Articles
What to Do When You’re Not on Track to Meet Your Goals
In the Northern Hemisphere, September is often a time of reckoning: school starts back up, new habits are declared, and we re-look at our goals. For small business owners who set goals back in January, September is crunch time. After a summer of working as little...
Mindful Coworking and Embodiment with Daniela Hofmann
Daniela Hofmann is a beautiful soul who I’m thrilled to introduce you to today. I met her last year as a fellow member of a mastermind, and I’ve learned so much about mindfulness and intentionality from her ever since. I interviewed Daniela all about mindful...
Summer Reading List 2023
Sometimes these articles can get a little serious, so today I thought I’d write to you about one of my favourite things…books! And not just a list of “best business books of 2023” but a snapshot of what books have my attention right now. You game to join me? I’ve...
Setting You and Your Virtual Assistant Up for Success
The business owners I work with tend to have endless to-do lists and not enough time to get stuff done, so a natural next step for many of them is to hire help. Often that help comes in the form of an assistant, and these days the assistant typically works online....
How to Take Your Idea from Chaotic Thought to Concrete Reality
Deep Dive Coaching Explained “It’s like I’m in a room filled with balloons, and I’m jumping around like a crazy person trying to grab them all. Then you come in and you calmly collect the balloons, organize them, and hand them back to me. That’s what it’s like to...
Using Win-Win Agreements to Set Projects and Partnerships Up For Success
We’ve all been part of a group project situation where there are the people that do all the work, and the people who don’t pull their weight, for whatever reason. That’s manageable when the stakes are low, but when it comes to your business it’s important to get...
What the “Shoulds” and “Have Tos” are Telling You in Your Business
Two of the most noticeable phrases to a coach are “I should” and “I have to”. When a client says those words, it could be the topic of an entire call to unpack their meaning. And yet, in our everyday life, these words appear constantly: “I have to do my taxes”, “I...
What is Self-Doubt, Really?
A client is late paying an invoice…what do you do? A. You calmly send them a message reminding them to pay their invoice, and you move on with the rest of your day. B. You agonize over what this means…did they not like the service? Do they think it’s too...
Website Considerations Beyond Conversions – hidden things to think about when building an accessible and ethical website
How many people truly love their website? Over and over, even people with brand new (expensive) websites feel like there are things to fix and they want to change. I get it. For solo business owners especially, your website is a reflection of YOU, and it is...
Building FreeEO Days into Your Workweek — No Clients, No Meetings, No Rushing
Ever heard of a “CEO Day” for your business? A day where you do strategic planning, finances, take a walk…all the things that help you plan for the month ahead. I love this idea, but the name is problematic. Have you ever met a typical CEO? They’re in non-stop...
How to Set a Boundary That Actually Works
Overworking to meet a client’s ever-escalating demands. Checking email in the evenings and on the weekends. Catching up on work on your days off. Taking on a client you know isn’t a great fit for you. Letting invoice payments drag on and on. These are common...
I Schedule Stuff in My Calendar and I Don’t Stick to It…Help!
You’re trying to get “back on track” and “get organized” so you start putting all your appointments and tasks in your calendar. You “time block” like people (including me) suggest. Monday morning comes and before 10am you’re already off the rails and behind...
An Insider Look at the 5 Notebooks I Use to Keep My Business Organized
Why is it so hard to resist a beautiful notebook? Why do most of us have stacks of unused or partially used and abandoned notebooks hidden away somewhere? And don’t get me started on fancy pens… But seriously, organizing feels like a never-ending quest. There’s...
The Truth About Free Coaching and Why I Offer Gift Sessions
Hand up if you’ve spent a ton of non-refundable money on a service, only to find a pit in your stomach because you really didn’t align with the practitioner… Other hand up if you’ve been on a “discovery call” with a coach or practitioner only to be sold to by them...
The Pros and Cons of Weekly Blogging — Why I do it and what I’ve learned so far
You know that feeling you have in your body when you’re completely resisting something? Mine shows up as a heaviness and a tightness; it’s like my limbs are being weighed down and it takes immense effort to get them to move. I tell myself to do it, but my body...
Should I start a podcast? (and other podcast-related questions I get asked all the time)
UPDATE: Since this article has been published my podcast ah ha! has ended because I have been enjoying writing articles so much. It's a faster and more flexible medium for this phase of my business, but my love for podcasts still has not diminished. We were walking...
Do I need to use social media to grow my business?
Behind closed doors (Zoom doors, of course), in hushed voices, clients and colleagues confess the same thing to me over and over again: “I hate social media.” It’s said with a variety of emotions. Some, it’s exhaustion and exasperation because they’ve been using it...
Stop saying you need to do work that’s fun! (It’s so much more than that) — 12 Words to Use Instead
This article starts, like many of them do, with a story of me being coached. I have my clearest moments when I’m asked tough questions and I verbally process my thoughts. We were talking about marketing and how I don’t like most marketing strategies, and she asked...
How to keep working when the world is going to shit (tldr: I have no idea)
I’ve been trying to write an article about running experiments in your business for nearly 2 hours now. I had it all planned out ahead of time, I made my cup of tea, set up at the kitchen table like I always do. I wrote part of it, and maybe next week you’ll get to...
6 Things Your Procrastination is Telling You (and How To Lovingly Respond to Each One)
It’s 8:45pm, and yet again I find myself doing the mindless ping ponging on my phone. I check email, jump over to see if I have any texts, then swipe three pages over to my folder I’ve named “lame apps”, swipe another two pages, and find the Instagram app. I know I...
Note to Self: It’s Okay to be Awkward
I know I’m not the only one who struggles with outreach — this is a common theme in coaching calls with my clients. My response used to be “just pretend they’re human and say what you would want to say to another human”, but now I know better. Now I know that it’s...
You Don’t Need A Big, Grand “Why” to Have a Successful Business
It happened again. 9 years in, so I should have seen it coming. I don’t know why I thought this time would be different. Last week I was really excited. I started working with a new coach in a new group and one of our first topics was “core message”. I cannot tell...
How can a self-belief coach help with my business?
As I approach my 10 year business anniversary, I reflect on how much my understanding of my own job has changed since the beginning. I used to believe that basic coaching was enough to get someone unstuck — and it was for a lot of people! But over the years as I...
14 Things a Thought Partner Can (and Should) Do for You
When you’re running your own business, typically you’re faced with high levels of complexity, a constantly changing marketplace, a deluge of ideas, and lack of community. Where do you look for trustworthy support? How do you sort out the conflicting messages you’re...
9 Years to Reach $100k — why it took so long, how I did it, and what I learned
Am I ready to write about this? I’m not sure. Am I sick of hearing B.S. rhetoric of instant financial success? Absolutely. So here it goes. The coveted $100k year. For most entrepreneurs, this is the milestone they aspire to. They speak it in affirmations, they...
Why Morning Routines Don’t Work for Me and What My Clients Are Experimenting With Instead
The first, last, and only time I ever had a successful morning routine was in 2015. The childless, spouseless (and largely client-less) whimsical days of my business. I decided to write an e-book. Writing is not my favourite thing, and I had just learned the “eat...
Rethinking Confidence: the two kinds of confidence, and how to use both to your advantage
“I’m just not confident enough to…” Fill in the blank. Raise your prices? Ask for a referral? Say no to bad business? Take a vacation? I see this all the time. Clients might also say “I’m too afraid to…” or “I’m really not sure I can…” or “I don’t think I can…” but...
Work with More Ease by Knowing Your Rhythms
Map Your Daily Energy and Quarterly Seasons Have you noticed that your work tends to have “seasons”? Or different energies at different times of the year? Have you noticed the same is true for your days? I’ve been thinking about this a lot as we close out Q4 and...
Why I Haven’t Worked Fridays in at Least 5 Years (and How You Can Do It Too)
For the most part I’m not a bragger, but one thing I LOVE shouting about from the rooftops is my 4-day work week. I am so proud of the life I built that I can take Fridays off each and every week with ease. And I truly believe it’s possible for every entrepreneur....
A Simple Tool I Use to Make Writing Copy and Content Easier
As an INTJ, one of my superpowers is “order out of chaos”. This kind of structure comes very naturally to me, but I’ve learned that many of my clients appreciate when I can help them add order and processes to their businesses as well. One of the ways I do this is...
Understanding Overwhelm + How to Deal
4 years I’ve lived in this house. 4 years of white walls. Worse than white, because they were only primed so every scuff or speck of dirt stuck and stayed on forever. 4 years of family asking me when we were going to paint the house. 4 years of feeling paralyzed...
How to Balance Working ON Your Business vs. IN Your Business
“I can’t keep putting in all these hours — it’s not sustainable for me.” “I don’t have time to hire someone; it will take time out of my business and I’m already maxed out.” “How can I possibly make more money if I’m already working way too much?” Ultimately, “I’m...