After growing up in a pretty unconventional environment, Tania left behind her ‘natural roots’.   However, after becoming a mom she started to become more aware of the bad product in so many of our beauty product.  She started getting more interested in the topic and decided to start a blog (after everyone kept asking her the same questions).  From there, that passion and hobby became a bit time-consuming.  She decided to officially turn it either info a full-time business or settle on a hobby.

She decided to take her wealth of knowledge and just make her own company from it, by making her own natural beauty line.

What was your first step in starting a skincare line?  Research.  She’s super big on research and decided to find out first if this was something she could do herself or if she needed to find someone else to do it for her.  Once she decided she could do it on her own, she made a contingency plan that if she...

Nothing is scarier than saying good-bye to that steady paycheck and going out 100% on your own.  Andrea Travillian of Take A Smart Step is giving us five steps that we can make to get ourselves more prepared to make that plunge.

1. Learn To Live on Much Less Than You Make.  There are no general guidelines, but it’s really about understanding your goals, and the dollar amount it’s going to take to get to those goals.  Then it’s just about filling in that gap.

Instead of trying to set specific rules, it’s best just to try to work backwards into your numbers.  Find the gap between what you’re currently bringing in from your business to where you need to be to match your current income.  Set six months of that gap aside, and then the longer you can get that gap to work for you, the better.

2. Have An Emergency Fund.  Have one for your personal fund, and also have one for your business.   Six months is the minimum you...

When I first met Julie, she was living in the corporate world traveling five days a week.  A move to Nashville, TN because of her husband's job made her re-evaluate what she wanted to do with her life.  So what did she decide to do?  She became a Massage Therapist and launched a spa with her daughter in Lebanon, TN. 

Not only is she surviving four years later, their business is THRIVING.  Each year, they're maintaining incredible growth rates and amazing survey ratings from their clients (98% when the average is around 80%).

Julie shared with us how she got started, what she has done to stand out from a typical spa and make them different, and how she's made a partnership work with her daughter.

Just some of my favorite quotes from this interview are:

'From day one, I think that you need to run your business as if you were a billion dollar company.'

‘I was going to concentrate on rewarding my clients that were already there.’

‘Become...

As some of you are embarking on your business journey, a book might be the furthest thing from your mind.  Instead, you should really move it more to the front because it could actually help you propel your business.  Rachel Rofé of RachelRofe.com came to talk to us about five simple steps to getting your book from an idea to into the hands of your potential clients.  (If you have any more interest on this topic, Rachel offers a great class with even more details about how you can get your book written quickly and great promotions.  You can find out more info here:  Kindle Class.)

How does writing a book improve your business?  It helps to get you in front of people (for example, on Amazon) that you may not have gotten in front of before every writing that book.  It also puts you immediately in that expert category once you have something published.  It's instant credibility.

It’s also great if you're starting a business to...

No matter what you're doing in life, you should never set your creative juices on the back burner.  After coming home on the weekends, completely drained by the work of her corporate job, Becca Piastrelli took this to heart and started nurturing her creativity through a blog.  When her posts started gaining momentum on Pinterest, she figured she might be on to something.  That's when The Dabblist went from something a little fun to a full fledge career!

Becca had an incredible story to share with us about her journey from Corporate America to entrepreneurship.

How exactly did the Dabblist.com come about?  What started as a weekend outlet to discover and nuture creativity, turned into a blog, and then launched into tons of shares on Pinterest.  When Becca realized she was looking more forward to her weekends than her weeks, she decided it was time to take the plunge.  It was six months ago, and she hasn't looked back!

What was the first step you made...

So what would you do if all you had known all your life was suddenly taken from you?  Well, luckily many of us will never have to answer that question.  However, Stephanie Burg was on the other side of that when she found herself partially disabled after a neck injury and unable to continue with her ballet career.  Stephanie has such an interesting journey to her new career, and she sat with us to share her story.

Some of my favorite quotes from this interview are:

‘Don’t be afraid of the fear, just feel it and do what you were called to do.’

'Patience is essential.  In terms of business, things take so much longer than you expect them to.’

'Your relationship to your business is just like any other relationship that you have to nurture and build.’

So how did you come to be a Health Coach?  Stephanie started as a professional ballet dancer.  After various injuries, she started to realize that she was going to have to look...

If you're starting a new business, you might be thinking that PR is something that you shouldn't even think about because you can't afford an expensive PR firm.  However, don't think that way just yet because Maggie Patterson, a Communication Strategist and Copywriter with MaggiePatterson.com is here to help us navigate the PR world and find ways (and great ways) to do it yourself.

What exactly is PR?  Is it marketing? PR is really a subset of marketing.  It encompasses everything from employee communications to media relations.  However, people strictly think of publicity.

Do you need to have a press release and how do you determine that?  According to Maggie, people really don’t need to use a press release.  It’s all about telling your story, and there are so many ways you can tell your story.  Press releases are great for people who may need to show earnings or winning a new customer.  Instead you can do things like guest...

For some reason, I get crazy courage in the middle of the night.  So here's the deal, I'm posting this before I get a chance to wake up in the morning, and ask 'what the hell have I done.'

I had an entirely different way planned of how I was going to share my journey with you.  Today, it got changed very quickly, when I  finally got the courage to say 'enough', and start living my dream.

So thank you for listening!  I want to hear your stories of leaps of faith!!!!

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...

One of the biggest steps you will need to take in creating your business, is protecting it.  Many people feel either that they don't need to take this step, or they're too overwhelmed of the options to make a choice and follow through.  However, this is a step that you really can't set to the back burner because you don't want to wish you had when it becomes too late.  

Should you incorporate your business and why? When looking at starting a business, your intent should be to make money.  You need to look at your business as a new entity.   Look at it as an entity that you really want to keep safe, and to make sure you're actually hanging onto that money that you're making.  You can do it as simple as something as a DBA, which is a formal step.  You have told the world you have a new business.   When you’re thinking about what you should do to incorporate, make sure you’re thinking about protecting your ideas.

What are...