Small Business Casual: Content Marketing, Productivity, Customer Experience for Entrepreneurs & Creators
Welcome to Small Business Casual, where we focus on designing a sustainable, cozy, and thriving business tailored to your LIFE. Not the other way around! Here, small business meets your favorite pair of slippers. It's a little quirky, not too buttoned up, one less accessory, ahhh… just right. From customer service, business productivity, and content marketing to making sense-of-the-behind the scenes, chaos, I walk alongside you as we make life and business less of a roller coaster ride and more like a walk in the park (with snacks, of course!). I offer Small Business Copywriting & Content Marketing Consulting to interior designers, home trade professionals, service providers, coaches, consultants, non-profits, and entrepreneurs with a big mission! Want to be a guest on Small Business Casual? Send Emily Aborn a message on PodMatch, here: https://www.podmatch.com/member/smallbusinesscasual I do NOT accept pitches outside of PodMatch.
Episodes
Most of us know by now that "work-life balance" is a bit of a myth (ok, a lot of a myth).
But I don't think balance is something to stop working towards. I think we've just been sold the wrong version of it.
Balance isn't a glowy, sunrise-yoga, big-moment-you-arrive-at kind of thing.
It's teeny tiny, quiet, and unremarkable. Often found in a single settled moment, calm hour, or normal task Tuesday. Balanc...
As a copywriter, I was recently asked by a business advisor what MY "UVP" (Unique Value Proposition) is.
"Well, I don't have one!" I replied. Me. A copywriter! The person who helps clients find their UVP all the time.
If you don't have one either, don't know what it is, don't worry. We're not the problem. The problem is that everyone is out there telling you the SAME way to find what makes you different. They e...
"Stay in your lane" usually gets taught as a branding rule: don't confuse your audience about what you actually do.
While it's true, it's only half the story. The other side of the coin is that staying in your lane also protects YOU. Your energy, boundaries, time, margins, and creativity.
It's self-preservation.
In this episode, I talk about how your lane is a nice, cozy container that helps you do your v...
Think your stories aren't worth telling?
Think again!
In this episode, my guest Sara Lohse helps us to find the stories in our ordinary lives that are hiding in plain sight. She shares how everyday moments can become compelling stories that build connection, make content memorable, and help guide people to new insights and inspiration.
Our conversation explores how to uncover the threads inside the "munda...
Time feels a little weird lately, doesn't it? Being alive right now feels like a tilt-a-whirl.
Between adopting our rescue pup (anyone else only got two brain cells left?), juggling a house, a business, and a zillion things at once, I've been living in a low hum of "gahhhhhhh!"
A friend reminded me: this is a season, not a life sentence.
In this episode, I'm sharing the seven things I'm actually experimenting w...
Your brand is telling a story whether you meant it to or not.
The question is whether or not it's telling the right one.
In this episode, I sit down with the brilliant designer behind my own timeless branding, Jess Mercier, to talk about brands that tell a story. You'll also learn how Jess's own rambly intuition-led road brought her to where she is, and the work she does, today.
If you've ever wondered what separates...
Reinventing yourself could be the best move you ever make…
In this episode, we get to hear the story of Mary Foerster, who challenges the assumption of when and how reinvention takes place. Mary speaks directly to those who feel stuck while promising them ideas for hope, transformation, and a restoration of their passion.
You’ll hear how, even to this day with all her skills and expertise, Mary is...
It's tempting to think of transitions as temporaries.
Dead zones.
The throat-clearing before we rush in and get to "the real work".
But what if the setup, the shutdown, and the in-between moments aren't the boring part... they're where the best work actually gets a solid foundation?
In this short(ish) bonus episode, my new rescue pup Finch teaches me (the hard way) that dogs and humans alike need transitio...
In this conversation with Melissa Snow, we dive into the often unspoken realities and speed bumps of entrepreneurship, especially for women. Melissa's story reveals the nature of starting a business and the necessity of adaptability, consistency, and courage.
Melissa reminds us that we don't have to fit the mold to find our fit.
We discuss what makes networking actually work, how to find the right rooms, and why con...
"Just be relatable!" Ahhh, I love me some generic advice overly spewed on the internet, don't you?
What exactly does it mean to be "relatable"?
How on earth are you even supposed to do that?
What if I don't wanna' be relatable?
And is relatability really the GOAL?
In this episode, I explore how relatability for relatability's sake is about as effective as a bridge that leads to nowhere.
I contras...
Once you hit the 2, 3, 6... going-on-15-year mark in business... you've come up with A LOT of ideas. So, what do you do when you're fresh out?! When the well runs dry, and things just feel a little... flatlined?
In this episode, I'll help you go from ennui to elation as we reinvigorate the spark with some out-of-the-box ideas and experiments (none of which require you to grind harder or drive around on an empty tan...
Is Consistency for the Birds?
We often treat "consistency" as one of the 10 Commandments of Business. Like changing your mind or backing away is a character flaw.
In this episode, I make the case that, at least 50% of the time... it's the other way around, and walking away is being consistent with the truth of YOU.
There's smart consistency: Showing up reliably and staying true to your values.
And fo...
No one wants to be the bad guy in their own story, of course… but it can go a little too far sometimes.
I see it on website after website.
Not villains who are posing as saints, but innocent, well-meaning service providers and practitioners who accidentally make themselves the hero of a story that’s supposed to be about their clients!
In this episode, we get into what it means to make your cl...
I've raved about PodMatch on this show more times than I can count, so when PodMatch founder, Alex Sanfilippo, said YES to being in my guest seat, suffice it to say, I was over the moon!
But we didn't just talk podcasting. Alex took us to the lower points behind the highlight reel and a failure he experienced that propelled him to where he is today.
From selling used golf balls at age ten to building a company that&...
To put pricing on your website or not to put pricing on your website... that is the question!
Turns out the answer is more interesting than a simple yes or no! In this special bonus episode, I bring in five expert service providers who share their take and the why behind it.
The Quick Decision Rule
- Selling something standalone and the same price for everyone, like a session or a workshop? Put the number on ...
The performing to earn our worth, our rates, our friends, our place at the table, our right to take up space... here's the lesson I keep learning: All that proving doesn't get us the thing. In fact, it usually blocks it.
In this episode, we get into the invisible engine of proving and how it can run so much of our striving and doing.
I'm sharing candid stories and honest takeaways from letting go of the need to PROV...
We spend a whole lot of energy trying to make more, attract more, and sell more, but very little on learning how to actually receive what's already trying to reach us.
This week, I'm talking about the unglamorous missing link in so many "abundance" conversations: Building (slowly) the capacity for the receiving.
We get into why receiving is so hard, what it's costing us, and a toolkit of small reps for letting more ...
"Charge your worth."
You have heard it a million times, I've heard it a milliona nd one. And, between you and me...I'm tired of it!
It's that it's wrong or bad advice, but no one every takes time to stop and ask the question underneath it... What is "worth"? How do I know what my worth is to charge it?! And can it really come down to a number we slap on a website or a proposal?
To help unpack my many questions,...
"It's not X, it's Y", the rhetorical "honestly?" and oh, the em-dashes!
The overt tells and... the little gut feelings when you suspect AI... what are they costing us?
When our readers and listeners' spidey senses go up, when their AI radar is activated, it can quietly cost you their trust. Which means it can also cost you business.
In this episode, I walk through 10 AI "Tells" and why they matter...
I learned two very simple and polar opposite lessons in June:
- Quit what you hate
- Keep going on what matters
The key is mastering the art of discernment to determine which is which!
Lesson #1: Leave It - If you don't like it, quit!
If something in life or business is coming up with more "cons" than "pros", you don't need to try to convince yourself it's a good fit. You can quit!
If it's causing you h...
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