The One Burning Question: Recent Episodes
Kass Fogle
The ONE BURNING QUESTION microcast answers the burning questions you have about your small business in about fifteen minutes. From authors to entrepreneurs, you'll find gems that will get you excited about everything small business, from strategic planning & leadership to visibility, Human Resources, productivity, and organization.
My quarterly Game Changing Resources are my most popular episodes each quarter and I know this episode will be no different.
- Use a super-quick tool to learn your decision making style because the more self-awareness you have, the more confident you become!
- Make a word cloud in 60 seconds
- Test the mobile optimization of your site and install this plug in to drastically change loading speed.
- Research Google trends with ease
https://vimandvigor.biz/episode54/
SEO Mythbuster, Meg Clarke of Clapping Dog Media shares how you can tame the SEO beast to boost traffic to your website.
From SEO plug ins to Google algorithms, you’ll get practical tips you can begin using IMMEDIATELY to help your pages rank higher in order to get you the right kind of traffic to your website.
https://vimandvigor.biz/episode53/
A contact isn’t an eloquently worded document providing a wordy description of your services. It provides a legal function, creates rights, and protects your business.
You are the CEO of your business. No matter how big or how small you are, know this: a contract of your services is one of the most professional and respectful things you can do for your client.
A contract protects your client as well as your business. It is not unkind, uncool, or rigid. In fact, by providing a contract helps us provide clear expectations and boundaries, which are critical aspects in the foundation of your business.
Join me on this episode of THE ONE BURNING QUESTION, where my guest, attorney Kailey Jacomet, drops so much goodness about contracts, trademarks, and copyrights. Show Notes
In this week's episode, I talk with Kelsy Schmidt, KPI Strategist at kpistrategist.com about how you can create a meaningful metric dashboard that financially guides the way you make decisions for your business.
Show Notes
Times are changing, uncertain, and downright HARD. It's hard to be under constant scrutiny and have each word analyzed and put under a microscope. Businesses, marriages, family dynamics - all of it under the strain and weight of a new era.
My guest, Micala Quinn talks about the tremendous pressure we all feel raising children (even if they're grown!!), running a business, and trying to stay sane during 2021.
Show Notes
Hiring is tough. It’s so much more than putting feelers out there.
The key is in preparation: Getting your systems in place first and creating an onboarding plan are two ways I work with clients to set them up for success.
Show Notes.
You've got your foundation, accountability partners are in place, your strategy is driving you forward, now it's time thrive.
This episode focuses on two tips to set your new pace as you watch your company sail for the horizon.
Blog and Links
Strategic Planning scares the crud out of some people. It’s way too much minutia and detail, and so they shrug it off as ‘not their thing’ or ‘too constraining,’ and take off for the hills with their idea.
Some are successful in this approach, even thriving, and that’s awesome, but for those who dive in, then find themselves backed into a corner very quickly consumed with overwhelm, that’s where a good business strategist will come in.
They can help you choose the financial outcomes you desire, build goals that help define what you’re going to do and what success looks like, then create activities, tasks, and tactics to help get you there.
Listen to find how strategy plays a role in your quarterly planning.
How do you hold yourself and your business accountable? Legally, financially, morally, operationally?
Do you have processes in place to hold yourself accountable? Are you part of a mastermind or group where intense honesty is a cornerstone value? Or do you prefer 1:1 accountability with a coach?
Business owners who work with a coach are 65% more likely to execute on their strategic plans.
How about you? Are you ready to work with a business coach to help set up your strategic plans?
Join me for this episode in my CEO Series and let’s get started building accountability in your business.
SHOW NOTES
If your mission is your path, and your vision is the motivation to walk the path, then your values are what light your journey along the way.
Without your values in place, the path is never quite as clear.
And Values need to go beyond simply, “honesty and integrity.”
Yawn. That’s 101, isn’t it?
Show notes at https://vimandvigor.biz/episode45/
We want to dive deeper and provide connection and context so everyone knows exactly how we apply honesty and integrity to our business.
Join me in discovering how building a solid foundation for your business is the cornerstone for all your strategic planning and operational business decisions.
There’s a certain beauty in a leader who knows how to set aside time for a little fun.
If you find yourself defending busyness and putting a crown on hot mess, it’s probably time to pause and take stock of where you are in your business.
There’s no trophy for most busy, or most hours worked in a week, and no one can plan “one up” like someone talking about how busy they are.
In fact, these antics could project something other than productivity and success, like an inability to prioritize, organize their thoughts, delegate, or commit.
Let's learn how to do differently and escape the fog of chaos.
Show Notes
A series of other microevents helped me realize I was being careless with my time and energy.
Mistakes happen when you don’t understand the rules, procedures, or consequences, but careless happens when you know them but ignore them.
Learn how to recognize the distractions that alert us to inefficiencies sneaking up and draining our time and money.
Have you made important shifts in your business this year? I have, and while so much has changed, many things have remained the same.
I've had to pivot and turn, race and pace, & pray and act to land where I can serve coaches with exactly what THEY need using the skills and abilities I most possess.
This also gives me the powerful ability to make referrals to other professionals who have a different specialist skillset and serve a similar audience.
Empowered professionals empower professionals. Join me for this episode to learn what's changed and what will stay the same and learn about the new services offered here at Vim & Vigor Business Operations Consulting.
Check out the Blog here: https://vimandvigor.biz/episode42/
According to Forbes, we need to prepare ourselves for 50% of the workforce becoming an entrepreneurial workforce in the next few years.
That’s a lot of competition, but it’s also a tremendous amount of opportunity. Of that 50%, over half of those will be in the online space. With so much new coming into “our space,” we have the power, opportunity and privilege to become positive influencers, The go-to for leading how to manage work, life, love, fun, finances, life and so much more.
Gone are the days of Do It This Way and Get Rich Now. Instead, we can nurture, mentor, and prepare the next generation of entrepreneurs for the blood, sweat, and tears that come with starting your own business. Show Notes & Blog
Each quarter, I summarize the best tips, tools, and resources I found invaluable.
This week on the podcast, I share a valuable sales perspective I learned from Sales Maven, Nikki Rausch, a website audit that will have you thinking differently about SEO, and a transcription tool that’s quick and extremely affordable.
Join me for this episode for game changing resources for your coaching business.
New coaches struggle with service development more than almost any aspect of their fledgling business. The truth can also be said about those in growth mode.
While it’s okay to test the market with variations on different services, don’t forget to pause, breathe, then decide.
As the CEO in your business, indecisiveness is an inefficiency you cannot afford. Wipe this out, and you may have just increased your profits.
Listen in (or read) for ways you can wipe out inefficiencies in your business. Show Notes: https://vimandvigor.biz/episode39/
How can you increase profits without adding clients?
Psst…the short answer is to reduce or eliminate your Big Hairy Inefficiency.
If you’ve never mapped out your processes and workflows and you’ve been in business at least a year, you’re sitting on a potential gold mine.
Don’t miss the first of this two part series on how you can reduce or even eliminate inefficiencies in your business operations.
Find the show notes here
What percent of your time do you devote to learning each week?
One CEO I polled a few months ago said they are in serious learning mode at least twenty hours a week. The average of the remaining answers was 2.5.
After reviewing results from my polls on various sites and my scouring tons of online articles, I share five of the most common habits that CEO’s adopt that help them be successful on a daily basis.
Find out the other four habits in this episode of The One Burning Question.
Find the Show Notes Here.
Sometimes, when we’re not in our brightest moments, we’re thinking, “Aren’t CEO titles reserved for people like Elon Musk and Abigail Johnson? Am I really a CEO?”
The answer is a resounding yes. But more importantly, ask yourself wouldn’t you be a CEO of your business?
Discover 6 questions you should ask yourself to determine if you are embracing a powerful CEO mindset.
Show Notes
You've garnered all the gadgets, perfected the pre-work, and slayed the strategic plan. So why haven't you met your goals?
The answer may be that you've fallen short during implementation. This episode reviews four ways you can elevate your execution.
You can find show notes here: https://vimandvigor.biz/episode35/
A CEO Day is a day you set aside to work on YOUR business. A “day” may be a bit of a misnomer however, as some CEO’s take four hours, and some take four days to conduct strategic planning in their businesses.
Today, I want to give you a bit of insight into how I conduct the prep work for my CEO Days.
And if you head to my website, I’m going to give you a free, fillable workbook that gives you access to the questions I ask myself during strategic planning.
Visit vimandvigor.biz/ceoday to download your copy. You will NOT want to miss this!
Show notes at vimandvigor.biz/episode34
Understanding the difference between niche and ideal client can prevent money from flying out the window.
Unless your niche identified, you’ll try to reach anybody, spend money on everybody, reach nobody, because you couldn’t identify your somebody.
And who wants to throw money away?
Comment on THE BLOG
Trying to fix a problem you haven't accurately defined? Learn the easy way to sift through the weeds and get to the heart of the problem with these 8 questions.
When I want to think differently, get unstuck, or keep myself from fixing, these are my go-to questions that transform my thinking and mindset.
Join me on this episode to two easy questions you can ask when a shift is needed.
Find me also at https://vimandvigor.biz/episode31/
Just because you can do something in your sleep doesn't mean you should.
Validating your business is a crucial step you need to take for your financial health as well as your sanity!
Join me in this episode for three product or service validation ideas.
Read the show notes in the BLOG
Building out your strategic plan takes time and focus, but it goes so much more smoothly if you do some pre-work ahead of time. A quarterly review can outline everything you need to make the most of your CEO Day.
I share some of the framework I use in planning for my own CEO day in this episode of THE ONE BURNING QUESTION.
SHOW NOTES
Each quarter, I summarize the best tips, tools, and resources I found invaluable.
This week on the podcast, I share some LinkedIn tips I learned from LinkedIn extraordinaire, @louisebrogan, a quick book review on the book I used an entire stack of post it notes on, and a fun way to keep your sanity when the boss announces it will be at least three more months when you return to the office.
Find the show notes here: Vimandvigor.biz/episode28
Do you need a sabbatical from all the expert advice? When is the last time you listened to your own voice and what YOU need in your business?
In this week’s episode of THE ONE BURNING QUESTION, I share how I got stuck and what I did pull away from the chaos and noise I’d allowed to penetrate my business and my mindset.
Show Notes: https://vimandvigor.biz/episode27/
There are tons and tons of blogs and articles on this so why address this on the podcast?
Because people continue to ask the question.
Here's my 8 minute take on the differences and three examples of when to use each.
Follow the Show Notes
Part of building your ideal client is understanding who your LESS thank ideal client is. Use these 5 triggers to keep them at bay.
Show notes: https://vimandvigor.biz/episode25/
Here are six tips to surviving our side hustle, when our corporate 9 to 5 is not making the mindset shift as quickly as it needs to.
See Show Notes
Religion, politics and teenaged girls don't corner the market on emotions. Come geek out with me on why emotional intelligence is important in your side hustle.
Show Notes
Not sure which course you should take next in your professional development journey? Should you learn about Instagram Reels? Pinterest? How to build a funnel? Write a book? Find out on this episode of THE ONE BURNING QUESTION. Find Show Notes here.
A voice-only chat with no pressure to sell or be sold to but provides tons of learning and giving opportunities surrounded by other professionals in your space offering diverse perspectives? Yes, Please. Check out Blog/Show Notes HERE.
I’ve had my fair share of hiring mistakes. With 20+ years in Human Resources, I’ve seen my fair share of hiring mistakes. I’ve MADE quite a few as well. This week I share the top three hiring mistakes you can easily avoid. If you’re thinking of hiring, you won’t want to miss this episode of the ONE BURNING QUESTION microcast.
Find show notes/blog here: https://vimandvigor.biz/episode20/
Have you chosen a focus word for the year? Why should you choose one and what does it do for your business?
Show Notes: HERE
Save time, money, and frustrations when you have your strategic plan in place. In this episode we close out the series with Client Experience and Personal Growth.
Find the show notes here: https://vimandvigor.biz/episode17/
Strategic Planning helps ensure all of your resources and efforts are driving revenue for your business. It's concerted and intentional work that leads back to your core offers and products.
In the third installment of the strategic planning series, I walk through a glimpse of my strategic planning process as it relates to visibility, operations and team growth.
Find the show notes HERE.
Tune in for installment 1 for work on Mission, Vision, and Values.
Tune in for installment 2 for Strategic Planning (KPI's, Financial Review, and Product Development)
What is strategic planning and why do we do it? It's more than simply organizing your chaos. Listen to this episode so you can determine if you need strategic planning in your business and get a sneak peek into my planning process.
Find Show Notes Here: https://vimandvigor.biz/episode15/
When I come across brilliant CEOs, entrepreneurs, and expertpreneurs churning out their next great idea without the benefit of foundational mission, vision, and values, I fear they’re on the path to:
- Costly financial decisions,
- Limiting their opportunities, and
- Compounding their capacity issues
Listen in to this episode of THE ONE BURNING QUESTION and find out if you’re on the road to overwhelm.
I'm getting ready to launch my new mini-course: Ditch the Buzzwords: Craft Foundational Mission, Vision, and Values that Transform Your Business. Find out more about the program and join the waitlist now for a sweet discount.
Head to: vimandvigor.biz/mvv for all the details.
Don't forget the show notes here: Episode 14
Today’s ONE BURNING QUESTION is brought to you by my brand new mini course. Have you created your mission, vision, and values yet? Do they need refining, or do you need to better understand how to integrate them into your business? I have a mini-course coming called, Ditch the Buzzwords, Craft Mission, Vision and Values that Transform Your Business. And if you sign up for the wait list, you’ll receive a special discount. Go to https://www.vimandvigor.biz/mvv
You might be asking yourself, what difference does it make, vs. what’s the difference. As long as you’re measuring something, isn’t that good enough?
I mean no one understands these numbers anyway, so as long as you’re tracking a few things for your accountant, you don’t have anything to worry about right?
You’re making money, so setting a bunch of goals you have to spend time monitoring isn’t really necessary, right?
Um, Nope.
Albert Einstein said, “Not everything that counts should be counted and not everything that is counted, counts.”
Like everything we do in our businesses, there should be a purpose and driver behind it.
If your only goal is to make money this quarter, that’s great, but are you measuring revenue, profit margin, owner distribution, or some other measure? How does making money contribute to your annual goals as well as your quarterly goals? What about your long term goals and your vision?
The concept for measuring my money is overwhelming to me because to be very honest with you, I’m in business to make money. I want to help people and I am doggedly passionate about bringing you great content, but I can’t do it if I’m not making money.
And, there’s more than one way to make money and new gurus seem to pop out of the woodwork to tell you the way they do it is better than the last guru who did it differently than the one before them. These ads for “the one proven way to make a gajillion dollars” drive me nuts…they worked their hinies off to get there and so will you.
Making money is a science that requires us study, grind, and calculate daily. Consistency refines what that science looks like and propels us into the next quarter. Making money is also an art that motivates us to constantly shift our perspective and periodically adjust our business models.
So in an age where consistency is King but flexibility rules the roost, do we even know if we’re coming or going anymore?
THAT is where KPI’s and Metrics come in. And I’ve invited my friend Kelsey Schmidt to help me with some of the details. And she has a FREE cheat sheet, you will NOT want to miss! Visit her website at https://www.innowik.com/opt-in for 3 Profit Maximizing Metrics. This phenomenal info graphic defines metrics, gives you three primary categories of metrics with examples, AND how to calculate them. Not only that, but she’s got some bonus examples as well.
Here’s the bottom line:
KPI’s measure the success of a specific business outcome at ABC, Inc.
Metrics measure the contributions of a specific effort, project or objective at ABC, Inc. They measure a progress toward a goal.
To help break this down a bit more, we’re going to follow the path of two companies throughout the rest of this episode: Todd’s Tattoo Parlor and Sophie’s Handmade Wearable Art.
Todd wants to see his customer acquisition costs decrease by 20% in the next twelve months. Todd has decided that this is a Key Performance Indicator that his entire business is doing well or not as well as he would like. He will not react to one terrible month or superior month, but will instead watch closely for month to month trends and if one is found, will dig more deeply. He may also choose to keep this KPI year over year to consider longer term trending. Several metrics rooted in individualized efforts will help move the dial on the KPI.
For example, Todd’s customer acquisition costs -remember, this is a KEY performance indicator of his business’s success, relies heavily on the number of client bookings. Todd will track these bookings in monthly metrics. In order to reach the goal of decreasing his costs, Todd needs to book more clients at the higher service levels. Because he knows his profit margins on each level of service, he determines how many bookings in each service level he needs and sets the targets accordingly. Then, of course his content and advertising go toward selling the higher end services and each month he tracks the actual numbers, compares them to the targets, and adjusts his content and advertising accordingly so he can make or exceed his goal of reducing his customer acquisition costs.
Todd watches his metrics and sees that the number of level 1 clients is increasing, and levels 2 and 3 are decreasing. Due to COVID, people have more time on their hands to get tattoos but less money to spend on the super-customized design. He makes some small adjustments to where he is spending his advertising dollars and may adjust his store hours temporarily to account for all working shifts in the workforce. Now he can accommodate the needs of his potential customers without changing the vision he has for his company.
Now, let’s look at Sophie. Sophie owns an online business selling handmade earrings, necklaces, bracelets and other wearable art. For the third month in a row, her Client Retention key performance indicator is indicating that she is consistently losing her customer base. When she looks at the metrics that help support the business objective of a 62% customer retention rate, she notices that her metrics measuring blog reads and You Tube views have also gone down.
So, her Key Performance Indicator of business success is maintaining a customer retention rate of 62%. The metrics that measure her effort (blog reads and YouTube Views) are decreasing. This helps her decide where to focus her energy and resources over the next coming weeks. She can choose to look at her competitor’s stats, ask her customers point blank, or check in with colleagues on trends they are seeing. She finds that businesswomen don’t need beautiful, custom pieces to show off at the office anymore, because, well, they’re not in the office, or the club, or the beach or where ever. Sophie needs to make a decision about whether to alter her business model or simply redirect her customer’s attention back to her custom made pieces.
Is it becoming clearer? Let’s try this: A metric tells you how you did yesterday, or last week or last month.
A KPI tells you how well your business is contributing to your vision.
Metrics are the everyday efforts that make a contribution to moving the needle.
KPI’s measure how the effort of all those metrics is working.
Metrics measure your website clicks, your email subscribers, your podcast downloads, and your Facebook Group membership numbers.
KPIs measures your conversion rate, your profit margin, and your customer retention rate
You can see how important KPIs and metrics are to helping you decide who you need to hire, where you should focus your money, whether your past efforts have given you a return on your investment, and have given you a picture of whether your strategy is working for you. They will tell you if you need to make tiny adjustments or a major shift in your business model.
Make sure you have done your strategic planning first, that you’ve created your mission and vision statements and you know the top focus areas of your business for this quarter and this year. Otherwise, we find ourselves the butt of albert’s quote: we’re counting anything that can be counted, whether it counts, or not.
I’d love to help you get started, book a free consulting call and let’s see how I can be there for you. And don’t forget Kelsey’s free cheat sheet! You’ll find the link in my show notes or you can visit https://www.innowik.com/opt-in
Thank you for listening to this episode of the ONE BURNING QUESTION microcast. Please join me in our private Facebook group Small Business Confidants where we come together to join, share, plan, create, and give.
Don’t forget to send in your ONE BURNING QUESTION by submitting the form on my website, vimandvigor.biz, and it might just get on a future episode.
If you think you might be ready to walk through strategically mapping your business so you can increase your visibility, reduce your stress, hire better, and grow a bigger vision, then let’s talk. Don’t wait any longer to schedule a free call to see if Vim & Vigor is the right plan for your business. If you’re not sure where to begin, my website has a short quiz just for you. It all starts by visiting my website at vimandvigor.biz
Also, would you drop a review and rating so others will have confidence in the value of the ONE BURNING QUESTION microcast? You’re the best. Talk to you next week. I’m here for you.
https://vimandvigor.biz/kpiandmetrics/
2020 has brought unprecedented changes in one’s patience, tolerance, determination, and ability trust. It is indeed the Year of the Toilet.
People need hope. They need to believe in their fellow humans again.
As their employer, how will you help spread a little Holiday Cheer?
This short microcast introducing you to the Employer Holiday Guide. A short booklet of ways to celebrate that don't include an online party. Find the show notes here: https://vimandvigor.biz/episode11/
Download the Employer Holiday Guide
2020 has shifted how we work, both alone and together, how we define and measure work, and how we lead and are led. I know many of us, even introverts like me, are hoping and praying that we get back to the office at some point in 2021.
It got me thinking that when we do arrive back, all hopeful and courageous like we’ve survived a zombie apocalypse, that we do things better. That in the midst of our Zoom calls, we’ve taken the opportunity to imagine a better workplace, and will harness the leadership to take action on what our imaginations have triggered.
Today, I’m addressing those trends I hope we don’t drag into 2021. Check out the show notes here: Click Here
Some companies get employee performance reviews right: they are tied to quarterly objectives and move the dial on all kinds of metrics and KPIs, plan for professional growth, and build rapport and relationship. So many, however do not. From rating biases to disastrous systems, to miniscule links to the company mission, maybe it's time to think about ditching those annual performance reviews and implement something better.
You can find the show notes here: https://vimandvigor.biz/episode8/
You have the unique opportunity as a leader to influence someone to use their strengths to stand on their own two feet again. Instead of giving feedback, try engaging someone in a difficult conversation.
Show notes: Click Here
Are your employees disconnected, disengaged, and disheartened? Engagement might not be the problem. Instead, let’s look at our follow through, our planning, our accountability and leadership.
Leaders who focus their energy on engagement efforts to improve metrics and results, may be looking in the wrong place. As small business owners, we have the luxury and responsibility to do engagement better. Listen to find the engagement traps even the best intentioned leaders fall into.
You can find the show notes here: https://vimandvigor.biz/episode7/
Learn how creating the ideal client profile will help your content planning, help exceed the goals and objectives of your strategic plan, and help you execute on your mission. Learn the elements that go in to your client profile. Read the show notes
If your business is growing, hiring should be the number one project on your quarterly objectives. Hiring takes a great deal of resources and the hiring strategy should no look like what it did a year ago. So how do you hire your next great employee? How do you select the right candidates? In this episode of the ONE BURNING QUESTION, I answer this question and give you the framework you need to begin. Show Notes: Click Here
"I just need a boss." "I need someone to mother me." That's right, you want to hire someone because you blinked and suddenly you went from running a business and earning a nice living to Holy Crap - my head is swimming. You know it's time to hire, or at least you think you do, but now you're asking yourself, "Who do I hire? I need it all!" Find out on this episode! Find Show Notes Here
You can attempt to resolve problems with sheer hard work, or, you can start with a project plan. And all good project plans start with Project Charter. But what is it? Find out in this episode.
Find Show Notes Here
You can find show notes HERE.
FREE downloadable cheat sheet to accompany today's episode: DOWNLOAD HERE