Small Business Casual
Where small business meets your favorite pair of slippers. A little quirky, not too buttoned up, one less accessory, ahhh… just right. Welcome to Small Business Casual, where we focus on designing sustainable, cozy, and thriving businesses tailored to your LIFE. Not the other way around! From general business and marketing to making sense of the behind-the-scenes chaos, I’m Emily Aborn, your host and Small Business Copywriter! I’m here to walk alongside you as we make running our businesses less of a roller coaster and more like a scenic train ride (don't forget the snacks!).
Episodes
“Our brains are sprinting while clocks stay still.” - Researcher, Helena Grieve
In 2024, a Cambridge physics team tracking circadian data noticed the average human day feels 8% shorter than ten years ago—even though atomic time hasn’t changed.
The cause: information velocity. The average person now consumes more data in a week than their grandparents did in a year. Each notification triggers a micro-adrenaline spike, spee...
Every year teaches us something. (well, probably a lot of somethings).
This year's lessons changed my life and business from the inside out. It was a year of sneaky, quiet, LOUD lessons and hard truths that made me question everything and get clear and grounded on what matters most.
In this special end-of-year episode, I'm sharing my 3 top lessons of the past year and how each changed my approach to business a...
As you will hear in this episode, podcasting can change your life.
Each year, I love the opportunity to reflect and learn from what went WELL, what didn't go so well, and what NEW things I want to experiment with and try in the coming year. In this episode, I share industry reports with data and stats, plus 7 takeaways full of insights and wisdom to provide you with info you can use for your podcasting year ahead.
...
Feeling tired? Drained? Run-down? Exhausted?
Insert your adjective of choice here, and buckle up as we get into the seven reasons WHY your tank might be empty.
I get into Dr. Saundra Dalton Smith's 7 Types of Rest, why they're so important as business owners, and simple ways to incorporate them into your workday and life.
The goal is to help you move from depleted to restored by listening to what YOU need most...
Words of appreciation, thanks, encouragement, and gratitude have been continuously shortened in today's fast-moving world:
"I Love You" has become "luv u"
"Thanks" has become "thx" or simply "tsm" and many are just double-tapping, dropping a "Congrats!" or "Love it," to the comment thread.
Hearting it doesn't exactly cut it when it comes to sh...
Join us in kissing those awkward networking situations goodbye in this special guest episode featuring, Ande Lyons.
In this episode, you'll get anything but cookie-cutter networking advice as Ande helps to reframe networking from schmoozing and dead fish handshakes to spaces of curiosity, connection, and community.
We get into:
- Why networking can often feel icky, transactional, boring, and scary
- Where tradition...
...Lead magnet, website, funnel, email list, newsletter, Substack, social media presence?
When it comes to all these things your business supposedly "needs", a lot of it is just unnecessary pressure to be everywhere. Doing all the things, creating all the optins and freebies and video content can lead straight to exhaustion, a diluted message, ineffective strategies, and more overwhelm.
Success doesn’t require...
Sometimes saying "yes" can cause us undue stress and leave us feeling overcommitted, behind, and even resentful.
Yes can cost you time, money, energy, burned bridges, quality, and more.
In this episode, I talk about building a thriving business that isn’t about saying yes to everything and everyone; it’s actually about saying NO more often.
This two-letter magical strategy can change your entire life.
Inside t...
You are in for a TREAT with this bonus episode. No tricks, I promise.
When I listened to episode #96 of Jenny Belanger's podcast, Small Business Website Design Made Simple, I reached out immediately to ask if I could share it on my show with YOU!
Jenny is a WordPress website Designer and Creative Director at Jenny B Designs as well as a fellow New England Podcast Group Member. As a website design-copywriting duo, J...
How do you know if a decision is good or bad?
Can a good decision have a bad outcome? Can a bad decision have a good one?
In this episode, we’re going to turn over this concept of what makes a good decision good and a bad decision bad AND I’ll give you some curated tips on making BETTER decisions, no matter how great or small!
- What a Taoist parable can teach us about the decisions we make
- Distinguishing quality deci...
It seems no matter what you do (or don't do), someone, somewhere has something to say about it.
You can't and will never make everyone happy. Certain people will never be happy no matter what you do, and you most certainly can't make everyone and yourself happy at the same time.
In this episode, we discuss choosing the right strategy for YOUR life and business for your marketing, networking, boundaries, p...
You might think it's saving you time, but what's AI costing you and your business?
“When I see a post from friends or colleagues that screams, 'AI WROTE THIS,' I scroll right by. You might think it’s saving you time, but it’s causing you to lose a member of your audience. I want more of you and your authentic voice. Not the voice of a tool you’ve outsourced your talent and transmissions to.” -Anjel H...
All sorts of ghosts can haunt our businesses… from missed opportunities, forgotten content, and neglected relationships that are all but decaying away.
Don't worry, you can put away your sage...
And you won't need your book on exorcism or spell-breaking...
This episode has all you need to look the ghosts that haunt your business in the eye and shoo them away. Time to breathe some fresh life into our business as...
Almost every business owner finds themselves asking the question at one point or another, "Does my business need a rebrand?"
How do you know when it's time to fully overhaul your brand and when it's time for a simpler refresh? I'm joined by my fellow cozy small business owner friend, Lindsay Dreyer of City Chic Real Estate (rebranding to REVERIE in October 2025), to help you answer these very que...
In last week’s episode, we talked about literal small talk… the awkward weather banter at a networking event, the Zoom conversation you get stuck in that seemingly goes nowhere fast, and the idle chit chat that’s draining.
We learned that while small talk SEEMS small, it can act as a catalyst for bigger conversations and deeper talk. What starts small can have a BIG impact.
Today, we’re going to get into figurative "...
Do you dread swapping senseless words with cashiers and strangers out in public? Do you go out of your way to avoid neighbors, coworkers, or people you know at the grocery store lest you get stuck in idle chit chat? Do you get heart palpitations thinking about discussing the weather at a networking event? If so, you may have an aversion to SMALL talk.
And yes, you may be entitled to some sort of compensation (talk to yo...
You are not "just" anything. You're not just a business owner, parent, spouse, community member, speaker, podcaster, writer, etc.
You're a multifaceted human being who gets to bring your WHOLE self everywhere you go!
Just like a recipe made up of lots of parts and pieces, a dash of this and a dash of that, we are too. In this episode, I'm sharing some ideas that have helped me grow in my busines...
The Content with Character has a FRESH face and has been rebranded, officially, to Small Business Casual!
This is the FIRST episode in our new digs where the goal is to help us create small businesses that feel like ahhhhhh, home.
On this episode, I share a little bit of why I changed the name and am steering away from "content" a bit more in general, plus three lessons learned through the podcast rebranding p...
Listen, enjoy, and walk away feeling empowered and ready to become their FAVORITE podcast guest.
Join myself, Barb Davids, and Ande Lyons in this LIVE re-aired workshop as we dish out insider secrets and goodies to help you UP your guesting game!
The conversation includes:
- How to ruin a good pitch FAST by making a crucial mistake
- How to set yourself apart even in a noisy industry
- Tips for standing out with your pitche...
Just like not all DIY home projects turn out like your Pinterest board... not all collaborations end in sunshine in rainbows. And some downright fail. Flop. Fizzle. Fallout.
Failure is inevitable when you're experimenting, trying something new, and collaborating with others. While it might not be so tasty in the moment, failure is full of invaluable wisdom if you're willing to look closer, learn from your fumb...
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