide which one to try for yourself in your next meeting.
We Cover Privacy & Productivity
Mary and I also go over our thoughts on privacy within our businesses and with our clients when using AI for meeting notes, before we end the episode with a great time-management AI tool suggestion that has helped alleviate stress in Mary's company. We hope this was useful for you to begin seeing the value of using AI in your business!
Next week, we will discuss how AI helps us with idea generation and even how to craft effective prompts. Stay tuned for the rest of the series, which will cover using AI for content creation, customer service, and more!
If you'd like more information about the AI in Business workshop Mary and I plan to host, sign up for our waitlist here: lisalarter.com/ai.
What’s In This Episode Overview of AI tools for recording, transcribing, and summarizing meetings Translating meeting information into implementation effectively Establishing protocols for using AI in meetings and respecting privacy and confidentiality agreements What To Do NextVisit lisalarter.com/e164 for all resources from this episode.
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Turns Hours of Work Into Minutes with AI
Welcome to the first episode of a new season in collaboration with Mary Fearon! For this series of conversations, Mary Fearon and I will be talking all about AI.
Mary and I both run marketing agencies, and we've started introducing AI into our team workflows and personal lives. If you're a small business looking to learn how AI can help you save time and effort, this is a great introduction.
With AI, we've been able to streamline our processes, freeing up more time for what we do best!
Mary is the founder and CEO of On Prpose, a company helping entrepreneurs and businesses tell their stories effectively. With a keen eye for uncovering hidden narratives, Mary and her team excel at distilling complex information into compelling, relatable content.
Mary has helped hundreds of companies in complex industrial and technical businesses, including agriculture, manufacturing, mining, construction, engineering, and more. Varied experience has honed her ability to find and communicate the essence of a business or industry, no matter how technical or nuanced. She believes in the power of storytelling to capture complexity while making it interesting and relevant to the audience.
The Number 1 Way We Use AI
AI has saved us from blank-page syndrome—it’s an amazing brainstorming partner. When starting a new project or wanting to create something from scratch, we both have noticed how quickly AI can take us from an abstract idea to something to work with. It eliminates five hours of coming up with a rough draft and instead gives us that time to focus on refining the copy, adding a brand voice, and focusing on the end result.
Where to start with AI?
There are many AI options to choose from and each one has its own benefits and drawbacks. Pick one, get to know it really well, and then you're more able to make a judgement on how you like using AI in your business and what features you may be looking for in other AI options.
In this episode, we also discuss increasing the quality of your prompts. The better your prompts, the better and more effective your results will be. Instead of thinking about how to search for a result, picture how you would give context and instructions to a coworker.
Tune in to hear all about some fun ways we've used AI outside of work! It has helped us come up with dinner ideas, gift ideas, or even how to track macros. There are so many ways to use AI and save valuable time.
The biggest takeaway for business owners who are hesitant to begin working with AI is that it is a tool. While AI helps us do our work faster and more efficiently, it will never be able to replace the wisdom, culture, and perspective humans bring to our work. The relationships, inspiration, and ideas fueling our business will never start with AI but can be developed and come to fruition much faster with its help.
If you'd like more information about the AI in Business workshop Mary and I plan to host, sign up for our waitlist here: lisalarter.com/ai.
What’s In This Episode How marketing agencies use AI Enabling speed and reducing refining time Resistance to AI and “AI snobbery” Fun ways to use AI in your personal life What To Do NextVisit lisalarter.com/e163 for all resources from this episode.
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Dial into your employees’ superpowers to help them on their journey
Adan was formerly the Marketing Team Manager and Marketing Strategist for the Lisa Larter Group and once served as a special guest host for six episodes of "She Talks Business" with our current Team Manager, Cass Bald. In this episode, Adan puts me in the hot seat for one of my favorite types of episodes where she gets to ask me anything!
Adan co-owns The Small Business Marketers and serves a few businesses as a Fractional Sales Manager. Her mission is to bring corporate-style marketing and sales teams to small businesses.
In 2020, Adan began her marketing career by helping brick-and-mortar stores go digital during the pandemic. Over the past four years, she has helped over 75 small businesses implement effective marketing and sales strategies.
Outside of her professional life, Adan is dedicated to raising awareness about mental health and ADHD in the workplace.
Navigating Mental Health Conditions in the Workplace
In this episode, Adan and I discuss how an employer should approach working with an employee with ADHD, anxiety, depression, or other mental health conditions.
Adan thinks of her ADHD as her superpower—she loves talking to clients, and that's what she does best. We agree that open communication is a must for deciding where an employee can excel based on their individual superpowers. What do you think?
Cultivate a Winning Environment for Your Employees
Do you view your role as an employer as being part of your employees’ journeys? When you give your people an environment where they can be honest about their goals to move on to entrepreneurship, or whatever the next step is in their journey, you will foster a relationship of trust and empowerment.
In this episode, we also cover the importance of marketing, whether it's for lead generation or credibility, and focus on sales skills. We end off with a fun discussion on which designer bag means you’ve “made it.” Thanks for listening in!
What’s In This Episode How to accommodate employees with ADHD or other mental health conditions Sale skills for small businesses Best way to view employer/employee relationship The role of marketing in your business Which designer bag means you’ve "made it?" What To Do NextVisit lisalarter.com/e162 for all resources from this episode.
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Gut Instincts and Common Sense Over an MBA Any Day
We are so lucky to have an amazing woman who also happens to be an incredible businesswoman join us on the show this week! Amber Vilhauer and I started our businesses only one year apart in 2007 and 2008, so I wanted to ask her some questions focused on longevity and what she believes are the reasons she's stayed in business for 17 years and counting.
Amber is a Books & Business strategist, multi-bestselling author, speaker, and Founder of NGNG Enterprises (No Guts No Glory), an Inc. 5000 top marketing agency. She is the author of Infinite Impact and co-author of The Long Forest Trail with her son, Clay.
Since starting NGNG in 2007, Amber has helped thousands of entrepreneurs align their businesses with their core talents and desires, empowering them to build the business and life of their dreams while naturally scaling revenue and impact.
Among her clients, Amber has a reputation for getting quality work done quickly. She and her team routinely get in the trenches, implementing custom marketing strategies that attract qualified leads, launching bestselling books, and growing engaged followings that convert. Her strategies are comprehensive, deep, and built to align every aspect of her clients' businesses with their ultimate visions.
No MBA? No Problem.
Amber and I do not have MBAs and we didn't plan to have our own businesses when we first entered the workforce. We learned the skills necessary to keep our business growing and profitable, but it's not finance, marketing, or other technical skills keeping us in business. Amber believes consistency and her non-negotiables around how she treats clients and the quality of her work truly make a difference.
Get Over Perfectionism & Get Scrappy
Amber has great advice on how to shift your perspective on getting work done. By letting go of perfectionism, we can better help people in need of our services.
Don't underestimate the value of being scrappy as an entrepreneur. When we live in an age where we can learn about anything with just a few searches and countless resources, there is no excuse to let, "I haven't done that before" or "I don't know how to do that," stand in your way.
Find A Balance and the Right Fit
As a single mom, Amber lets us in on how she's able to be a present mom AND a successful businesswoman. Her priorities are always top of mind. She even lets us in on her process of deciding if a client is still in alignment with her values and if they still light her up when working with them. If they don't, she lets them go in a gentle but straightforward way.
As you'll hear in our discussion, Amber and I agree that treating your clients well, prioritizing your energy as a business owner, and confronting your perfectionism will help you go the distance. Happy Listening!
What’s In This Episode Non-negotiables and consistency lead to longevity in business Prioritize effort, energy, and intention over perfectionism How to let a client go Running a business as a single mother Word of mouth is the most powerful piece of marketing What To Do NextVisit lisalarter.com/e161 for all resources from this episode.
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Business, Legacy, & Bucket Lists—We Cover It All
I am beyond thrilled to have my long-time friend, colleague, client, and co-conspirator, Samantha Moonsammy, acting as our guest host in this edition of Ask Me Anything!
If you remember the Oprah in Ottawa event I referenced a few episodes back, Samantha is the woman who I worked with to bring that event about. She is a great person with an amazing heart, and since we’ve worked together on many events and used to live only 20 minutes from each other, she came up with some great personal and professional questions. She even asked me a really big question about why I left Canada. That’s something I’ve never talked about before, so I’m glad she asked!
Samantha works with authors through Lucky Book Publishing’s signature VIP programs that include writing, publishing, and marketing. She provides strategic coaching to authors and helps them craft the best-selling title, subtitle, book outlines, story-telling, and wow-factor branding that makes you stand out from the crowd.
Before running Lucky Book Publishing, Samantha was an award-winning celebrity event planner, television host, media personality, and public servant. She has been on book marketing event teams for many award-winning thought leaders including Elizabeth Gilbert, Deepak Chopra, the late Wayne Dyer, Caroline Myss, Marianne Williamson, and Eckhart Tolle.
In this episode, we go from morning routines, habits, professional tools, and favorite books to bucket-list items. We even discuss some memorable Lisa Larter quotes, including, “Free is too expensive,” and “You can’t ride two horses with one ass.”
This was so much fun to record with Samantha, and I’m so glad she was able to take the mic and guest host for us this week!
What’s In This Episode Lisa’s professional and personal habits Why Lisa left Canada and moved to the United States Professional tools for productivity with a remote team Legacy and impact What To Do NextVisit lisalarter.com/e160 for all resources from this episode.
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Not all business owners are.
This episode of She Talks Business is out of the ordinary because it's not for the average person. In fact, I'm going to tell you right now—this episode isn't for 99.9% of you. Today, our guest, Justin Breen, is only talking to true visionaries—a special group that makes up only 0.1% of the population.
Justin's purpose in life is to connect visionaries for the benefit of humanity, and he founded his business, BrEpic Network, to do precisely that.
We talk about what it means to be a true visionary and even if I am a true visionary. Talking with Justin, I found out there are three qualities a true visionary will always have, with no exceptions.
Quality #1: Prioritize serving others even after their lifetime. Business, profit, and money are never the focus of a visionary. Instead, those things are a by-product of their primary focus as they create a service and system that will outlive even the visionary who created it.
Quality #2: Live without limits in full abundance. Visionaries don't have a scarcity mindset, and because of that, they don't worry about whether they will achieve their goals but instead dive into the third quality, taking action toward how they will achieve their goal.
Quality #3: Take action to implement their plan to serve others. Because they have an abundance mindset, they focus on investment, not cost. The faith they have in their idea of helping others will propel them to move forward with their plan without hesitating or second-guessing.
Do you have these qualities, and do you relate to Justin and his worldview? If so, you're a visionary!
Listen to this episode as we explore each of these traits. We even get Justin's opinion on famous entrepreneurs such as Richard Branson and Elon Musk. This was a fascinating conversation—I hope you enjoy it!
What’s In This EpisodeConversation with Founder and CEO of BrEpic network
Qualities of true visionaries
Visionaries make up only 0.1% of the population
Find your gift in life
What To Do NextVisit lisalarter.com/e159 for all resources from this episode.
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Exponentially Increase Your Impact with Genuine Connections
Welcome back to She Talks Business! Today, we are sitting down with someone I look up to so much, Giovanni Marsico.
I've been attending his event, Archangel Summit, since 2016, and I’m so glad he is joining me today. We have so much to learn from someone who values relationships more than anything, and it's with this mindset that he has achieved all of his success.
Giovanni is a two-time Emmy award-winning producer and the CEO and founder of Archangel, a global community of entrepreneurs on a mission to impact millions of people together. As a producer, he's creating a new genre he calls real-life superhero movies with films like Dreamer and Hero to inspire millions of people to dream bigger, unleash their gifts, and change the world.
The Secret to a Devoted Community
Giovanni has cultivated a network of high-profile connections who show up for him at his events as speakers and who are loyal to him when he may need to ask a favor in the future.
The success of these connections never starts with a transaction or with business in mind, but instead, Giovanni views his role with a new individual as, "How can I help you on your journey?"
This selfless commitment to their betterment instead of his own results in much deeper connections than a business transaction ever could.
Mitigate Risk Like a Pro
When Giovanni thinks about his events and working with clients, he doesn't focus on selling but on a long-term investment in a relationship. He views his events as a journey he takes the audience on, and he aims to create an experience so awesome and valuable that people can't wait to come to the next one. When working with clients, he wants the experience to be so amazing his clients continue to work with him.
We cover a lot of different topics from identity, confidence, mitigating risks, and how to culitvate deep relationships. Giovanni offers such valuable insights, so I can't wait to hear what you get out of this episode.
If you're interested in attending Giovanni's event, Archangel, with me in September, 2024, and want to amplify your learning, reach out by emailing [email protected]. I can't wait to get back to this event and see what Giovanni has planned for this year!
What’s In This EpisodeNetwork by investing in relationships without keeping score
Importance of surrounding oneself with the right people
Focus on creating an experience with your event, not traditional hard-sell tactics
Overcoming Criticism and Embracing New Roles
What To Do NextVisit lisalarter.com/e158 for all resources from this episode.
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From Wiener Dogs to Dropping Out of High School to Going into Business 100% for Myself
This edition of Ask Me Anything was such a blast to do with my new podcasting BFF, Richard Citrin.
Richard, if you don't remember from my previous episode with him, helps people successfully navigate the inevitable happenings of life. Whether they are wins or failures, he helps his clients learn essential lessons and see opportunities for growth.
Richard's study of resilience and leadership, along with his many years as a psychologist, business entrepreneur, and corporate healthcare leader, prepared him to advise and support global and local corporate and nonprofit organizations, educators, medical professionals, and individuals to find their most extraordinary talents and use them for their success and to better the world.
Richard did an excellent job preparing a balance of personal and business questions for this Ask Me Anything. This episode is sure to be as much fun to listen to as it was to record!
It starts off with a bang as we discuss how I discovered my love for weiner dogs, why I dropped out of high school, and how I decided to fully bet on myself and go all-in with my own business.
Resilient from the Very Start
I have no idea why my kindergarten teacher said this to my mom, but she said, "You could put Lisa out in the world by herself right now, and she would survive." I have this innate resilience to just figure stuff out when I want to do something or don't want to do something. That trait was present when I was 5, and it really showed itself again when I needed to start working at 18. Another example was when I wanted to open my first Telus dealership and further my career. That figure-it-out-no-matter-what attitude is really what makes or breaks an entrepreneur.
Art: The 1 Credit Keeping Me from a High School Diploma
For the longest time, I thought I wasn't creative because the one credit I never took to finish high school was art. It's not that I'm not creative. I call creativity strategy. Strategy is about figuring out the best way to shorten the distance to help somebody get to where they want to be. I see how to position and package someone's potential and bring it to life for them.
Is AI a Threat to Creative Businesses?
Richard asks about how I expect AI to affect business and entrepreneurs. As someone who has adopted a few AI programs already into my business, I believe that AI is not going away, but it will not replace human connection or human creativity. AI is only as useful as the prompts and guidance someone gives the program. Plus, just as we all got Zoom fatigue during and after the pandemic, we're still going to crave human connection, creativity, and guidance that AI will never replace.
This was such a fun and valuable episode! Give it a listen, and be sure to subscribe and share.
What’s In This EpisodeHow Lisa came to be obsessed with dachshunds
Why Lisa dropped out of school and her start in retail
Lisa's successful career in business, including owning a Telus dealership
Creativity as strategy and its value in entrepreneurship
Why Lisa started She Talks Business
What To Do NextVisit lisalarter.com/e157 for all resources from this episode.
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Be the Best You Can Be
Joining us this week on She Talks Business is a very special guest, Phil Holberton. He is an incredible example of how mental agility can help you overcome some of the biggest physical and mental challenges you face in life.
With many decades of specialized expertise in strategic planning, business development, operations, and executive coaching for senior executives, business owners, and CEOs, he has consistently stayed at the forefront of his field. He has successfully guided and developed senior management teams in various companies, a testament to his ability to drive organizational growth and success through effective leadership.
Stop Comparing Yourself
After suffering from a massive seizure, Phil shares with us how he grew the most in his own mental agility. He went from doing basic stretches and needing help getting up and down from the floor in the gym to doing 90-pound weighted goblet squats in just five years.
His physical shape now is in the top one-half of 1% of people his age, but the way Phil achieved that is not by aiming to be in the top 1% but by focusing on being the healthiest version of himself he can be.
3 Steps to Better Mental Agility
Phil believes mental agility is preparing yourself to be the best you can be. You're setting yourself up to live your life well and handle whatever is thrown at you.
There are 3 things he does to be on his A-game: get enough sleep, eat well, and exercise.
Be Who You Want To Be
Habits and routines set you up for success and get you ready to face the day, but they also help you become who you want to be.
Mental agility is about mindset and how you react to different challenges and situations. Prepare yourself by adopting healthy habits for your body, and you'll achieve the mental agility you want in your mind.
We have a great discussion where we focus on continuing to learn and being open and vulnerable to grow as a leader and as a person. I know you'll find some great inspiration and takeaways from this episode, so be sure to share it on social media or with a friend!
What’s In This EpisodeManaging sleep, diet, and exercise for mental agility
Commitment to continuous learning and personal development
Benefits of openness and vulnerability in peer groups
Impact of personal attributes on leadership and performance
Promotion of Positive Company Culture
What To Do NextVisit lisalarter.com/e156 for all resources from this episode.
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It's Hardwired Into You.
If you've ever felt defeated, like you shouldn't have even started your business or taken on that project, or maybe you just can't get over grief in your personal life, then you need to listen to this week's special guest, Richard Citrin, an expert on resilience. Richard views and talks about resilience in a way I hadn't considered before, where resilience isn't a skill to acquire but rather a muscle all of us already possess. We discuss how to practice growing this resilience muscle and how to overcome and prepare for those challenging situations life inevitably throws at us.
Richard Citron is a psychologist, business entrepreneur, and corporate healthcare leader with a PhD and an MBA. He helps people successfully navigate challenging seasons in their lives. Richard helps his clients learn the essential lessons and opportunities for growth in wins or failures in their lives. Richard's study of resilience and leadership prepared him to advise and support global and local, corporate and nonprofit organizations, educators, medical professionals, and individuals to find their most extraordinary talents and use them for their success and to better the world.
The 4 Components of Resilience
When considering resilience in terms of human behavior and how we address stressful situations, Richard considers it our ability to effectively plan for, navigate successfully in real-time, and bounce forward from challenging and difficult events, so we learn and grow from them.
Practical Tips to Do More Than Survive
Richard and his wife lost two adult children in a relatively short timeframe, so they know personally what it's like to face grief and embrace resilience. Richard's advice when it comes to feeling like you're only surviving is to embrace your community and get professional help. Let your friends, family, and everyone else in your support system help you and don't isolate yourself. Getting professional help, such as therapy, will also help you understand your mental state more and help you move toward a healthier, manageable balance of emotions.
The silver bullet for resilience and overcoming extreme emotions is mindset, Richard says. Prepare for adversity by having a positive mindset and intentionally spending time doing what makes you happy.
I am so grateful to Richard and his wife for overcoming their tragedy and finding ways to help others deal with tragedies and challenges in their own lives. If this episode was insightful and eye-opening to you, please leave us a review and share it with those who may need it right now.
What’s In This EpisodeAnticipating and preparing for triggers
Handling overwhelming life changes
Surviving as a critical aspect of resilience
Community and professional support
Importance of mindset
What To Do NextVisit lisalarter.com/e155 for all resources from this episode.
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From Directionless to Navigating Deserts & Frozen Tundra
This might be the best episode we've ever done of She Talks Business. I'm stoked to have special guest and old friend Ray Zahab on the show to talk about his incredible transformation from a pack-a-day smoker to an ultra-distance runner and explorer. We even dive into how he applied the same mindset he had around transforming his life the first time to how he approached battling cancer.
Who is Ray Zahab?
Let me tell you a little bit about Ray. He is a Canadian explorer, an ultra-distance runner, and the founder of the nonprofit Impossible to Possible. In addition to being an adventurer, author, youth advocate, and runner, Ray speaks around the world. He has appeared on several talk and news programs and in print media globally. He continues today with life as an adventurer and as a volunteer. With Impossible to Possible, his first race would begin a lifelong journey of discovery and learning that some of the greatest barriers to achieving our goals are the ones we put upon ourselves. By breaking these down, Ray has learned that we are all capable of achieving truly extraordinary things.
The Catalyst
On the show, I ask Ray what the spark was that inspired him to go from sitting on his couch day after day to believing he could run across the Sahara Desert. Like most of us, Ray saw someone, his brother, who seemed happier and doing well in his life, and Ray wanted to feel good, confident, and passionate just like his brother. He started doing what his brother was doing. He got in shape. He started racing mountain bikes and running, and then, after a few years of trying new things, he started doing and winning ultramarathons. And that's how he found his sport.
This idea of wanting what someone else has is something I see all the time with business owners who align themselves with coaches and advisors. The hardest thing to do once you've found your role model is to commit to doing what needs to be done to accomplish the same goals.
Explorer Mindset = Entrepreneurial Mindset
You will be so inspired by our conversations about motivation, resilience, the importance of continuing to learn, and Ray's views on mindset and limitations. This episode is really, really interesting because we go from Ray overcoming dissatisfaction in his everyday life to learning how to navigate life with cancer and undergoing cancer treatments to the mindset needed to undergo and keep going on an expedition. It's just really fascinating, inspiring stuff!
I know you'll find this episode as incredible as I did, so please give it a listen and then share it with your people!
What’s In This EpisodeRay's journey from being a pack-a-day smoker to an adventurous ultra-marathon runner
Redefining human potential and limitations
Ray’s approach to staying active during chemotherapy
Importance of remaining humble and open-minded for personal growth
The entrepreneurial spirit is believing that with enough time and effort, you will succeed
What To Do NextVisit lisalarter.com/e154 for all resources from this episode.
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