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Episode #94 – Grow Your Business Online with Terra Milo

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Do you feel overwhelmed with the plethora of technology needed to support and grow your business online? Today on Financial Fluency, Terra Milo is here to explain how she helps small business owners in their first years feel confident and empowered with the tools they’re using.

On top of being a tech-savvy consultant (also known as ‘Your Computer Girl’), Terra is a certified health coach. She got into the consulting business after seeing fellow health coaches get frustrated. She’d hear them say ‘I can’t do this’ or ‘I give up’ when attempting to use and manage their online tools for marketing. That’s when the lightbulb clicked and the idea came to Terra. She could help business owners learn how to use online tools.

Terra notes that as a small business owner, you’ll find yourself working with online tools at some point or another. Even if you’re not in the tech industry, you need to know some tech to run your business online. But, what happens when those tools become laborious and you can’t seem to make it work? Instead of pulling your hair out, this is where Terra steps in. She shows you how to use the website you already have, co-create a website together, set up emails—and much, much more.  

Terra doesn’t specialize in one online platform over the other. She has a breadth of knowledge in the tech industry that allows her to go into any system and learn. Her self-proclaimed talent is learning the system and then helping others.

And her approach is simple—working one-on-one to understand the tools you’re using and what’s needed for the business. She offers many services. One package includes a personal webinar where you can see her screen while she’s signed into your systems. During this time, you’ll go through the tool together, and she’ll teach you the ins and outs of how to use it. It’s also worth noting Terra records this hour-long call so you can reference after.

Terra shares some insight to get you from feeling stuck to successful:

  1. Your business and needs are unique. A canned YouTube video won’t get you personalized results or make it easier to understand online tools since they change so frequently.
  2. You’re going to be more effective if you target a niche and specific people instead of a mass group of people.
  3. If your budget allows, run testing. Once you test and get results, you’ll know where your best audience is.
  4. Figure out the best systems and tools for you.  Just because a tool works for someone else doesn’t mean it’s best for your business. You don’t need all the bells and whistles when starting out.
  5. Keep it simple and inexpensive, so you can scale when you need to. There’s nothing wrong with using a free account in the first few years.

Wise Words from Terra

“The exchange of time for money is important to weigh and to be aware of. If it’s not worth it for you to do that, hire somebody.”

Terra’s Mission

“My mission is to empower entrepreneurs around technology. When you know how technology works for online marketing, you feel more confident and in control of your business. You also save money because you don’t have to pay someone every time you want to make a move in your business. Eventually, you’ll grow a team, but in the first few years, it’s super helpful to know how things work.”

Connect with Terra

You can learn more about Terra and how to work with here on her website: http://terramilo.com/, or follow her on social media.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CoachTerraMilo/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/terramilo/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/terramilo

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC53x0MfyXCKS-REEou1_W0Q

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Resources:

Amy Porterfield’s Podcast “Marketing Made Easy”: http://www.amyporterfield.com/amy-porterfield-podcast/

Being Boss Podcast: https://beingboss.club/

MailChimp: https://mailchimp.com/

ConvertKit: https://convertkit.com/

Mad Mimi: https://madmimi.com/

Active Campaign: http://www.activecampaign.com/

B-School: https://www.marieforleo.com/bschool/

Zero to Launch: http://growthlab.com/ztl/about-the-course/

Lastpass: https://www.lastpass.com/

Episode #94 - Grow Your Business Online with Terra Milo

Terra Milo teaches coaches and entrepreneurs all the computer skills they need to launch their business and spread their mission in the world. From websites to newsletters to social media, she will empower you with skills and confidence so you can infuse your messages with inspiration.

Terra believes that technology runs on energy, so when you’re creating websites and emails, you’re literally sending energy to your potential clients. Make sure that energy is confident, positive, and enlightening!

To read more about how to grow your business online with marketing tools—get Terra’s free guide video: http://terramilo.com/freetools.

Episode #93 Understand Business Finances with Liz Lajoie

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Are you feeling out of balance with the money for your business? Today on Financial Fluency, we are chatting with the lovely Liz Lajoie. Liz is the owner of Stratera Business Solutions, a consultancy that helps coaches and creative professionals manage their finances. In this episode, Liz will give us an insider look into her new book which is being released today, that details how to manage and understand your business finances. With this, you’ll be able to free up your time so you can do more of what you love and achieve your zen.

Liz has a strong background in professional services and business management. She spent a decade as a business manager, CFO, and partner for a civil structural engineering firm. Liz was invited into the ownership and became the only woman in the ownership group. During that time, she suffered from a mystery illness that seemed to have no true diagnosis. After several years, she discovered her illness was Lyme disease. The disease put things into perspective for Liz and made her realize what kind of work made her happy—helping people sort out their small business finances while helping them achieve their goals.

Money management is a process. Liz’s book From Zero to Zen: Secret Keys to Nurturing Your Numbers and Finding Financial Flow is a financial how-to book for small businesses and entrepreneurs that will walk you through the best financial practices. Her goal is to have readers feel confident about their money and better understand all the ins and outs of being a small business owner. The book goes through how to read financial statements, setting aside money for taxes, how much money to take out of your business to pay yourself, and more. Liz drives home a key point—you can’t do things right if you don’t have a handle on it.

Some of Liz’s business tips:

  1. Separate personal and business money.
  2. Create a business checking account.
    1. Note: If you haven’t created an LLC or an incorporated company, it might be hard to open a business checking account. In that case, open up a separate checking account to manage your business finances.
  3. Use a financial accounting system to give you a full financial picture.
  4. Look at your cash flow regularly in order to keep accurate reports for your business.
  5. Scan paper receipts to one location to keep a track of everything.
  6. Assess your client onboarding process as the business owner to develop and nurture your relationship(s).

Liz Shares Words of Financial Wisdom

“Take a look your initial onboarding and/or contract flow to get cash in hand is. It can be an area that takes a lot of time, which can affect how long it takes for us to get paid. It’s a great opportunity to develop a great client relationship. Your contracts, invoices, receipts—anything written for your service can be a part of your client communication. The better you are at that, the more the client is going to love working with you. And they may be great as a referral or a continued client.”

Connect with Liz

You can connect with Liz on her website www.staterabusiness.com, or follow her on social media.

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/lizlajoie

Facebook: www.facebook.com/staterabusiness

Twitter: @staterabusiness

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Resources

Get Liz Lajoie’s book, From Zero to Zen: Secret Keys to Nurturing Your Numbers and Finding Financial Flow 

Zen Calculator: https://staterabusiness.com/zencalculator

Stratera Business Solutions: http://www.staterabusiness.com/

Quickbooks: https://quickbooks.intuit.com/

HubDoc: http://hubdoc.com/

 

#93 - Understand Business Finance with Liz LajoieLiz’s passion is partnering with coaches and creative professionals to help them focus on their clients and grow their businesses. She loves to support her clients as they learn the ins and outs of managing their money, and finding ways to increase profits while decreasing any stress associated with their business’s finances. She believes it can be intimidating to face your finances as an entrepreneur. When you jump over the hurdle of “I just don’t want to know” and get comfortable with your numbers, amazing things can happen and you realize how much better you feel about your money, your business, and the life you’re working hard to build.

Her new book From Zero to Zen: Secret Keys to Nurturing Your Numbers and Finding Financial Flow is available on Amazon Thursday, May 18th.

She also has a fun, free tool – The Zen Calculator – which helps identify the top money-making numbers and how to use them to grow your business. Get access to the calculator here: www.staterabusiness.com/zencalculator.

Episode #92 The Journey of Imua with Meghan Alonso

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Meghan Alonso’s journey of Imua, with imua being a Hawaiian word imua (ee-mooh-ah) meaning “to advance forward with passion despite rough waves”, was birthed from a personal history of medical needs along with a huge passion for helping people.  Meghan’s company Imua Services, helps startup companies and individuals get their medical innovations up and running. With nearly 75% of all startups in this field failing, Imua Services offers training, education and connections to key development partners, tailored to the client’s needs so they can bring their life-changing and even life-saving technology to the world.  

Meghan’s Inspiration

Meghan’s passion stems from some rough waves due to medical issues for her and her family.  Meghan was born with a folded retina in her left eye that by the time she was in college was replaced with a custom made, hand painted prosthetic eye which looks almost imperceptibly real.  She also has an extra vertebrae in her spine which has resulted in numerous issues including scoliosis, disk herniations, and a tilted pelvis among others.  She had a love of dance and gymnastics, and despite pain which she learned how to manage through exercise, she excelled at both, and even did gymnastics right through college.

Her family’s biggest challenge though came from an unidentified illness that plagued her brother, which was eventually identified as Hepatitis C.  Both Meghan and her mother also tested positive for it.  Meghan’s mother likely contracted through a blood transfusion in the mid ‘70s which she transferred to her son and Meghan in utero.  This led to 7 different treatments of low-dose chemotherapy. Through this challenging time they kept moving forward, and now happily report that all three of them are completely free of the disease.

The Hawaiian Connection

Meghan’s passion for surfing led her to Hawaii where she enrolled in a graduate program that ended up not being for her.  After one semester, she dropped out, and surfed all over the island.  She worked at the 4 Seasons Lanai which she loved but eventually realized she didn’t see herself doing it long term.  She obtained Exercise Science Master’s Program in Houston and eventually settled in San Diego.  There she helped athletes reach their full potential.  This led to her working in an orthopaedic rehab clinic where she was exposed to medical devices, and a multitude of patients with different rehab protocols.  She was later invited to build a rehab centre from the ground up which is now a three centre organization.

When she moved on from there, she Meghan had the opportunity to live out one of her childhood dreams of dancing on TV and with the Ooh La La salsa dancing troupe, toured all over Europe and the US.  She also was part of America’s Got Talent in Season 6.  All the dancing took a toll on her body, and the pain in her back became increasingly worse and she discovered she also had hip dysplasia and she had damaged the lining of both of her hip sockets.  This led to surgery in Colorado which involved a hip replacement.  Her experience at the clinic led her to finally dive into the field of medical devices.  

The Journey of Imua Services

She started Imua in 2015 after she had been working in medical product development.  The company she was working for was predominantly an engineering firm that innovators used to take care of the engineering component of the device idea.  She soon found herself being contacted by passionate people who had great ideas, but no idea how to get started.   Initially, she offered them resources to help them get started, and soon, it became a business.

Meghan helps her clients navigate the complicated process of bringing their ideas to the marketplace.  Whether they move towards actually manufacturing and marketing their product, or selling the idea to a company who can do so, Imua’s mission remains to become the world leader in helping entrepreneurs, scientists, students and inventors bring their life changing ideas to fruition.

Connect with Meghan

You can connect with Meghan on her IMUA website at http://imua-services.com/,  via LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/meghanalonso, on Twitter at https://twitter.com/meghanmalonso?lang=en,  and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/meghanmalonso.

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Resources

Episode 2 of Meghan’s Podcast – Inspired by IMUA – Running on 3D Printing Prosthetic Legs: How 3D Printing Changed Derby the Dog’s Life with Tara Anderson: http://imua-services.com/taraanderson/

Meghan’s Podcast – Inspired by IMUA – http://imua-services.com/podcast-archive/

 

#91 - The journey of imua with Meghan AlonsoTexas born and bred with ALOHA SPIRIT and a sprinkling of So Cal carefree, meet Meghan Alonso.  Meghan M. Alonso is known for her medical device podcast, Inspired by Imua, and her valuable connections in the medical industry. She is a patriotic military wife, pet parent, founder and co-founder of 4 successful companies who thrives on guiding medical device and IVD companies through development and manufacturing.

When she isn’t helping others, Meghan is hard at work on her MBA she is pursuing from Auburn University, staying active with her adorable husky Abby, cross-fitting, enjoying great restaurants and fine wine with her husband, and soaking up the sun on the So Cal beaches.

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