Author: Lisé Kuecker

“Money.”

Just hearing, reading, and uttering that word triggers a visceral response in just about everyone.

While for some, money may spark feelings of joy and excitement, for many it releases a flood of doubt, fear, frustration, confusion, and/or sadness.

Add in the scenario surrounding the conversation in which money was brought up, and you have the potential formula for magnifying those emotions times one hundred.

And when that scenario involves trying to receive funds owed from a client, well, that can trigger a stomach lurch, and even worse, an outcome that has the potential to mar your business’ reputation.

Thankfully, that doesn’t ever need to be the case when you understand conscious communication and using words that work, and my guest on today’s episode is going to help you do just that.

Meet Mary Shores, the best-selling author of Conscious Communication, creator of Words that Work and the founder of Midstate Collection Solutions.

From her strong foundation in founding a debt collection agency (no easy job to say the least…then consider she started this business at 24 years old!), she’s refined her conscious communications strategies in a way that works in a variety of settings.

Whether you want to strengthen your staff to client communications, internal relations between your team members, or even within your household with your kids, Mary’s insights on shift your thoughts, words, and actions into alignment are life- and business-changing.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• The amazing story of how Mary came to be the youngest person in the country to open a debt collections company {at only 24 years old}
• How to see the opportunities around you and position your mindset to be accepting of them
• Trigger words around debt and how they can affect you and your clients
• Mary’s top tips on dealing with customers or clients who owe you money
• Words that work {and how you can you can use these words in and around all aspects of your life}
• Why your words are really a mirror to your subconscious mind and how to change what you’re telling yourself

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Connect with Mary on her website, on Facebook, and on Instagram.

Read Mary’s book, “Conscious Communications”

Learn more about Midstate Collection Solutions

Read Dr. Lieberman’s bio

BrainPaint

NeurOptimal

The Monroe Institute

With grit and gratitude,

Lise

I’m not going to sugarcoat it…

Undergoing a rebrand is tough work.

Of course, building any brand is a big job, but at least if you’re starting new, you’re also starting with a beautiful blank canvas.

With a rebrand, you have to dig into what’s working, what’s not, what needs to change to be more aligned with how you’ve grown and where you want to grow next. Overall, you’re just dealing with a lot more moving parts, and it is all too easy to drive yourself into overwhelm.

But you know what makes for an equally easy way to not get in over your head and make a rebrand the smoothest possible process ever?

Well, you bring Sarah Ancalmo Ashman and Shauna Haider onto your rebrand team!

Sarah is the founder of Public Persona branding studio, where she has worked to shape the stories and styles of some of the most prominent online entrepreneurs.

And Shauna is the founder, creative director, and designer at We Are Branch, who translates your brand story into gorgeous visuals that come to life no matter what the medium.

They were my right and left hands while creating the new 

Studio Grow brand, so I knew that once it was all said and done and live in the world, I had to share the insights of these two amazing artists, strategists, and business owners with you.

Now I know you might be in the beginning stages of building your brand in which case you may not be in the position to bring on a brand team, but whether you’re building the brand for your first studio or you’re branching into a rebrand from a successful stage of growth, there is so much wisdom from Sarah and Shauna that you can glean.

However, if you are in need of a rebrand, and you are in the place to bring in help, I can’t recommend them enough because in addition to making this the easiest rebrand ever, they took the vision for Studio Grow that was in my head and brought to life even better than I had ever imagined it.

Listen in and fire up your notes app, this is a good one with tips you’re going to want to reference, I promise.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• The difference between brand strategy and design, and how Sarah creates an experience around your brand
• The ways Shauna and Sarah were able to work seamlessly with the brand package and visual blueprints that Sarah was able to provide
• The hallmarks of a cohesive brand and what investing in these services can mean for your business, plus insights like why a “brand icon” is important and how it differs from your logo
• What is the difference between a branded photo shoot and a regular shoot and what type of budget to expect to spend
• The questions to ask when bringing on a brand team and things to align with when hiring a photographer
• How doing the prep work sets you {and your designers} up for success
• What a professional copywriter can do for you and your brand and where do you can find one

Connect with Sarah and Shauna:

• Visit Sarah’s website at Public Persona and connect with her on Facebook and Instagram.
• Visit Shauna’s website at We Are Branch and connect with her on Instagram and Pinterest.

With grit and gratitude,

Lise

Out of all the obstacles that trip business owners up and delay them on their journey to success  {and there are a thousand}, there is one big one that I’ve found tends to be the most common…

And I’d be willing to bet my bottom dollar you’ve grappled with it, too.

I’m talking about your website and all the pages, words, widgets, pictures, and pixels that go into it.

Just listing those things off is enough to make your shoulders creep up to your ears! Well, relax and lean in…

While you can absolutely go the DIY route, you likely know this is going to be the path full of resistance, but hey, if you don’t have the budget or the time, there are plenty of platforms and resources to help you pull your site together.

However, if you’re short on time and want to see a better return on your investment, pulling in the professionals is without a doubt the direction you want to take.

In this episode, I’m diving into the website buildout process that we’ve recently undergone with the new Studio Grow brand to give you the full bird’s-eye view and how to plan and prep for a proper website development process (yes, even if you’re doing it 100% or 50% DIY).

If you’re in need of a digital home that parallels the beauty of your brick-and-mortar space, or if you’ve made some shifts in your services and it’s time for a rebrand, or if you’re simply sick and tired of literally breaking your site by doing some seemingly harmless tinkering, you’re going to want to give this one a listen.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• Why you need to have a website and all of the most essential elements it needs to have
• What a rebrand really involves and why hiring the right people will get you going in the right direction
• Tips on how to get started with your rebrand {depending on your level of anticipated business} and choose the right platform for you
• The one hard and fast rule in website etiquette and the one thing every website has to have
• Why it’s all about the photos plus my thoughts on hiring a copywriter, and how to choose one that aligns with you and your branding

With Grit & Gratitude,

Lisé

“If only I knew then what I know now.”

It’s a sentiment many of us can nod along in agreement with, even if we feel like we did pretty well early on in our business journey.

So with that said, my mind can only wonder what my guest on today’s episode is going to look back on with hindsight of 20/20 because she is doing pretty darn good for a woman who opened her studio at 25…

As if opening a studio at 25 isn’t impressive enough, she built it into a 6-figure studio not long after.

Needless to say, yes she’s young, but more importantly, she’s vibrant, whip-smart, and has some of the sharpest business acumens I’ve come across, not to mention, she ties all of her progress to purpose.

That’s a lesson that many take too long to learn, sometimes until it’s too late and they’re shutting the doors on their business.  

Over the last year, I’ve witnessed Annie, and her studio grow exponentially, not just in profits, but also in the number of lives she’s changing whether that’s her client’s lives or those of other Pilates instructors who she is providing with employment and training opportunities.

Whether you’re a seasoned studio owner or a young instructor with an entrepreneurial dream, I think everyone can stand to learn a lesson from Annie’s outlook on how she views business.

In this episode you’ll learn:

• How an initial spark in fitness evolved into Annie dedicating all of herself and her business to changing the lives of her clients
• Why it’s critical to recognize the power in your failures
• How Annie found her niche and area of focus, and she chose to go against the group model
• The marketing strategies that work for her unique business and why she developed a referral program
• Annie’s top tips and strategies for harnessing the power of your team

LINKS:

Learn more about and visit Upswing Pilates.

Connect with Upswing Pilates on Facebook and Twitter.