Flourish and Thrive Academy is the “brain child” of Tracy Matthews, Robins business partner. In 2012, after Robin started her own consulting business and Tracy closed her jewelry business of 10 years; Tracy approached Robin to start a business in which no jewelry designer would have to go through what she had to. Tracy coming from a background of owning a business and being the creative while Robin had a background in sales, marketing and branding, the two started their business. Many designers do not know how to get their business started or take it to the next level and Flourish and Thrive Academy is there to help guide them in these processes and to provide a community.

What was the first step taken to make this into a full fledge business? Robin and Tracy had an extensive amount of information and the first step was getting it out there to the public with a four week course and organizing the extensive amount of information the two of them had.

Did you work on...

Tina started her career as a tax accountant and as she moved through her career to a tax manager she realized that many businesses needed help with prices, budgets and cash flow. 4 years ago Tina decided to start her own business in which she has helped companies with these needs.

We were lucky enough to have Tina stop by to give us 8 tips/steps to determine how to set your pricing.

8 Steps to Set Your Pricing

1. Have a Strategic Pricing Plan. When you are offering what your target audience wants it gives you the confidence to charge what it is worth. You would first dream a little bit about where your business would be: Small business or big business?

2. Identify and Measure the Value that You Provide. You do not want to have a price war. Think about the ways that you are different. Think about how you can increase your value so you can increase the price. Stop looking at the competitors and look at your value.

3. Calculate Your True Cost. Think through every single expense that...

I'm so embarrassed to say this, but I used to brag about how my corporate job was 'so easy, I could do it in my sleep.'  Granted, there was something nagging at me, that it wasn't right, and I knew I should be doing other things.  However, I was pushing myself outside of the 40 hours I spent in corporate, and learning all about building businesses, etc.  However, I spent 40 hours of every week in just mind numbing work.  Why?  Well, it paid the bills, and it was easy.

I was watching Oprah's Master Class (Spend 10 minutes with me, and you'll soon figure out I'm an Oprah fanatic, as I refer to her shows often.  Oh, and I'm meeting her in September, but that's a whole other story for another time.)

But anyway.... I was watching her Master Class with Justin Timberlake, and he said something that completely hit home.  He never wants to do the same thing twice.  If he's done it, it's time to move on, and there's nothing more exciting for him to see...

I get asked this a lot.  We're all told to live and do in life what we're passionate about, but what does that really mean?  So many of us have become so numb to our true calling and feelings because we're so busy making a living, that this answer becomes harder and harder to find, the older we get.  

It took me a while, but I finally got to that answer.  Before I spill those beans, I want to give you a little insight into my life, and give you some of the best advice I ever received.

In my early 30's I had a successful business, and I loved the building aspect of it, but I was burned out.  I also had a marriage that I never should have entered into, that was falling apart.  To say I was a bit lost of who I was, is a complete understatement.

My ex was in the psychology field, and he told me, as we were nearing the end that he was fixed.  He had done what all he could to better himself.  He went on to say if our marriage was going to survive...

Rey Brown is the smart phone guy.   He’s all about helping us figure out how to optimize our smartphones and tablets for business.

Refresh – It’s only available for Apple products.  The app syncs with your calendar on your phone.   And then it takes all of your information from social media and gives people ideas around what a particular person has as interests (and to help you try to find common ground). 

Google Now – Every Android phone has this on it (if you bought yours within the last 2 or 3 years).  It will sync with your appointments, and let you know based on current traffic, how long it’s going to take you and remind you when you need to leave so you'll get there on time.  

RSS Feed – (Really Simple Syndication) – You can take all the blogs that you like and put them all in one place.  It’s one source for all of your important news sources, and you can break them out into different...

I never love to see anyone hurting.  However, nothing makes my heart happier than to see someone take an extremely dark moment in their life and use it to completely turn things around.  That’s exactly what Shannon Kaiser of Play With The World did after she found herself clinically depressed, addicted to drugs, and suffering from eating disorders as she worked her corporate life, trying to do what every one thought she should.

After waking up one day, listening to her inner voice to tell her to ‘follow her heart’.  She realized life really should be more, and quit her ‘day job’.  Since then she has created a life for herself traveling the world, writing and running a business. 

Um, sign me up, please! 

I was so excited to sit down with her as she shared her story of her complete 180!

One of my favorite quotes of all time, Shannon gave us on this interview ‘Nourish the Nudges.’

What does following your heart...

Sally Hope is a Renegade Life Coach and the leader of the Wild Heart Revolution.  It's definitely a hefty title, but she lives up to every ounce of it.

Sally experimented with her free spirit after graduating college.  While all her friends were getting internships and jobs, she decided she wanted to be in a band.  She ended up joining a band, which led to another bad in LA.  Sally ended up spending all her 20’s touring as a musician.

After realizing that she was inspiring people through her work in the band, she thought maybe she should try something else.  As she toured, she became less and less excited about the music aspect, but more inspired by being able to help and inspire others.

She got the idea to look into life coaching, and it sparked something in her to try it.  She went to school, and after a major life change, decided she could run her business from anywhere.  She got into an RV with a friend and her dog, and took off with no...

Wow, What a Story!

After a divorce left her on the verge of suicide, Amber Rodgers decided there had to be a better way.  After trying to navigate her way through her own divorce, she decided to take her pain and make sure others never had to experience what she had.

That’s when D.I.V.A.S (Divorcing Independent Very Able Survivors) came to be.  Today D.I.V.A.S is a thriving business about to go nationwide, and Amber’s story is an incredible one of taking a tragedy and making something amazing out of it.

Here are some of my favorite quotes:

‘It’s through the adversity and the failures that we grow.’

'Leaders, who are truly successful, don’t have to tell you, they will show you, and the people around them will verify that.'

'People are attracted to people who are moving up.'

What was your first step?  Amber did have enough business savvy to protect her company by filing a DBA.  However, she knew her biggest asset was going to be...

If I could tell you how long I struggled with this, it would probably make you feel a lot better about your situation. You may have an idea that you're excited about and ready to get going on it, and you've just started the whole moonlighting thing.  You might feel a little bad about yourself that you're not ready to take that 100% leap quite yet, but you feel confident it will happen soon.

So instead of just taking a massive leap to start your new venture, you decided to keep your day job.  You know it's not forever, but just until the point where your job is making the money that you can survive from.

Now bridge jobs can be a very good thing.  They can allow you to spend money on your business.  Heck, they even can get you to the point that they allow you to start your own business.  

But here's my warning to you: Don't let it become your crutch job!

You see, that's what I did for a really long time.  I mean like years.  I mean like many,...