In this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO, I invited Gabby Day, CEO and founder of Brightbody, to discuss her entrepreneurial journey. Gabby shares insights on running a non-toxic, refillable personal care line and her new venture, Hype Ma'am, which supports women in product-based businesses. Gabby reflects on her transition from healthcare administration, dealing with chronic health issues, and becoming a mother of twins. She emphasizes the importance of creating flexible systems and structures, including her 90-day operating plan and annual marketing calendar that enable her to balance business growth and personal well-being. Gabby also discusses how implementing these strategies has transformed her role as CEO and improved her team's efficiency and happiness.

10:58 Flexible Work and Parenting

23:40 Adapting to Challenges: Flexibility in Planning

27:37 Building a Reliable Team

33:28 Streamlining Operations with SOPs

42:26 Scaling Your Business with Systems

Hear the entire recording of the latest live webinar on scaling your life-first business.

During this live training, we dove deep into:

• The Essentials of a Life-First Business Model. Not every business is set up to prioritize your life. We'll walk through the 3 essential elements that allow you to work less and grow more.
• 3 Key Systems for Sustainable Growth. The secret to consistent, sustainable growth is all about doing the hard work once to build the systems, then running those systems again and again!
• Protecting Your Time, Energy, & Personal Life. Dreaming of a 25 hour work week is the easy part. The harder part? Navigating the discomfort of stronger boundaries, saying NO, and leveling up your CEO habits.

One of the hardest lessons to learn as an entrepreneur?

You can be your own worst enemy.

You know that more visibility is essential to growth, but you overcomplicate it to the point where you do nothing.

You have an incredible idea for a new product, program, or service, but your perfectionism keeps you from ever launching it.

You know that you have completely maxxed out your calendar - you simply don't have time to do more or work harder - but you struggle to bring on more support behind the scenes to free up your time.

And the thing is - we are all aware when we are self-sabotaging!

These mistakes often stem from deeply ingrained beliefs and habits that can be so incredibly difficult to break.

That's why in this episode, I'm sharing the top 5 mistakes, how they hold our businesses back, and how to start overcoming them so you can get closer to the life-first business you really want!

Supporting your family as a business owner is an incredible experience.

Deciding to be your own boss, delivering value to paying clients, and bringing profit home to support your family's needs and wants is just part of the reward.

For me, supporting my family goes so much deeper than paying the bills. It's why I've been so intentional about building a business that allows me to be the best mom I can be, be a present wife, be a daughter who can help her aging parents. And it's meant I've always been able to prioritize the things that matter most to me and the people who matter most to me.

And I know from experience working with thousands of women entrepreneurs that the biggest reason women start businesses is because they want that flexibility and freedom to take care of their families, to take care of their parents, to take care of their children, to live an actual life.

In this second installment of the series on a life-first approach to business, I run through ten common myths that hinder women entrepreneurs from achieving success both at home and in business, such as the myth that more hours equal more success and the necessity of hustle culture. I stress the importance of prioritizing personal well-being, family, and effective delegation, while debunking the notion that being constantly available or sacrificing personal life is needed for business success.

In the first episode of this brand new series on Building a Life First Business!

I wanted to kick things off with my own personal story that has deeply impacted the lens that I see the world through - and is a huge part of why I do the work I do.

My mother was 31yo business owner when a car accident left her in a coma for 3 months and in the hospital for another 2 years before returning home to her family. She experienced a Traumatic Brain Injury that would leaver her permanently disabled for the rest of her life.

She survived but lost her business... and even more, she missed the early days of my and my sisters childhoods.

This episode is deeply personal but if you really want to know why I care so much about building businesses that actually allow you to enjoy your life - my story is a reminder that all we have is today.

00:00 Introduction and Series Kickoff
01:20 A Personal Story: The Accident That Changed Everything
04:10 The Aftermath: Family and Business Struggles
08:41 Building a Life-First Business
13:33 Adapting to Motherhood and Business
24:28 The Importance of Community and Support
28:32 Caring for Aging Parents
35:30 The Life-First Business Philosophy
42:44 Conclusion and Next Steps

Attend the upcoming free training with Racheal - Scaling Your Life-First Business

Want clients for life? Give your client an experience that goes beyond their expectations.

Think about booking lodgings for a vacation. It’s one thing to book a room for your stay with all the expected accommodations. But you remember the place that goes beyond: the chocolate on the pillow to greet you as a new guest, warm and freshly laundered towels in the bathroom daily, a minifridge already full of goodies you didn’t even have to buy, etc. And the next time you’re ready for a vacation in the area, you want to stay there again.

Now, it’s really easy to think that translating that type of experience into your service-based business is as simple as surprising and delighting with little gifts, like that chocolate on the pillow. But there’s so much more to it, and today I’m excited to have Amber Kinney back on the podcast to talk about it.

In this final episode of our customer experience series on Promote Yourself to CEO, you’ll learn about how you can translate surprising and delighting clients into your business as part of your customer experience plan. We’ll teach you how to put a little more intention and thoughtfulness into the ways you choose to surprise and delight clients so that they’ll trust and connect with you and your company.

On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:

6:44 - What’s one of Amber's favorite ways to surprise and delight clients in her agency?

8:45 - I talk about a recent surprise I received when I started working with someone new. This kind of delight can motivate your clients even more!

13:01 - You can vote with your dollars when delighting your clients, too. Here’s how we do it every year.

16:22 - How do you and your team build connection with your clients in ways that will surprise and delight them?

24:25 - I discuss another way I try to delight all the time. This one goes above and beyond, and it can stick for your clients for years!

• The CEO Collective

• The CEO Retreat

• Amber Kinney’s agency, The AK Collective

• Maven Made Facial Serum

• Racheal on Instagram and TikTok

• Rate and review on Apple Podcasts

Sustainably scaling your business isn’t a solo act. It takes a team to pull it off.

Now you’ve probably had some help in the marketing and sales aspect of your business. Or maybe you’ve hired help for the technological or administrative side of things. But are you still holding out on hiring a team to help you work directly with clients to deliver your offer? That’s the last place we as entrepreneurs tend to hire to help us, but it’s necessary if you want a sustainable business.

Building a team for a sustainable business ultimately boils down to one thing. And in today’s installment of our customer experience series, I’ve invited my Director of Operations (and right-hand woman) Amber Kinney onto the show to help me cover it.

Amber and I have worked together for over a decade. And she’s the owner and CEO of her own marketing agency where she works with lots of entrepreneurs behind the scenes. So she knows the dos and don’ts of working with (and within) a business team.

In this episode of the Promote Yourself to CEO podcast, you’ll learn about all the layers that go into hiring people to join your business and how to do it in a way that works for you, your team members, and your clients. We’ll teach you about transfer of trust and why it works so well to set your business up for success.

On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:

6:49 - Why can scaling your team be one of the biggest challenges you face? Here’s the most likely place where you might stumble when hiring help.

12:24 - There’s a necessary shift you need to make to get to the point where clients comfortably deal with your team members.

16:40 - How can you start transferring your clients’ trust from working with you exclusively to working with your team directly?

20:08 - Amber reveals how to approach bringing on someone new onto your team who you don’t have a previous track record with.

23:26 - What if you have no plans or desires to hire anyone (at least right now)? You’ll still want to do this to set yourself up for success.

28:14 - I reveal a red flag that’s a sign of more than just bad hiring practices to your clients.

• The CEO Collective

• Amber Kinney’s agency, The AK Collective

• Racheal on Instagram and TikTok

• Rate and review on Apple Podcasts

According to American Express, people will pay 86% more if you give them an impeccable customer experience. That’s why providing a great experience after the purchase is one of the best ways to differentiate yourself, your brand, and your business from your competitors.

So how can you improve the customer experience of your company? It’s all in the delivery of whatever you offer, whether you’re selling a product (physical or digital) or a service. Today on the Promote Yourself to CEO podcast, you’ll learn about seven ways to upgrade the delivery process of your offer that’ll have your clients or customers loving you and your business.

On this episode of Promote Yourself to CEO:

4:41 - Clear containers for your offers helps you as well as your clients or customers. How?

8:28 - With so much small business competition, how can you develop relationships with your clients so that they remain loyal to yours?

11:45 - Have a clear vision for your customer experience and create a success path to help buyers get there.

13:20 - Do you follow up after the purchase? I discuss how to create checkpoints and proactively reach out.

17:44 - You’ll need to proactively coach your clients or customers on this as well.

21:05 - What can you use to improve your customer experience on an ongoing basis?

24:57 - The last way to upgrade your customer experience is easier said than done, but it must be done for a sustainable business.

29:22 - To wrap the show, I quickly recap the seven ways to upgrade your customer or client experience.

• The CEO Collective

• 90-Day CEO Operating System

• Racheal on Instagram and TikTok

• Rate and review on Apple Podcasts