Shows
No BS Agency PodcastBONUS: The Truth About Building Community Programs with Pia SilvaI was recently a guest on Sara Chambers’s fabulous podcast, Chicks Who Give a Hoot and I loved our conversation. We chatted a lot about Mastery, her experience in it, and talked about other people’s experiences as well. Plus we dug into mindset shifts we’ve both needed to make to be successful in our businesses and lots more.I wanted to share that conversation here on my feed. I hope you enjoy it and do check out Chicks Who Give a Hoot!Resources:No BS Agenci...
2024-12-2652 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 196: FAQ: "But Pia, How Long Will It Take to Build My Authority Machine?"This month, I’ve been talking about the value of building an Authority Machine, what it is, what it can give you and your business, and what you need to focus on to make it successful.So at this point you might be asking yourself, “So how long is this going to take?”Here’s the truth: It’s not simple, fast, or free. Building an Authority Machine that produces results takes time, effort, and consistency that isn’t accessible to everyone.That might sound discou...
2024-05-2320 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 191: FAQ: "But Pia, What if I do the work and the client hates it?"What happens if the client hates the work you bring to their Intensive?Presenting your work to a client is always a little nerve wracking. You’ve put time and effort and love into it and it’s hard not to take it personally when the client isn’t excited about it.So of course when I tell people that we do entire branding projects in one-to-three day intensives, their biggest question is, “What happens when the client hates the work?”Let’s break this down.
2024-04-1827 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 190: FAQ: "But Pia, can you actually do quality work in an intensive?"Can you actually do quality work, bespoke custom brands and websites and amazing copy in an intensive? For real?Today I’m going to break down the three major assumptions behind that question. Because absolutely yes, you can do quality, custom work in an intensive, and I wouldn’t do it any other way.Tune into this episode to hear:Why the time your clients pay for is not the hours you put into each projectHow intensives allow you to immerse yourself in one project at a time and...
2024-04-1121 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 187: FAQ: "But Pia, I tried networking and I didn't get anything out of it!"Picture this: You get all dressed up and drag yourself to a networking event. You spend a couple of hours meeting people. Maybe you have a few nice conversations. You leave at the end of the night exhausted and wondering why you even went to the event and if there was any value in it. Last week I talked about how connecting with people in real life and building your network is the go-to strategy for finding new leads for your business, especially in the first couple of years.B...
2024-03-2128 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 186: FAQ: "But Pia, Where Do I Find The Leads?"“How do I get leads?”It’s the million dollar question. When you have a business, you need sales. To make sales, you need leads. And finding them is probably the biggest challenge that small business owners face.Maybe right now you’re taking whatever work you can get and relying on referrals to bring in new business. But when you rely on referrals, you have no idea when the next one is going to show up and you have no control over your business or how much money you make...
2024-03-1419 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 134: [Finding Leads] Busting Lead Generation MythsThe sales and marketing part of your business is the lifeblood of your business.Without marketing and sales, you have no lead generation. Without leads, you have no business. Because that’s what it takes to get clients to pay you. And a business without paying clients is not a business.So of course lead generation is on the forefront of everybody’s minds. It’s something that even when you’re successful at it, you still have to think about it constantly. Because of that...
2023-03-0916 minNo BS Agency PodcastEP 133: [Finding Leads] To Social Media or Not? That is the million-dollar question.Should you invest your time and money on social media to get leads for your branding agency?That is the million dollar question that we are gonna be dissecting today.Last month, we talked about clients and how to build great relationships, full of communication with them so that you can get amazing results for your projects. But in order to have clients to build those great relationships with, you have to have clients in the first place.So this month, we’re talking al...
2023-03-0213 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 132: [Client Love] How To Delight Your ClientsHow can you turn all clients into raving fan clients who love working with you and cannot stop telling all their friends about you?That has been our topic this month. In the last two episodes, I talked about two important ingredients, trust and communication.Today, I want to talk about the third and final main ingredient, which is delight.Of course, we want to meet and exceed the expectations of our clients. We want them to not only be happy with the end...
2023-02-2310 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 131: [Client Love] A Communication Framework That Fosters Trust and Eliminates BSLast week I talked about the importance of building trust with your clients in order to have a great client relationship.If you're in a relationship or you've ever been in a long-term relationship, you know that communication is key to having great relationships with people. Now, that might be true with a spouse, but it's true with anybody in your life, and it's definitely true with clients.So today I want to share a really simple framework that you can use with all of your communication with clients...
2023-02-1610 minNo BS Agency PodcastEP 130: [Client Love] Building Trusting Relationships With Your ClientsThink back to the last client you truly loved working with. What did you love about it?For me, I love to work with clients who trust me implicitly. They get a ton of value out of working with me. We vibe, we jive, and we make something truly amazing together. They are the people that I’m excited to get emails from, and who I enjoy communicating with in our meetings or phone calls.Imagine if you loved all of your clients like that. What would that do fo...
2023-02-0918 minNo BS Agency PodcastEP 129: The What, Why and Where of BS in our Businesses (And How to Get Rid of Them)This podcast is called No BS Agencies, but what exactly do I mean by BS?Where does it come from? Why does it happen? How much of it is acceptable in our businesses? And most importantly, how do we get rid of it?I think a lot of people use the term BS in their marketing because it makes them sound like they’re no-nonsense. They cut to the point. They’re not going to BS you or waste your time.But frankly, a lot...
2023-01-2616 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 128: This Will Make You Think Differently About Business Stress and OverwhelmDo you ever feel, as you grow your business, that you are white-knuckling it?You feel like you’re driving a jalopy, the door's falling off, you're putting duct tape on it, and you're just hoping it gets you to your destination.In many senses, I’ve been white-knuckling it right along with you over the last two years as I built the No BS Agency Mastery program. Yes, I started with more authority, a bigger audience, and more confidence than someone at the true beginning of building a busi...
2023-01-1915 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 127: 5 Lessons from 12 Years in BusinessAs Steve and I head into our 12th year in business, I’ve been thinking about all the incredible highs I’ve experienced in this business. AND the terrifying lows that have come along with it too.Today, I want to share five of the biggest lessons I’ve learned over the last 12 years that I know will help me make the next 12 years not only more successful but also full of more ease.Hopefully, you’ll take some of these lessons to heart faster than I did, so they can...
2023-01-1215 minNo BS Agency PodcastEP 126: Three Things To Do In January To Set Up Your Entire Year For SuccessHappy 2023 and welcome back.Do you wanna be successful in 2023? I bet you do. January is the time when many of us set our goals for the year. People set big ambitious goals and then a lot of times those things fall by the wayside come February. And we do that in all aspects of our lives. Case in point: If you’re a regular gym-goer, you’ll notice the place is full in January, but by February, most of those new faces have taper...
2023-01-0517 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 125: Strategies for Not Working and Taking Time Off (and Not Feeling Guilty or Overwhelmed)When you work for yourself, it’s hard to turn it off, right?It’s hard not to think about the client who just emailed you, or the project that’s on hold, or the check you’re waiting to clear.But working and thinking about work 24/7 is not the key to financial and business success.As we head into the holidays, and for our last episode of 2022, I want to talk about the idea of turning off, especially when you’re stressed and maybe thin...
2022-12-1515 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 124: The Argument for Why Packaged Services and Standardized Pricing Make Total SenseHow should you price and package your services when your services are often custom and bespoke and specific to the client you're working with?Should you even package them when every project is different?We just had a very lively conversation about packaging and pricing inside the No BS Agencies Mastery program, and most of my students left saying that they were so excited to package their services and to raise their prices.Today I’m sharing the same ideas with you in hopes th...
2022-12-0813 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 123: Does thinking about taxes get you down? Here are 3 things to do to change that!As the year comes to an end, one of the things I'm thinking about is taxes.It’s not a sexy topic I know. But I do love thinking about it because my taxes are a representation of how much money I made.There's nothing wrong with looking to minimize your tax due. But I actually feel good about paying high taxes because it means that I was profitable.So today, I want to share how I think about taxes, and specifically how I th...
2022-12-0110 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 122: Didn't Meet Your 2022 Revenue Goals? 3 Things You Can Do To Set Yourself Up For 2023.There is one month left in 2022.The holidays are upon us and many of us are starting to take inventory of what’s happened over the course of the year. And sometimes we don’t like what we see.Maybe you started out strong in January as you set out ambitious goals. It’s easy to get excited in January about what you can do in the months to come.But the end of the year can be more of a let down.
2022-11-2420 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 121: Word of Mouth and Referrals are Great. Here's Why They're Also Dangerous.How do you get your business? Do you get most of your business (or all of it) from word of mouth and referrals?95% of small branding agencies I talk to say word of mouth and referrals.They tell me that they have a steady flow of referrals and they have a great close rate on those referrals. “I've really never had to market. I've been very lucky," they say. And it feels good that people are sending you business an...
2022-11-1716 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 120: Worried About The Recession? Here's What I Want You To Do.If you’re hearing rumors that there is a recession coming, or that we might even be in a recession right now, and you’re thinking this maybe isn’t the right time to invest in your business, this one’s for you.I want to tell you a story of what happened in our businesses the last time the proverbial sh*t hit the fan: March 2020.Today I’m sharing how members of my 2020 group coaching program responded when COVID hit, and what the most successful strategies were.
2022-11-1010 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 119: How Can You Guarantee and Promise Benefits That Are Not 100% Contingent on Your WorkAnytime you’re selling services, especially to small businesses, it’s important that you connect the work that you do to the outcomes and the benefits that the client is going to get.When we’re selling branding, marketing, or design services, we usually want to connect our work to some sort of return on investment. What can they expect to get in return? Usually they’re investing in branding and marketing because they want to make more money. They want to sell more services or products at higher prices.
2022-11-0313 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 118: Building Your Authority Machine: What and When to OutsourceBuilding an authority machine that is going to send you high quality leads every single day takes a big upfront investment.And one of the most time-consuming things is creating the foundational content that communicates all of your biggest ideas and your most important insights into your industry. That’s what’s going to make you an authority.But creating enough content so that it will build your authority online and off can be challenging purely because there’s so much to do.In the No...
2022-10-2715 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 117: Where and How to Start Your Authority Machine When You're Starting From ScratchIf you want to build your authority, but you have zero posts and no online presence, where do you even start?Last week, I talked about the difference between networking and outreach and building your authority as two different marketing mechanisms for getting clients and building your business. I talked about when you should be doing outreach and when you should build authority, and how there’s a time in between when there’s a lot of overlap between the two.So if you’re at that point where they s...
2022-10-2023 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 116: Networking or Authority Building: Where Should You FocusBeing seen as an authority can make sales so much easier. So of course it seems like something you should invest your time in as soon as possible.It can be really hard to attract and close clients when you have no authority in the world, when people don’t know who you are, and they don’t know, like, and trust you.But building authority takes time.So when is the right time to spend your time and energ...
2022-10-1318 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 115: How to Start an Authority Machine: My StoryHow do you build a business that is not constantly struggling to find clients?That’s the million dollar question. And I believe I have the answer.All month long, I’m going to share different ways that you can build your authority machine, so that you never have to look for clients again.I talk about building an authority machine a lot because it is the third phase of the three-pronged approach of building a No BS Agency.Buil...
2022-10-0616 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 114: How to be a Great ClientI'm usually on this podcast talking about how to find great clients, turn people into great clients,and manage people to become great clients.But today, I want to talk about how to be a great client.I’ve hired lots of companies over the years for a variety of tasks. And I have been an amazing client and I have been a terrible client. Usually how good of a client I am has a lot to do with how good the process is of the person I’ve hire...
2022-09-2905 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 113: How to Raise Your Prices Sustainably and What Premium Pricing is Really All AboutI know you’ve heard this advice before: “You should raise your prices because charging premium prices is the best way to run a business.”And premium pricing does give you more profitability, flexibility, and freedom in your business and in your life.But where are you supposed to start? What happens when you do raise your rates? How are you supposed to muster up the confidence to charge five or ten times you current rates when you’ve never been paid that?I think th...
2022-09-2214 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 112: Dan Gingiss on What Makes a Memorable Customer Experience (Which Does Not Mean Expensive)You might not think of customer experience as marketing, but it is.If you’re a small agency, you might not be thinking about building long-term customer loyalty. Clients come and they go.But if they had a killer experience with you? They’re probably telling their friends. And if they had a terrible experience with you, they’re definitely telling their friends.Today I’m sitting down with Dan Gingiss to find out why creating a memorable customer experience is part of marketing your bus...
2022-09-1545 minNo BS Agency PodcastEP 111: Five Sins You Must Avoid If You're Looking For More Money From Your Clients (and What To Do Instead)How do you get a client to spend more money with you, give you more work, and basically give you a raise?When I googled this question, everything that came up was advice for how to negotiate a raise from your boss in the corporate world.And while there were some decent pieces of advice in the articles I found, it doesn’t translate that well to people like us, who run our own businesses and are looking to get a raise from our clients....
2022-09-0828 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 110: Where Financial Security Really Comes From and How You Can Build ItI see loads of ads online for growing a million dollar business or building passive income products and all sorts of investments opportunities that will make you rich!And yet, when I talk to most of my people–small agency owners–you know what most of them say they want? Financial security.Sure, making $30,000 a month or more sounds great, but that kind of money is really icing on the cake.What they really want to be able to do is to make enough mone...
2022-09-0118 minNo BS Agency PodcastSummer Break Bonus: Dorie Clark on Playing the Long GameI’m taking the month of August off to be with my family, and I hope you’re taking some time to do something amazing and relaxing too.For the whole month, I’ll be sharing clips from some of my favorite episodes that you’ll enjoy revisiting as well.Today, I’m replaying a section from my interview with Dorie Clark where we talked about playing the long game and being really intentional about how you build your platform.What’s exciting about hearing from...
2022-08-2525 minNo BS Agency PodcastSummer Break Bonus: Kia Abrera on Recognizing Burnout and Creating Her Own Work-Life BalanceI’m taking the month of August off to be with my family, and I hope you’re taking some time to do something amazing and relaxing too.For the whole month, I’ll be sharing clips from some of my favorite episodes that you’ll enjoy revisiting as well.Today, I’m revisiting my conversation with Kia Aberra where she talks about recognizing burnout and finding her own work life balance.Kia Abrera is a video marketing strategist and producer, and the co-founder and CEO of...
2022-08-1827 minNo BS Agency PodcastSummer Break Bonus: Ediuska Laurens on Leaning Into Your Big VisionI’m taking the month of August off to be with my family. I hope you’re taking some time to do something amazing and relaxing too.For the whole month, I’ll be sharing clips from some of my favorite episodes that you’ll enjoy revisiting as well.Today, I’m revisiting my conversation with one of my dear clients, badass business owner, Ediuska Laurens.This clip is about standing out by not following the crowd and leaning into your own big vision.
2022-08-1140 minNo BS Agency PodcastSummer Break Bonus: Michael Roderick on Building a Referable BrandI’m taking the month of August off to be with my family, and I hope you’re taking some time to do something amazing and relaxing too.For the whole month, I’ll be sharing clips from some of my favorite episodes that you’ll enjoy revisiting as well.First up, my interview with Michael Roderick, the king of connecting. We talked about what true influence is and how to build a truly referable brand.Michael Roderick is not only...
2022-08-0450 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 109: #SpainBrain and the Importance of Taking Time to Rest and RechargeWhenever we talk about success in business, it’s usually about how to make more money, how to make more profit, how to get more clients, better clients, improve your process, improve your systems.What we don’t often talk about is the personal side of business success.Can you call it a successful business if it’s draining you personally and physically?We build businesses because we want to have lives we’re proud of and that we enjoy living. And your personal and phys...
2022-07-2822 minNo BS Agency PodcastEP 108: How to Get Disciplined, Stop Endlessly Exploring, and Call Your Creative Work "Done"I got this question in the Facebook group the other day: How can I get more disciplined to get to a point where I can call it done and stop exploring ideas?I get why it’s hard to stop exploring. You want to give your clients the best work possible. Sometimes you don’t believe that what you’ve come up with is good enough, so you keep working and working and never feel like it’s good enough.When you hear that we build entire brands in just a f...
2022-07-2116 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 107: Did You Know You Can Make Great Clients? Here's How.Have you ever wondered why everyone you talk to is a challenging client, and everyone you talk to doesn’t have a budget, yet so many people online seem to be working with these mystical ideal clients?Here’s the secret: The people who are always working with those ideal clients? They’re not finding them from some hidden paradise. They know how to make great clients. And so can you.Tune into this episode to hear:How fit calls and lead products positio...
2022-07-1418 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 106: How Vincent Kitirattragarn Built Dang Foods, an Award-Winning Asian Snacks Company, From ScratchA couple of weeks ago, I hosted my 20th high school reunion.And while I was there, I had the chance to catch up with lots of old friends, but I was especially excited to chat with Vincent Kitirattragarn.I’ve been watching his journey building Dang Foods from afar for the last ten years. Those delicious coconut chips at the end of the aisle at Whole Foods? That’s Dang Foods.So today, we’re sitting down to dig in further to his journe...
2022-07-0752 minNo BS Agency PodcastEP 105: Getting Paid to Pitch: The Lead Product MethodPitching your work, writing proposals, sending out proposals and never hearing back from clients, or hearing from clients that “this is more money than we have budgeted for.”To me, these are some of the worst parts of running your own business.What if you could eliminate all of that? What if you could get rid of the free proposals and all of the pitching and get it down to a 15-minute phone call where you could make the sale on the call?Sounds magi...
2022-06-3026 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 104: Building the Authority Machine in Your BusinessHow would you like it if you could sit back and clients — hungry, excited, motivated clients, the kind of clients you want to work with — simply came knocking on your door, blowing up your inbox, asking to work with you? That’s the dream right?You didn’t get into this business because you wanted to be a salesperson. You started doing this because you’re a creative person and at some point you said, “I can do this for clients directly and make a lot more money and have a lot mo...
2022-06-2323 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 103: Are You Interested in The Idea or Are You Committed to Making It Happen?Are you interested or are you committed?This was the question posted by my friend, Melanie Spring the other day. And it really got me thinking about two those simple words that have profound consequences.Running your own business is so sexy from the outside. But if you've ever run your own business, you know that it is messy, full of ups and downs and everything in between.If you haven't run your own business, you probably only see the good parts. You see...
2022-06-1613 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 102: Josh Thomas on the Difference Between Being in Motion and Being in Action, and Why One of Them Gets You ResultsToday, you get to meet one of my secret weapons, one of the magic bullets behind my business. Josh Thomas is my business coach. I wanted to have him on the show because we are aligned in so many no-BS ways. Josh has a way of cutting through the crap that even I can’t do. And you know me, I cut through BS better than most.Josh Thomas is an entrepreneur, business consultant and real estate investor who is passionate about helping business owne...
2022-06-0946 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 101: My 50-25-25 Pricing Formula to Profit And FreedomHow do you determine the prices you charge for your services?Do you give yourself an hourly rate and estimate how many hours a project will take to build a quote? Or do you just charge hourly and make less money if the project takes you less time?Or do you try to figure out what the client is willing to pay, or what your competitors are doing, and price the project from there?Whatever the formula you use, if your goal is just...
2022-05-2621 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 100: The Evolution of a BusinessHave you ever struggled to make decisions about your business?Whether it’s investing in your business, crafting your messaging, focusing your niche, or packaging your services, business owners are faced with a ton of decisions.And it can be easy to get stuck thinking, “if I knew it would work, I would…” You worry about it not working, or changing your mind, or getting pigeonholed.For our hundredth episode, I want to talk about why those worries shouldn’t keep you f...
2022-05-1927 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 99: What is Strategy? And Why Does It Feel So Hard and Elusive?Do you do graphic design or do you do branding?Do you do visual branding or do you do strategic branding?Do you do brand strategy? Do you even know what strategy is?Strategy is such an elusive concept. Everybody means something different when they say it. And if you're somebody coming in to deliver strategy to your clients, how do you know if you're delivering it at the right level for them?Well, t...
2022-05-1213 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 98: Justina Cerra Lucas Breaks Down What Marketing Really Is and What It Isn'tDoing marketing can really suck.It can suck your time. It can suck your energy. And a lot of marketing out there well, kind of sucks.Which is where today’s badass business owner comes in. Justina Cerra Lucas is the founder of 218 Creative, where she helps creatives and entrepreneurs book more clients with marketing that doesn’t suck.Justina doesn’t believe that there’s a one-size-fits-all solution to your marketing, but she also believes that it doesn’t have to b...
2022-05-0540 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 97: The One Killer Outreach Strategy: What Is It and How to Implement ItWhen you’re networking and connecting with people in the early stages of your business, it’s easy to slip out of people's minds unless they have someone they can refer to you right now.It happens to all of us, even if we mean really well. When I was networking, I had so many lunches and coffees with people where I genuinely thought I was going to find someone for the insurance agent or real estate broker I’d just sat down with. Then two days later, back in my o...
2022-04-2815 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 96: How Do You Get Clients? Here's How: Short and Long-Term Marketing StrategiesBeing able to attract and close clients is a fundamental part of any service business. If you can't do this, you won't have a business. So obviously it's one of the most important things that you should know how to do. But when I ask people, “How do you get clients right now?”, so many people don’t know what to do.In fact, the number one question I get asked is “How do I find clients?”I get asked by peo...
2022-04-2118 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 95: No BS Truth: What You're Focused on Right Now May Not Be The Right Thing to Do Based on Where You Are in Your BusinessWhen you think about your week, what are the most important things you focus on to move your business forward?Maybe you want to get posts up on social media so you can grow your audience. Maybe you want to tweak your lead magnet. Maybe you’re so busy with client work and you want to hire a freelancer so you can outsource some of the work.Those aren’t bad things to do. Posting on social media is a great marketing strategy. Working on your lead magnet so peop...
2022-04-1413 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 94: Shannon Mattern Differentiates Spending vs Investing and Explains Her Criteria for Making Investment Decisions has been deleted.No entrepreneur goes straight up the ladder to success. And no entrepreneur achieves success without investing in themselves.But how do you know what’s an investment in yourself and your business and what’s just spending money?On today's episode. I'm so excited to host my new friend and bad-ass business owner, Shannon Mattern.Shannon teaches solopreneurs how to DIY their website and mentors web designers on how to package, price, sell and run premium web design projects with boundaries (not burnout).
2022-04-0754 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 93: Truth Bomb: Delivering The Work in Less Time Delivers More Value for the ClientThe No BS Agency model is about doing projects in intensives. This means short timelines.A lot of people wonder, "Won’t shorter project timelines result in less valuable work for the client?"When I tell people that we deliver entire brands and websites in a two-day intensive Brand Up, many people assume we’re delivering templated work, that the work must be shoddy, that it’s rushed, that there’s just no way you can deliver high quality work in a short amount of time.Not...
2022-03-3111 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 92: The Difference Between a Freelancer and an Expert And Why You Want to be Intentional in How You Position YourselfDo you feel stuck charging low prices for your work? Do you feel like people around you just don't ever want to pay more than you're asking for? In fact, they don't even want to pay the prices that you're pitching them.Well, that may be because you are stuck thinking about yourself and pitching yourself as a freelancer.If you want to charge higher and higher prices–those premium prices that everybody's talking about–then you need to evolve from a freelancer into an ex...
2022-03-2415 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 91: How to Gain Financial Safety and Feel Financially Secure (Even if You Don't Have Lots of Money in the Bank)I bet you have a number you want to make each month. Maybe it’s the holy grail of making six figures. Or maybe it’s the amount of cash you want to have in your bank account.We all have some number in our heads that we think, "When I have that amount, when I’m making that much money, then I will feel safe. I will feel secure and stable and I can breathe in my business."When we first started in 2011, $10,000 a month was our holy grail...
2022-03-1715 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 90: The Real Deal About Creatives And Their Art And Why Perfectionism Doesn't Help Your ClientsA designer recently told me they’re very intrigued by these one-to-three day intensive models, but their issue was they "can’t stop designing”. “My problem is being a perfectionist. I don’t know when to stop designing. How can I get more disciplined to get to a point where I can call it done and stop exploring ideas?”It’s a great question. People tell us that building an entire brand in one to three days is impossible because they have no idea how long it’s go...
2022-03-1016 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 88: Truth Bombs About Retainer Models and Why They Are Not ProfitableRetainer model clients. Are they the holy grail of small agencies? Or the source of their eventual downfall.So many small agency owners are stuck in a feast or famine cycle with client work and marketing. They’re either spending all of their time on client projects or they’re spending all of their time hustling for clients and not making money. It’s a stressful way to run a business. Eventually, a lot of business owners get to a point of asking themselves, “Wouldn’t i...
2022-02-2418 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 87: Why Focusing on the Money to Earn More Money Isn't Going to Make You More Money (and Where to Focus Instead)Everybody wants to make more money without working more hours. That's the dream, right? That's what I sell: How to make more and more money while working fewer and fewer hours. It’s a great goal and it’s absolutely achievable.But here’s the problem, and why people struggle to get there.When you want to make more money without working more hours, what’s the first thing you think to do?You focus on the money. You raise yo...
2022-02-1713 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 86: Step Inside the "Non-Sales" Sales Conversation and Learn Why It's The Only Sales Convo You'll Ever Want to HaveRaise your hand if you hate sales.It's probably the most common thing that people struggle with when they're building a small agency. It's also the most important part of building any business. Because if you don't have sales, you don't have a business. You have a hobby.People hate sales, they feel icky. They feel like they're not very good at it. They don't want to pressure people. They don't want to even learn sales techniques because sales techniques feel icky.Believe me...
2022-02-1014 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 85: Jennifer Anastasi Implements the No BS Agency Model and Tells Us All About it: The Good, The Bad, and The AwesomeWhat does shifting from the old default model of working with clients to using the No BS Agency model actually look like?Super badass business owner Jennifer Anastasi is here to tell us. In this episode, she reveals how she implemented the model that changed everything for her — from projects that dragged on for six or nine months at a time to projects that were delivered in just a couple of days intensive.Jennifer is an engineer turned brand strategist who empowers service providers to find a clear brand an...
2022-02-031h 03No BS Agency PodcastEp 84: Five Principles for Eliminating Never-Ending Revisions and Banish Scope Creep ForeverThe never-ending revisions process and project scope creep are two of the key reasons that most small branding and creative agencies are not profitable. It’s why creatives seem to be working all the time for not enough money. It's easy to see how this happens. Your clients are paying you good money and you want them to be happy. So what’s another revision, right? Maybe you have a stipulation in your contract about the number of revisions before you'll charge additional charges, but how often do you actu...
2022-01-2721 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 83: Exactly What BS Did We Cut and How Were We Able to Do It“How is it even possible to do it that fast? Aren't you sacrificing quality? You must be selling templates.”These are just some of the biggest questions I get whenever I tell people that we deliver entire branding projects — projects that typically take 6-8 months to complete — in just one to three days.People think it’s impossible. They think our work must suck or that we’re duplicating our work and selling the same thing over and over.Today, I want to tell you that not...
2022-01-2018 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 82: How Do You Sell Something That All Your Competitors Are Giving Away for Free?In the creative agency space, almost everyone follows the same process to close clients. I did too. First, you network to find potential clients. Then when you find the client, you have multiple meetings, hold free consultations and free strategy sessions or phone calls to figure out what the client needs and wants. Then, you create a proposal that finally (hopefully) wins you that client.I don’t know about you, but my proposals were incredibly detailed and specific and it was a TON of work. And whenever you don...
2022-01-1327 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 81: You Are The Hero Of Your No BS AgencyIt's the beginning of January, which means a lot of us are thinking about goals and what we really want our next year to look like. What’s your vision for your business in 2022?How do you want to evolve personally and professionally? How do you want your relationships to evolve? How do you want your business to evolve?Most people do this kind of goal setting once a year. They come up with some really loft goals and then struggle to stick to th...
2022-01-0612 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 80: Exciting Business Goals for 2022 and Going All-In on What's NextEvery year, I do at least one, if not two, full days of strategizing and planning with Steve.And it’s not just imagining what we want for ourselves in the coming year in terms of our business, but it’s about strategizing every aspect of our lives.We’ve been doing this for years and it’s an amazing opportunity to take a step back, take a deep breath and look at everything we’ve accomplished over the last twelve months and really intentionally think about what we’re going to...
2021-12-2322 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 79: The Business Model You Need if You Want Work-Life Balance and The Secret Behind a Successful Passive Income BusinessLast episode, I told the story of how Steve and I started Worst of All Design and how it evolved into the No BS Agency model.Today, I want to share one more reason why that model is so valuable.When you’re running an agency, the hustle is constant. Constantly trying to fill your pipeline, constantly pitching, constantly chasing and closing clients, then all the work for those clients you landed. Plus communications, various fires that always need putting out, meetings…People build thes...
2021-12-1620 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 78: Getting Out of the Fear Place, Selecting a New Business Model, and Fundamentally Changing the Way We Do BusinessA couple of months ago, I started running Facebook ads again. And with Facebook ads, come all kinds of comments and Facebook trolls.Pissy comments don't upset me. But they show me what triggers some people and why! They have been a wonderful breeding ground for ideas about what I want to share with you here on the podcast.So today, I want to take you back to how this all started—the challenges and opportunities that Steve and I experienced that led us to change our business model so...
2021-12-0935 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 76: Hillary Weiss on Finding, Visualizing, and Showcasing the Thing That Makes You Special in the WorldWhat’s holding you back from putting yourself out there, whether in articles, on social media, in videos, or just sending emails to your list?If you’re waiting to be good enough, spoiler alert: you’re never going to be good enough until you start doing it. Yes, you'll probably feel embarrassed by your earlier efforts and outputs. I feel the same way! But this is an unavoidable part of the journey on the way to mastery and finding that thing that makes us unique.To...
2021-11-2554 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 75: Focus on Process Over Product and Build Your ResilienceWhen you’re an entrepreneur, you’re in a constant state of not knowing. No matter how much you know, there is always more to learn. You can’t know everything, because the landscape is always changing. And not knowing isn’t always comfortable. When you’re doing something for the first time, when you’re learning a strategy that runs counter to everything you were taught, you’re bound to get frustrated and uncomfortable.But if you want to build a business, you have to build re...
2021-11-1820 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 74: Seth Erickson Shares His Research and New Book on Why Storytelling in Business Works and How We Can Tell More Engaging StoriesYou know you’re great at what you do. You know how to deliver value to your customers. But when it comes to communicating that, you’re struggling.A lot of people suck at communicating to their customers so that they stand out.But there is a method that is as old as humanity, and is ten times more effective than just telling customers what you do: Storytelling.I’m sitting down with Seth Erickson to talk about how to use storytelling to connect with y...
2021-11-1148 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 73: How to Guarantee Your Own SuccessIf you absolutely knew you were going to be successful, to have the business and the life you want, what would you pay to get there? What would you be willing to sacrifice?What failures would you endure, if you knew it was all going to pay off?I’ve been thinking and talking to a lot of people recently about the idea of whether or not you can guarantee success. I interact with a lot of business owners who are so scared of mak...
2021-11-0428 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 71: Philip Morgan Explains Why Our Relationship to Risks Matters a Whole Lot When Picking Our Business Strategy and Specialization AreaHow much risk are you willing to take?For some, the idea of taking a giant leap of faith is exhilarating. For others, the idea instantly makes them queasy. Where you land on that continuum will change depending on the greater circumstances of your life, too.Your relationship to risk affects your business and the choices you’ll make. When it comes to finding your niche, your comfort with uncertainty and risk will have a major impact in the direction you choose to go. Or...
2021-10-141h 03No BS Agency PodcastEP 68: Talia Koren on How an Intentional and Wildly Successful Instagram Strategy Fueled the Growth of Her BusinessWhat really goes into building your platform?
Whether it’s Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn or another site, building an audience for your business through social media presence can be a key piece of marketing your business.
Actually getting traction and followers, however, can seem like a mysterious process. It’s not often that someone with a large following opens up about just how they did it.
Which is why today’s episode is super valuable.
Talia Koren is the founder of Workweek Lunch, a blog and d...
2021-09-2345 minNo BS Agency PodcastEP 66: Dominic Monkhouse Gets Real on What it Takes to Build Grit, Resilience, and Really Strong TeamsGrowth is challenging because growth requires change. And many of us are stuck in our ways and we don’t even know it.
Which is why it can be so helpful to have other people ask you questions that will push you out of your comfort zone.
In a coaching program, boot camp or mastermind, you can have someone else force you to really look at yourself and ask, “Am I willing to adapt and grow and change to get the business that I want? And am I getting in the way of what I want...
2021-09-091h 02No BS Agency PodcastEP 65: Melanie Spring on Building the Business and Life You REALLY Want and Nothing ButWhen was the last time you visualized the details of what you want from your business and your life?
Did you have a clear, specific picture of what that actually looks like? Not just the money or a title or recognition, but what it looks like day to day. When you see the picture, does it show the life you really want?
Getting clear and specific about your goals avoids you chasing a dream that doesn’t fit you.
What you want will evolve over time as your life changes, which is why it...
2021-09-0259 minNo BS Agency PodcastSummer Quickie: Michelle Mercurio on Letting Go of Things (Even if They're Working)Letting go is hard. It hurts when it’s time to retire something you worked really hard on and that you’re proud of, especially when it’s working. But sometimes you have to let go of things that are good to make room for something great.
Those good enough things might be filling the space and time you need to grow and expand into new places that will lead to even greater success.
Saying no to clients and to money now so you can grow in the long term is difficult and scary. But if you...
2021-08-2615 minNo BS Agency PodcastSummer Quickie: Melanie Gow on the Getting to the Core of a StoryThere is so much talk about story.
What’s your story? You need to have a good story for your brand. Blah, blah, blah.
I think a lot of people don’t actually understand what “story” really means and how to use it to build your brand.
So today, I wanted to revisit a clip from Episode 23 with Melanie Gow, the brilliant mind behind my TED Talk last year.
Melanie understands story deeply. She is so good at cutting through the BS and getting to the core of what som...
2021-08-1913 minNo BS Agency PodcastSummer Quickie: Rachael Wonderlin on Creating Your DestinyWhat if you reimagined the norms of your industry? Said no to the conventions that don’t work for you and worse, kept your business from being profitable?
People will say it can’t be done, that the industry model exists for a reason, you’ll never get clients, and on and on.
But what if breaking out of the mold meant you could actually produce your best work for your clients?
There are opportunities to do things differently from how everyone in the industry does it. If you allow yourself to explore, you ma...
2021-08-1213 minNo BS Agency PodcastSummer Quickie: Amanda Silver on Getting Off Defense and Taking ControlWhat do you want your business to look like?
What would it take to stop playing defense and start getting into offense?
When you’re operating in default mode, relying solely on referrals, you’re operating from a defensive position. You need a system that allows you to consistently take action to get business.
You need to flip the script and ask yourself the hard questions about what you want your business to look like, who you want to work with, how you want to work with clients...
2021-08-0514 minNo BS Agency PodcastEP 63: Matthew Capala Gets Real About Website Psychology and the Modern SEO WaySEO can easily become a massive distraction for the small service lifestyle business owner.
Yes, it has value, but with changing algorithms and conflicting advice and best practices out there, figuring out when and how to spend your time and attention on SEO is confusing at best.
And what’s the one thing that really matters when a potential client lands on your website?
The same thing as when you meet them at a networking event. Trust.
The split second impression that clients have o...
2021-07-2257 minNo BS Agency PodcastEP 62: Jane Sagalovich on Creating Courses That Make a Difference and her Hybrid Approach to Online CoursesIf effortless passive income were possible, you’d be on a beach somewhere with a margarita right now, or whatever your fantasy vacation looks like.
But passive income takes a lot of effort up front. You have to build an audience, the course, the funnels, the ads. And you have to keep selling the course once it’s out there.
Maybe you’re hitting your capacity for clients with the services you’re currently selling and you want to scale up. Maybe you want another revenue stream that’s less intensive than done-fo...
2021-07-1550 minNo BS Agency PodcastEP 61: Bruce Eckfeldt on Leveraging Opportunities, Scaling Your Business, and Breaking Into a New Field with Maximum ImpactDo you know what you really want from your business? It’s not enough to say “I want more money,” or “I want to scale.” What is your life going to look like when you get there?
What role do you want to play? What do you want to do every day? CEOs can bottleneck a company faster than anyone else when they’re not actually doing the right job.
There’s no one right answer but there is an answer for you. Knowing what that is will help you make strategic decisi...
2021-07-0851 minNo BS Agency PodcastEP 60: Iman Khan Spills Selling Secrets During Online and In Person Events, the Danger of Under Pricing, and Working on His Abundance MindsetPricing conveys value. If a potential client is wondering if they’re going to get bombarded with upgrade offers once they sign up, they won’t sign up. Being underpriced can and does hurt you.
When your price reflects the value of the service or package, your clients can trust that they’ll get what they’re paying for.
But how do you know when your price reflects your value?
On today’s episode I’m excited to have badass business owner and former business coach of mine, Iman Khan...
2021-07-0147 minNo BS Agency PodcastEP 59: Jeff Bajorek Talks About His Sales Philosophy, Salesmanship, and the Sales MindsetHow do you feel about your sales process? How do you want to feel about it? Could it even be something you enjoy?
So many people say they don’t want to be sales-y. They don’t want to be pushy. It doesn’t come naturally, etc. etc. But you do, in fact, need to be selling in order to have a sustainable business.
And you can do that in a way that feels good and authentic to you. No scripts. No manipulative tactics. No pretending to be someone you’re not.
2021-06-241h 05No BS Agency PodcastEP 58: Mike Michalowicz on Authorship as a Vocation and Why Your Book Isn't Just a Glorified Business CardA lot of us are scared to share our best stuff because then we think people won’t hire us or pay us for it. But why would we want to hide our best stuff behind a paywall?
Yes, some of your audience will take your expertise and go the DIY route. But if you use your ideas to build your platform, know that some of the people watching will want more from you. And they’ll pay you for it.
That’s the top advice from today’s guest. I...
2021-06-1727 minNo BS Agency PodcastEP 57: Evelyn Powers on Evolving, Adapting, and Making Good Choices–in Business and in LifeAre you evolving in your business? With your industry?
Or are you fighting it, scared to take the steps you need to take to build the business you know you want?
Sometimes it’s learning new skills, sometimes it’s learning new softwares.
It can be especially challenging when you’ve been in business for a long time and you’re ready to just know how things work.
But really, that’s what business is — a constant evolution. And if you don’t get used to includ...
2021-06-101h 01No BS Agency PodcastEP 56: Justin Esgar on Generating Ideas on the Fly, the Genius of Multiple Revenue Streams, and the Hard Climb to Profitable Conferences
Where are your blind spots?
Is there something you love doing anyway that could make you a few extra dollars with minimal setup or maintenance costs? Can you leverage your audience to support your passion project or side hustle?
I tend not to think things are worth my time if they aren’t going to produce significant revenue. That has served me well, of course, but it may also close me off to new ideas that are actually really good.
Today, I’m chatting with a badass...
2021-06-031h 10No BS Agency PodcastEP 55: Tara McMullin on What Simplification in Business Looks Like in Practice and Playing the Role You Want to Play While Having Fun With It
What have you overcomplicated in your business recently?
Are you trying to solve problems by adding more to your plate rather than taking something off?
It’s not just you. There’s a human tendency to add and look for more things to do whenever we have a problem that needs solving, when subtraction might be the best solution.
Add a culture where what we do is who we are, and overwork is treated as equivalent to good work, and it’s easy to see how that t...
2021-05-271h 09No BS Agency PodcastEP 54: David Mammano on Letting Go to Find Opportunities, Building a Career Based on Joy, and Always Starting With The Right Intentions
Entrepreneurs can be a pretty Type A bunch. But what if letting go–even just a little–lets in your next big thing?
Are there opportunities right in front of you that you don’t dare explore?
Sometimes we, and I definitely mean me too, can be so myopic in our thinking that our business needs to look a certain way, that we miss the opportunities right in front of us.
On today’s episode I’ve got serial entrepreneur and badass business owner, David Mamanno. David is a 7...
2021-05-2050 minNo BS Agency PodcastEP 53: Kia Abrera on Starting Up a Video Production Company and Addressing Marketplace Misperceptions By Being Transparent with PricingFrom burned out to noped out, was there a moment that made you realize you’d had enough?
Today, we're going to talk to Kia Abrera about her journey from burnt out, working until four in the morning at her high level agency job to finally calling it quits and starting her own thing.
Kia is the co-founder and CEO of Braveworks Inc., a 6-figure video strategy and production company that specializes in videos with attitude. She creates scroll-stopping content that takes brave expert-preneurs from ME TOO to GO TO.
2021-05-1355 minNo BS Agency PodcastEP 52: Matt Inglot on the Truth Behind Membership Sites, When a Business Truly Becomes Passive-Income, and One Advantage of an Agency Over a Service-Based Business
On today’s episode I’ve got serial entrepreneur and badass business owner, Matt Inglot.
Matt owns several businesses, including Freelance Transformation that helps freelancers become more successful, and Tilted Pixel, his agency that helps grow membership website companies.
I met Matt years ago when he invited me on his podcast and we’ve stayed in touch since just because we are so aligned in our philosophy on business, and because he was also solely focused on helping service businesses grow for the longest time.
We talk ab...
2021-05-061h 00No BS Agency PodcastEP 51: Jennie Nash on the Book Proposal Process, Writers and Their Passion, and Writing Books That Impact People Through Time and Space
Do you want to write a book?
Do you know WHY you want to write a book? Do you have something you absolutely have to get on your soapbox about? Or do you wonder why your voice should even be the one to tell this story?
Without clarity on WHY you want to write a book, you probably won’t be able to create the kind of book that can really move people, change them, inspire them.
On today’s episode I am delighted to share th...
2021-04-291h 13No BS Agency PodcastEP 50: Aga Conboy on Niching Down, Nailing a Lead Product, and the Personal Growth it takes to Command Premium Pricing
On today’s episode, I’m excited to chat with badass marketer and business owner, Aga Conboy.
Aga is an incredible example of what’s possible when you do the work and show up for your business.
Aga believes that busy professionals have been cheated into believing that just because some forms of marketing are now accessible by anyone – social media – they should take on their own marketing on top of trying to run a business.
She believes that just because you can, doesn't always mean that you...
2021-04-2255 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 49: Carl Gould on Having The Guts to Make the Obnoxious Offer No One Else is Willing to Make
Today, I'm bringing on a serious badass in the coaching and consulting world.
Badass business owner, Carl Gould.
Now, it seems like everyone and their mother is a business coach these days but Carl is going to put us all to shame.
First: he built 3 (!) multi-million dollar businesses by the age of 40.
Then, he started and launched the super successful business and coaching advisory company, 7 Stage Advisors, where, since 2002, Carl has mentored the launch of over 5,000 businesses and has trained, certified, and a...
2021-04-1553 minNo BS Agency PodcastEp 48: Dr. Cynthia Armand — Practicing Medicine, Teaching, Podcasting, Activism, Performing: Doing It All and Having a Ball
I’m really lucky to know a lot of amazing people.
And there are a few that aren’t technically entrepreneurs!
Dr. Cynthia Armand is my dear friend from college. We met our freshman year at the auditions for the prestigious dance troupe Precision and we were the only two freshmen to get in.
We became fast friends and eventually co-directed the dance group as seniors–something that I am extremely proud of.
These days Cynthia is an Assistant Professor of Neurology a...
2021-04-081h 09No BS Agency PodcastEP 47: The Best of Show Your Business Who's Boss – Jesse Sommer
I invited Jesse onto the show right after he came back from a seven month stint in Afghanistan which happened to coincide with COVID happening so he came back to the States to a very different world and that was pretty fascinating.
I had him on because I wanted to see how he was doing and I knew he'd always have some good stories and it ended up being really applicable to a lot of the things that I find entrepreneurs are dealing with.
He starts by sharing about the...
2021-04-0141 minNo BS Agency PodcastEP 30: Why Giving Thanks is a Super PowerIn honor of Thanksgiving, I wanted to share some thank yous of my own as well as share how giving thanks has been a HUGE super power in my life. It’s my go-to exercise whenever I’m feeling stressed or low-energy.
I truly believe that daily gratitude and giving thanks is something we all need more of to show up for ourselves and show up for those in our communities.
My favorite daily exercise is pretty much a daily gratitude journal but I put my own spin on it—you’ll have to...
2020-11-2610 minNo BS Agency PodcastEP 28: Preparing Yourself to Take Bigger Leaps and Building Your Confidence in the ProcessIn business, there is always somewhere greater to go.
That’s why taking leaps—both big and small—is essential to growing your business and building your confidence.
I know this because I've had the experience of being terrified of something new—and doing it over and over and over again.
Taking those leaps—both small and big—gets you outside of your comfort zone. It’s about going after something you really want—or something that is true to you and who you want to be—EVEN when the outcome...
2020-11-1241 minNo BS Agency PodcastEP 22: The Effect Our Money Stories Have On How We Spend, Invest, and Save or Don't SaveWhat’s your money story?
Money stories originate from events and people in our past—like our parents or primary caregivers—and they often shape our mindset around money in the present.
These stories influence how we spend our money, invest, save or don’t save, and how we feel about money—as well as all of our hangups and issues around money.
In this episode, I’m going to talk all about my own money stories—starting with when I found out that my dad was an accountant—and...
2020-09-2445 minNo BS Agency PodcastEP 04: Cursing In Your Brand, Going Viral, And How Having A Strong Liver Is Good For Business with Priya MalaniGoing viral can make or break a business. It’ll make it if you’re prepared to cash in on the attention. It’ll break it if you don’t have the balls to follow through.
My guest today was not only prepared to cash in but to take a big leap of faith into a new dream for her brand and her business.
Pia Malani is one of my earliest Brandup clients, who has since become one of my besties, Rebel of Wall street, and boss of her business.
2020-05-141h 06No BS Agency PodcastEP 00: Introducing Show Your Business Who's BossMake the leap from an overworked, underpaid employee of your own business to a badass authority that has plenty of profit and freedom because you are finally the boss. Host Pia Silva will shift your perspective and help you build a business that works for you instead of the other way around. Double down on what makes you awesome by badassing your brand and business, being smart about your marketing so you can shout it from the rooftops. She’ll tell you how it really is when it comes to ignoring the crap that’s holding you back and what...
2020-04-3003 min