It probably won’t surprise you that my take on marketing is a bit different from other businesses.

A long time ago I decided to play to my strengths and to let my chatting, community building nature take the biggest chunk of my marketing “budget”. How that’s looked has changed over the years, but it’s served me well!

Have you ever gotten overwhelmed by all the factors that come into play when you need to hire help in your small business?

I’ve got some great ideas and resources around these things!

In my work it’s essential that I am flexible and knowledgeable about as many tools as possible to meet my clients where they are and take their to-do list stress away. There are loads of absolutely incredible software options out there and I’m a firm believer that there is a system out there for every working style.

That said, I have my most favourite tools that I could not live without. These are the ones I’ve become dependent upon and use absolutely every single day.

Today we're talking about building a community and how to get started with email marketing.

How do you ensure that you provide a level of service that goes above and beyond what your customers expect? You use a CRM system to automate follow-ups and communications!

Check out my new blog for details! :)

So you're a busy bee everyone wants to spend time with you. The problem is, is that setting up all those meetings, appointments, etcetera, can be a total drain.

But, you can make this better when you free up some time and create boundaries by using a scheduling tool.

Project Management is very important because it helps you to document your processes, manage your tasks, manage your teams, and to help you keep your work on the right track.

Flodesk Checkout is a way for you to be able to sell things natively integrated with your email list.

We entrepreneurs are a rare breed.

Which can make shopping for us a bit of a challenge! So I’ve created a list of things that I know that I would love and that most of my fellow entrepreneurs would too! 

Even better, I’ve included ideas for these from other small businesses that I love wherever possible!

Carla McGreevey is a yoga teacher who specializes in healing trauma through breath and movement. Carla is a former exercise addict who worked as an account manager for Bacardi who had a deep aversion to the idea of yoga, who then quit her full-time job with the mission to make the power of this ancient practice, widely known, accessible, and relatable to modern day people.

Yoga connects you to the deep intelligence of your breath and body whose depths of intelligence science is yet to fully understand by connecting to ourselves. We can live authentically with deep connection. And remember we belong, which empowers us to live happier, more fulfilled lives. When Carla started yoga at 28, she didn't know anything about herself or what made her happiest.

She didn't know about her passions. She hated her body. And couldn't feel any sensations in our body. She felt so disconnected from herself and second-guessed herself constantly. The yoga and meditation helped her with how she felt. And she learned to love and take care of herself.

Marsha Powell, is the founder of belly view UK, a London-based girls, charity that equips girls and young women with a support network skills and competence to make informed choices about their future, committed to the development and social mobility of young women. This HR professional uses all her transferable skills, knowledge and experience.

From her 15 year career and the city and her masters and personnel development to develop and sustain a platform that contributes to the female empowerment. And gender equality narrative in the UK belly gives girls and young women support guidance, education, confidence, self-esteem opportunities, positive solutions, and role models.

With eight years of experience, working with girls and young women, Marsha has developed and successfully facilitated the learning of over 5,000 girls aged eight to 19, contributing to their social mobility, improved educational outcomes and wellness. Believes outcomes are delivered through employability leadership workshops and career development support, a strong believer that every girl needs a mentor.

Cassie is a social media strategist, consultant and workshop facilitator, and she works with busy business owners to simplify their social media strategy. Cassie believes in creating sustainable strategies that work with your lifestyle, not ones that have you chained to your phone.

I loved recording this episode with Cassie because she shows us what's possible. She's created her entire business around. Her energy, her schedule, and wanting to spend more time with her husband doing the things she loves. And that's exactly why we're all in business for the freedom and flexibility, as well as the capacity to help people with our gifts and talents and skillsets.

So let's hear exactly how she does it.

I am so excited for you to listen to this episode. Rachel is just a fountain of calm and just the peacefulness of nature seems to emanate out of her. So I'll tell you a bit about her. Rachel is the founder of Rooted Wings, a nature based business that seeks to gather and connect people to themselves, each other and the land we live on through nature, connection, holistic living nature education forrest school and adventures.

She lives in Yorkshire, UK with her husband and four children, three of which are home educated and one is a recent convert to school. They spend a lot of free time on the moors, uphills, in the woods, and along the canals exploring.

Through this discussion, Rachel shared so much about what it means to live with nature, as opposed to living in this busy technological life that we have. To mirror the energy of the seasons and of our own rhythms. It's super important. And she's given us lots of really good tips. Ready? Let's hear it directly from her.

PS this particular episode is pretty echo-y on my audio! Sorry about that, we've got it fixed for other episodes.

What do you want more time and energy for?

This is something that in my previous life, as a tech virtual assistant, I dealt with all the time, it was one of the first questions I asked my clients when I was trying to figure out how I could assist them in making their lives easier. It's something I still ask members of The Capable Collective all the time.

What do you want more time and energy for?

I also asked this question in a recent workshop in the free Capable Collective Facebook group.

The answers I got included things like. Focused deep work to think about new products. Finding time for Headspace. Ensuring that I spend time on actually supporting my clients and less on faffing. Resting. Pleasure. Self-care. Being able to get up and go. Working from anywhere. Finding some balance between work and time to herself.

These are things that I see really commonly across my community and across my work. So I want to share with you some of my very best tips, tools and templates to streamline your business in a way that will feel like it's a lot less hard. You can make business easy.

Today we have one of my favorite entrepreneurs, Ashley Gartland.

Small business mentor and coach Ashley Gartland helps service based businesses streamline so that they can scale sustainably and build a business that makes the life and the lifestyle they desire possible. She runs her six figure business in 30 hours a week, leaving her plenty of time to enjoy the good stuff in life - like trail runs, reading and adventures with her family.

What I love about Ashley is that she's so honest. She is willing to break the mold. She has a brilliant mind and is all about creating simple and streamlined businesses that serve your life.

The funny thing is we didn't make an online connection until well after I'd moved to Belfast., but Ashley and her family are actually based back in Portland, Oregon, where I spent about seven years before moving here. So it's really cool to have that connection and I'm hoping that next time we get to go home, I'll actually get to meet her in real life.

That's why The Capable Collective was created.

Because I have a vision for a space - where women run business in the integrative way that comes so naturally for us.

And we all thrive while doing it. Because there is a desperate need for us to push away from the hustle culture. That exists in digital business.

Because there needs to be an informational hub where the curtain is pulled back on the mechanical side of business. We are in this together.

That's why The Capable Collective was created.

Because I have a vision for a space - where women run business in the integrative way that comes so naturally for us.

And we all thrive while doing it. Because there is a desperate need for us to push away from the hustle culture. That exists in digital business.

Because there needs to be an informational hub where the curtain is pulled back on the mechanical side of business. We are in this together.