Honest conversations with small business owners about what’s working to run & grow their businesses

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EP 215: Growing An Audience Together With Community Builder Eli Trier

Community, Marketing

Eli Trier organizes community projects for introverts and quiet revolutionaries. Her goal is to raise the level of discourse around a topic, bringing people together and growing audiences in the process.

I was so impressed with Eli’s approach and how it tied into our values and philosophy at What Works… that I hired her to help us with our first community project—coming out in August.

Eli and I talk about why it’s important to her to deep-dive on important questions and involve a diverse set of voices in the discussion. We also get into the nitty-gritty of how Eli’s community projects work, how she plans for them, and how they help her reach both her audience-building and sales goals.

EP 214: Creating Content That Stands Out with Awkward Marketing Creator Rachael Kay Albers

Branding, Creativity, Marketing

Rachael Kay Albers is a marketer who hates marketing. As the founder and creative director of RKA ink, a branding, web design, and digital marketing studio, Rachael has helped hundreds of small business owners all over the world stand out online without selling their soul or playing the manipulation game.

When not crafting epic, unforgettable brands for her clients, Rachael hosts Awkward Marketing, a business comedy show blending fun-size small business advice with storytelling and sketch comedy, for entrepreneurs who want to create epic, unforgettable brands online.

EP 212: Building Your Audience Behind The Scenes With Social Media Strategist Andrea Jones

Culture, Customers & Clients, Networking

Andréa Jones has worked with hundreds of small businesses, startups, and podcasters since 2014 by helping them create social media strategies that save them time and amplify their message. She’s also the host of the Savvy Social Podcast, a weekly show for budding entrepreneurs and she’s the founder of Social Media for Podcasts, a social media agency for podcasters by podcasters.

But I didn’t ask Andrea on the show to talk about crushing it on social media.

Instead, Andrea and I talk about how she uses social media behind the scenes to develop relationships with people who can help her get in front of the right people. She explains step-by-step exactly what she does to find people to connect with, start a conversation, and follow up—plus, how she manages it all in Asana.

EP 210: Doing Less To Achieve Your Goals With Do Less Author Kate Northrup

Time Management

As an entrepreneur, bestselling author, and mother, Kate Northrup has built a multimedia digital empire that reaches hundreds of thousands globally. She’s committed to supporting ambitious women to light up the world without burning themselves out in the process. Kate teaches data-driven and soul-driven time and energy management practices that result in saving time, making more money, and experiencing less stress.

From Our Listeners

“I love Tara’s ‘let’s get real’ style and willingness to go deep with her guests about what’s actually working in their businesses. With so much smoke-and-mirrors content out there in the business world, this podcast is a refreshing, honest, and genuine change of pace for serious small business owners.” – Lara Dalch, Health Coach

“I get so many ideas from listening to this podcast. Tara asks excellent questions. What I love most is hearing from business owners whose business is different from mine and seeing what works for them, and what I can apply in my own business.” – Dr. Michelle Mazur, founder of Communication Rebel

Are you a small business owner with an unconventional or highly thoughtful way of working?

Would you like to share the nitty-gritty of how you do things with the What Works audience?

We’re always looking for guests, especially from unusual industries, using creative business models, and from underrepresented communities.

Here’s how to be considered:

  • Let us know 2-3 processes or strategies you use in your business that are unconventional or incredibly thoughtful that might make a good angle for a 30-40 min deep dive interview, or…
  • Share a personal inflection point in your business–like a mindset shift you made and how it played out in your business
Once we have the potential story in mind, we can see how you might fit into our editorial calendar!

Guest Submission Form

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Meet Tara McMullin

Tara McMullin is the founder & host of What Works. She’s been connecting small business owners through mastermind groups and online community for over a decade. Whether on the podcast or in the online network, her goal is to facilitate the free flow of ideas, information, and inspiration between entrepreneurs.

She believes that no one person has the answer to “what works” in small business–but that, together, we can create living, breathing knowledge-base of real-world solutions to all of our small business challenges.