The Content Experiment Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

The Content Experiment Podcast is back with a fresh new approach! I'm taking you behind the scenes as I launch a 6-month experiment (finally living up to the "experiment" part of my business and podcast name!) where I'm building an online shop (of sorts) with digital products while continuing my one-to-one fractional CMO services.I'm showing you exactly what I'm doing and how it's working.

I've noticed too many “experts” teaching without actually doing the work themselves, and I'm tired of it. Sure, their businesses are doing the work, but those teaching are the faces of their business; they’re not actually the ones doing the work.

So I'm sharing my real journey – including the challenges I've faced with client work and why I need to create revenue that doesn't solely depend on one-to-one clients.

You'll hear about my partnership with Destini Copp, my actual strategies for growing my email list and shop, and yes – I'm even considering sharing real revenue numbers (that part makes me nervous!).

If you're over the fluff and ready for some honest talk about balancing client work while creating new revenue streams, this is for you. I'm not following someone else's playbook – I'm experimenting, measuring, and adjusting in real time, and taking you along for the ride.

Listen to my episode on Destini's podcast here!

Are you a service-based business owner looking to scale or grow without working more hours? In this week’s episode, Crista Grasso, the founder of the Lean Out Method, discusses the key differences between growth and scaling, and how to optimize your business for increased profitability and time freedom.

Crista specializes in helping businesses navigate the messy middle of scaling from multi-six to multi-seven figures. She emphasizes the importance of focusing on optimization rather than constantly pursuing new ideas or offers. By dialing in on your existing systems, team, marketing, lead generation, sales, and delivery, you can double your conversion rates and revenue while maintaining fixed expenses.

Throughout the conversation, Crista shares valuable insights on the five key areas to focus on when scaling your business: strategy, planning, systems, team, and insight. She also discusses how to identify and eliminate areas of waste in your business, such as unnecessary complexity and incomplete work. Crista stresses the importance of letting go of tasks that don't align with your strengths and goals, even if it means accepting that someone else may not do them exactly the same way you would.

If you're ready to scale your business the smart way and achieve the rich, fulfilled life you desire, this episode is a must-listen. Tune in now to learn how to optimize your business for increased profitability and time freedom.

Key Takeaways:

• Scaling your business is about expanding your reach, impact, and profit without requiring more time or complexity. It's different from growth, which often leads to increased expenses and decreased profitability.

• To scale successfully, focus on optimizing your existing systems, team, marketing, lead generation, sales, and delivery. By improving what's already working, you can double your conversion rates and revenue while maintaining fixed expenses.

• Identify and eliminate areas of waste in your business, such as unnecessary complexity, incomplete work, and tasks that don't align with your strengths and goals. This will free up time and resources to focus on what truly matters for your business growth.

• As a visionary entrepreneur, it's important to resist the temptation to constantly pursue new ideas and instead focus on optimizing what's already working in your business. This may seem boring, but it's the key to scalability and success.

• When delegating tasks, accept that others may not do them exactly the same way you would. Letting go of this expectation will allow you to focus on the things that only you can do and that will have the greatest impact on your business growth.

Mentioned in This Episode:

• Uncover Hidden Time & Profit in Your Business

• Find out more about Crista & the Lean Out Method

• Schedule a call with me

• Connect with me on LinkedIn

• Follow me on Instagram

About Crista Grasso

Crista Grasso is the CEO & Founder of the Lean Out Method and creator of the Simplify to Scale System. She partners with Visionary CEOs and their teams to navigate through the messy middle of $500k - $5m and scale in a way that allows them to live a rich fulfilled life while leading a high-impact + high-profit business. Through private advisory and her signature Simplify to Scale mentorship experience, she helps businesses remove unnecessary complexity, uplevel their business operations, and build out their lean dream team including a right-hand person they can trust so the day-to-day is no longer dependent on the CEO.

Whether you’re planning to DIY your content and marketing or you’re looking to hire it out, some budget planning is essential. It takes both time and money to see an ROI on your marketing activities, but not all tools and strategies are created equal.

This week on the podcast, I’m sharing why reviewing your budget is important, what should go into your marketing budget, what it looks like to hire different levels of marketing support, and what to consider when DIYing your content.

No matter what stage of business you’re in, your marketing budget matters, and so does what you do outside of that budget. You can’t simply post content and expect that people will find you; there’s much more to it than that!

Mentioned in This Episode

• Schedule a call with me

• Connect with me on LinkedIn

• Follow me on Instagram

Virtual summits continue to be popular among the online business community, and I don’t see it slowing down anytime soon. Maybe business owners are looking at different ways to deliver the summit or the structure shifts a bit, but I believe that summits are here to stay.

If you’ve hosted a summit before, or you’re thinking about it, it doesn’t have to be a one-and-done event. You can create something that continues to drive traffic to the summit or virtual conference. 

How? Turn your summit evergreen! It’s easy to do this when you plan an evergreen aspect from the beginning, but it’s also possible if your summit has come and gone.

Listen in this week as Jenn Zellers shares her wisdom about how to do this with the fewest hiccups and surprises as possible.

Mentioned in This Episode

• Episode 55: Gaining Visibility (and Income) Through Online Summits with Krista Miller
• Episode 121: Leveling Up Your Virtual Summit with Krista Miller

About Jenn Zellers

Jenn empowers virtual summit hosts and speakers to create more reach and impact by extending the lifespan of their one-hit-wonder events. Through the Virtual Summit Search directories, she connects attendees with awesome summits, as well as hosts with speakers and service providers to help make their summit even more amazing. The Virtual Summit Search team also works with hosts to evergreen their summits to get ongoing leads and sales, and with speakers to make the most of their summit presentations to grow their email list and get more sales - all without being sleazy or gross! Follow her on Instagram or connect with her on LinkedIn.

What happens to new subscribers once they’re on your email list? 

Do you deliver whatever free thing you used to attract them to your list…and then ignore them? Or just deliver the freebie and add them to your nurturing emails?

If you’re doing either of these, you’re missing a big opportunity. The opportunity to nurture those new subscribers so they know what you do, who you do it for, what you offer, and what challenges you can solve for them. 

On this episode of the podcast, I’m sharing why having a welcome sequence is so important and what to include in your welcome sequence, email by email. 

And if you need additional support with creating your welcome sequence, you can get access to my free One Week to Your Welcome Sequence challenge!

Mentioned in This Episode

• One Week to Your Welcome Sequence
• Episode 165: What to do Before You Work on Your Content
• Episode 167: Two Tips for Podcasters to Grow Their Email List

What’s going on in your head is kind of a big deal when you’re running a business. It can mean the difference between a productive week and one where you’re ready to throw in the towel.

But I think mindfulness often gets overlooked and we talk about manifesting things (money, clients, email subscribers, etc.) instead. Those things aren’t going to show up if you’re not intentional with your time, get your mindset straight, and get really clear on how you want to show up and grow your business.

On this week’s episode, guest Lee Chaix McDonough talks about what mindfulness looks like in business and as business owners, how to figure out what’s important to you (and take action on it), and why all business owners need some knowledge of coaching so you can self-coach.

It’s not our typical episode, which I think makes it even more interesting and powerful. Tune in now!

Mentioned in This Episode

• ACT on Your Business

About Lee Chaix McDonough

Lee Chaix McDonough is the CEO and Founder of Coach With Clarity, a training and education company for life and business coaches. She is also the host of the Coach with Clarity podcast and author of the #1 Amazon bestselling book, ACT On Your Business: Braving the storms of entrepreneurship and creating success through meaning, mindset, and mindfulness.

After over a decade as a clinical social worker and public health professional, Lee became credentialed as a coach through the International Coach Federation and now provides ICF-accredited training and continuing coach education for intuitive, innovative coaches.

Her Coach with Clarity framework fuses meaning, mindset, and mindfulness with grounded intuition and solid business strategy to help coaches and clients excel at entrepreneurship and transform their lives.

Lee lives in New Bern, NC with her husband Patrick, their two teenage sons Jack & Ben, and their lovable pug Phineas.

Podcasters have two main ways to reach their audience right where they are: in their earbuds and in their inboxes. It’s important to leverage both of these regularly and simultaneously. But how?

Thankfully, when you’re a podcaster, you already have the platform, the scripts and language, and the tools you need to grow your email list. You just need to use them all.

This week on the podcast, I’m sharing two ways podcasters can grow their email lists using what they already have available to them. This isn’t about having the right opt-in, though that helps. This is about actually talking about them and sending people to subscribe.

Because if you’re not talking about it, how will people know about it?

Mentioned in This Episode

• Episode 150: What Opt-in Do You Need to Grow Your Business?
• Episode 152: How to Promote Your Opt-in for Better ROI
• Ask Your Audience Challenge
• Minimum Viable Content Marketing - the prework
• Minimum Viable Content Marketing - the podcast series

Ready for your next big launch? Then you need to tune into this episode! 

Launches, when following a prescribed format, can feel heavy, overwhelming, and complicated. And when you’re feeling overwhelmed, chances are you won’t bring the energy you need to your launch. That means low sales and likely feeling really discouraged about your results and business.

But you can still have a big (aka high revenue) launch while having fun in a simple launch that matches your personality and your prospective clients’ needs. TaVona Denise tells us how.

This conversation centers around four big things that every launch needs and TaVona walks you through what’s needed for each piece. And no, we’re not talking email sequences and flashy automation. We’re talking energy, taking care of yourself, building relationships, and more.

Mentioned in This Episode

• Take TaVona’s Launch Quiz to find out the best launch strategy for you and your business. 

About TaVona Denise

TaVona Denise is setting a new standard for how coaches launch and fill their group programs so they can help more people AND have the lifestyle they started the business for.  After having multiple 5 to 6 figure launches that left her exhausted and overwhelmed, she created the SIMPLE Launch Method to help fellow coaches crush their launch goals without burning out. 

TaVona is the author of Unstoppable Success: How to Finally Create the Body, Business and Lifestyle You Want, and the voice behind the podcast, Coaching, and Conversations.

Knowing what content to create for your audience doesn’t have to be a mystery. You just need some time to do a little research to help you figure out what they need, what you need, and what you’re capable of creating content around.

Then, of course, you need a content strategy. But not before you do the pre-work.

This week on the podcast, I’m sharing three things to do before you take the time to create any content. Before that next social media post. Before you record your next podcast. Before you do that next video.

This week is part one of a 7-part series on minimum viable content marketing, the content that every business should have in their marketing strategy. 

Mentioned in This Episode

• Minimum Viable Content Marketing - the playlist
• Minimum Viable Content Marketing - the presentation
• The Easily Distracted Entrepreneur with guest Lisa Simone Richards
• Episode 134: They Ask, You Answer with Marcus Sheridan
• Episode 144: 6 Reasons You Need to Ask Your Audience
• Ask Your Audience Challenge
• Episode 138: Know Your Zones of Genius for Content Ease

What’s holding you back in business right now? Don’t like your voice/look, imposter syndrome, time, perfection syndrome, fear of haters? Maybe a few of these?

Video is one of the most powerful ways to show up online because you can really show off your personality and expertise at the same time. And video can be incredibly entertaining too!

Just ask the guest of today’s episode! I originally started following her because her camera confidence showed through and her videos were incredibly entertaining and educational. She really makes video look easy!

Shana Yurko knows what she’s talking about, and she’s even turned some really negative comments into fuel for future content. (What’s wrong with people that they send hurtful comments to others!?)

Tune into this episode as we talk outsourcing some of your video, what’s holding people back, how to be more confident on video, and the most important thing when creating video for your business. (It’s not killer editing skills or trendy Reels!)

Mentioned in This Episode

• Get Confident on Camera
• 5 Easy Instagram Reels Transition Tutorials

About Shana Yurko

Shana is a 12-year veteran video producer, photographer, brand-builder, and marketer who helps business owners grow their biz with content that stands out and creates connection.

You'll typically see her with a camera or a coffee in my hand…working in video production for 10+ years will do that to ya. She's produced, shot and edited video content for big brands like GoDaddy, Paramount Animation, Hydrafacial, InStyler, CBDistillery, and more.

Now more than ever, business owners are growing their income using platforms like Instagram - for zero dollars. And the crazy thing about it? It's easy when you break it down into a simple repeatable system.

Creating content should be simple, fast, and efficient. (Blame Shana's obsession on the years of planning 12-hour shoots scheduled down to the minute.) Bottom line... small business owners don't have time to waste on systems that aren't effective.

And you can use these systems to make all types of videos that convert followers to customers - even if they're uncomfortable on-camera and have never made a video before.