Small Business Bestie

Small Business Bestie 2.0 - big updates!

• Michelle Smock • Season 1 • Episode 43

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Ready to take your small business to the next level? Join me, Michelle, as I navigate a thrilling new chapter with Small Business Bestie, marking our one-year anniversary with the launch of Season Two on March 8th! I've decided to pivot from my accounting business to pour my heart and soul into our growing community, and I'm excited to introduce new coaching services designed to empower fellow entrepreneurs. My talented son, Azra, has been hard at work creating incredible tools like an AI-assisted business planner, a business tracker, and a business launch tool that will be available to my coaching clients and to members of Small Business Bestie. You'll hear from Azra himself as our featured guest in the season 2 premiere episode, sharing his journey and the innovations he's developed to help your business thrive.


As we embrace this fresh start, I'm thrilled to announce our transition to a video chat podcast model, making our content even more accessible with episodes available on YouTube and potentially Facebook Live. Plus, as part of our community, you'll be invited to weekly virtual roundtable discussions where we can support each other and exchange insights. Whether you're a seasoned entrepreneur or just starting out, this season promises to be a hub of resources, inspiration, and collaboration. Mark your calendars and get ready to join a vibrant network of like-minded business owners who are all about growth and success. Can't wait to see you there!

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Join the growing community on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/smallbusinessbesties

Connect with Michelle on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/bestiemichellesmock
Check out the Small Business Bestie Website
Check out Cultivate Accounting


Speaker 1:

Hey besties, it's Michelle here. I just wanted to reach out to you guys today. Drop something in the feed and let you know that I have not quit the podcast, I'm just taking a little break. We're coming up on the one year anniversary. We launched Small Business Bestie last year on March 8th International Women's Day and I thought this would be a great time for me to kind of roll with the tides of winter and take a little step back and breathe. And during that time I've been working on some really big changes in my personal life, my professional life, and so I just wanted to kind of clue you guys in on what's going on. So the first thing I want to talk about is that season two of Small Business Bestie will be launching this year on March 8th, as an anniversary to our initial launch last year, and then I'm going to start releasing episodes weekly on Wednesdays from that point forward. Another thing I want to let you guys know about is that I have decided to transition into a video chat podcast model as well. So not only will you be able to hear the audio of the podcast in Spotify or Apple or Amazon or any of the places that you listen to your podcasts, but you'll also be able to find me on YouTube, as well as, potentially, some Facebook lives going out with my podcast as well. So be looking out for those changes this year as well.

Speaker 1:

Now I talked about some changes in my personal and professional life, so I'm going to be really vulnerable and honest with you all right now. I am going through a separation in my marriage right now, which has given me an opportunity to kind of reevaluate what I want for my career. I've spent the last couple of years building an accounting business Cultivate Accounting with my husband, and I have decided that I will be taking a backseat in that business going forward and instead I'm gonna put all of my energy into Small Business Bestie, because, after all, that is kind of who I am. That's my brand and my passion, so I'm just gonna go full force with Small Business Bestie. So what that means for you is that I am gonna be offering my coaching services for small businesses starting in March, and I have a little launch special going on for my coaching services. Generally, I do six sessions over a period of three months, so every other week, and it's an hour to 90 minute session, depending on what's going on in your business and what your needs are. Right now I'm offering the month of March as a throw in bonus, so you'll actually get eight coaching sessions for that same $1,200 investment and in addition to the actual coaching sessions themselves, that's also going to give you access to some really cool software that my son has built for me. I actually went to Azra and asked him if he could help build some software for the Small Business Besties for three of the things that I find are most needed that I get the most questions around. One of the tools that's going to be in that Small Business Bestie toolbox that you'll have is a business planner, so it's an AI-assisted business planning tool that can help you create is a business planner, so it's an AI assisted business planning tool that can help you create a basic business plan. So everything from projecting your revenue to really getting clear on your vision, mission, values all of those things are kind of wrapped up into that one tool. In addition to the business plan tool, there's gonna be the business tracker, so this is a tool that I'll be using with my coaching clients. But if you are interested in just becoming a small business bestie member and getting access to these tools, you can do that without being coached, and it's a place for us to set long-term goals and then work it back to figure out what is the most important things that we need to be focused on right now in order to get your business to the next level. So there's going to be a business tracker tool built in, and then the other tool that's built into that software is a business launch tool. So this is a tool specifically to help you know exactly, step by step, what steps are necessary in order to fully register a business in your local area. So those are the three tools that will be available in the software.

Speaker 1:

I'm really excited about it and I'm actually going to record an episode with my son. That's going to be the kind of kickoff of season two. So for season one, episode zero was an interview with my husband, neil, and we talked about our entrepreneurial journey and operating Cultivate and all of the things. So season two, I'm actually going to interview my son, azra, and I'm going to talk about his entrepreneurial journey and I don't want to give away too much, but you guys are going to be blown away by what Azra has been able to accomplish in 15 short years. I'm so excited for his future and I think that he actually has a lot of valuable insight. And also he is available to help other small businesses and entrepreneurs create custom softwares or web apps as well. And so you guys will get to hear from Azra on episode zero of CESA 2 on March 8th.

Speaker 1:

With your coaching, you're going to get your actual coaching sessions. You're going to get all of those tools that I just told you about in the toolbox. You're also going to be invited to take part in a weekly roundtable discussion, virtually on Thursdays. So every Thursday I'll be hosting a weekly roundtable discussion with any of the coaching clients as well as members of the Small Business Bestie community. And this is just going to be a place where we're going to have like a 10 minute section where I'm leading us through kind of a thought provoking prompt for the week about business or mindset and we'll go through kind of a guided discussion for the first 10 to 15 minutes and then the floor will be opened up for questions, for issues, concerns that maybe you're dealing with in your business, that you just need a group of other female entrepreneurs that you trust that you can say listen, this is what I'm going through. Have you guys ever experienced this? Do you have any resources for me? You know what do you think? Just a place for you to have, kind of a sounding board of trusted entrepreneurs to chat with. And then the final thing that you get when you are a coaching client with me is that you become a part of the Small Business Besties directory that's going to be hosted on the smallbusinessbestieorg website and it's going to be a directory of all of the members of the Small Business Bestie community, so it will be searchable not only by your name and your business name, but also by your industry or the services or products that you offer, and that, of course, will link back to your website, which is always great for SEO. So those are the things that you get when you are a coaching client with me. Again, if you sign up to become a coaching client by March 8th, I'm gonna give you the entire month of March for free, so that's two free coaching sessions in March and then, beginning in April, you'll start your six actual sessions with the package. So $1,200 gets you eight coaching sessions and all of those other amazing benefits we just talked about.

Speaker 1:

The final thing that I wanna talk to you guys about is that I am actually offering sponsorships for the podcast for season two going forward. So if you are interested in having your business highlighted on the Small Business Bestie podcast, we'll work on the creative of what you want me to talk about your business and how you want it presented and then I'll do a 90 second commercial for your business during an episode of Small Business Bestie. We'll also be promoting your business with at least two social media posts that are directly shouting out your business, thanking you for being a sponsor and talking about the amazing services or products that you offer. So those sponsorships are now live. So, again, that gets you a 90 second live read in the middle of a podcast, as well as at least two separate social media posts leading up to the drop of that episode and then, of course, in the show notes.

Speaker 1:

You're going to be featured in the show notes. Your website will be linked to all of the show notes and the social media posts about that episode, etc. So it's a great way to gain some exposure with some very focused women entrepreneurs in Central Kentucky and beyond, and so if you're interested in a sponsorship, there is a form for you to fill out on the website smallbusinessbestieorg. You'll go to the conversations tab about the podcast and there's a sponsorship application there on the website. So I'll have all of those resources that I just talked about linked in the show notes here, and I hope that you guys are having an amazing, hopefully, end of the winter and I am praying for spring to be here soon, and I cannot wait to drop the season two episode zero with Azra on March 8th, and until then, I will talk to you guys later.