A chat with Headbands of Hope Founder Jess Ekstrom

A chat with Headbands of Hope Founder Jess Ekstrom

 

During a trip to DisneyWorld, Headbands for Hope Founder Jess Ekstrom noticed that a lot of children were there wearing headbands as a result of losing their hair due to chemotherapy. With the mission to help make these kids feel beautiful, Jess created “Headbands for Hope,’ in her junior year of College. I talk to Jess about her journey and how Headbands for Hope is now stocked in many stores around the world and celebrity endorsed.

 

Show Notes:

Connect with Headbands ofHope:

Hang out with her on Instagram @HeadbandsofHope

Read the blog

Become a Headband Hero

Hey Everyone! My name is Katee Blizzard and I am the owner and lead strategist behind Social Greatness. I have a passion for helping purpose-driven entrepreneurs achieve the success they deserve through strategic planning, social media management, and impact-driven outreach. I’m a firm believer in you get what you give and I know that together we will leave a great impact on this world.

Flip Flops making an Impact with Lila Stewart of Hari Mari

Flip Flops making an Impact with Lila Stewart of Hari Mari

 

On the latest episode of “The Social Greatness Podcast,” I had the opportunity to speak with Lila Stewart from the Flip Flop Company, Hari Mari. For me this was an exciting interview as I spend almost everyday in Flip Flops. Hari Mari has comfortable and beautiful flip flops designs and after learning that pediatric cancer is the most fatal disease among American children – Hari Mari set out to help by committing to get 1% of sales of every flip flop purchase to support kids battling cancer. We talk about Lila’s journey from Indonesia back to the US and what inspired her husband and her to start this business.

 

Show Notes:

Connect with Lila Stewart:

Hang out with her on Instagram @harimari

Buy The Flip Flops for a Cause!

Hey Everyone! My name is Katee Blizzard and I am the owner and lead strategist behind Social Greatness. I have a passion for helping purpose-driven entrepreneurs achieve the success they deserve through strategic planning, social media management, and impact-driven outreach. I’m a firm believer in you get what you give and I know that together we will leave a great impact on this world.

How to Discover Your Target Audience

Hello there. You’re here because you have a dream. Whether that dream is freelancing full time and leaving your 9-to-5, or creating the business that has been designed in your mind for years, you deserve what your heart is craving. With a little hard work and some patience and belief, you’ll get there.

A few months ago, well maybe a little more than just a few, I was working as a virtual assistant for clients I didn’t like working for. I was creating processes and setting up their dream ventures, when what I really wanted was to be doing that for myself. My biggest struggle? I had no idea who I wanted to work with or even how I was going to reach them or talk to them. Knowing who your target market is and what they are searching for is vital to building your dream business.

After spinning my wheels for quite some time, I grabbed Carrie Green’s book She Means Business from the bookstore and decided to let the universe lead the way. Do you know what happened next? The things I learned from Carrie’s immense knowledge lead me straight to MY DREAM CLIENT!

Weird, right?

Wrong.

I focused on what I wanted to achieve, fixated on the type of client I wanted, found where they wwere and went to them instead of trying to get them to come to me. I saw a Facebook post of someone who has become my absolute greatest client. This client helped to fully form who my ideal client is and the sort of people I need to search for so that I can do work I love. She is an incredible mom who launched a soap brand, that helps fight the palm oil industry, with her daughter. They even donate a portion of the profits to regenerating the rainforest. How cool is that? Check them out here: TellSomeoneWhoCares.org

After finding my first wonderful client, I realigned my business to focus on helping socially responsible entrepreneurs, which has brought in so many more ideal clients, all of which I cannot wait to fully begin working with. As a social greatness strategist, I help them achieve their visibility goals for their business in order to bring in more money for them and to help them make a bigger impact on the world.

Since this realignment, I have reached many milestones.
Instagram followers up to 5.5K
– Email subscribers reached 1.1K and continues to grow (Sign Up for 27 FREE CONTENT IDEAS)
– Created and published my first SIX podcast episodes on iTunes
– Grew a Facebook group for socially responsible entrepreneurs to connect up to 250 with daily
new members!
– Helped 25 female entrepreneurs develop their 2018 strategies
– Fully booked my first 90 days of 2018

I promise everything will work out in the right way, at the right time for you. The biggest key to getting there is knowing who you want to work with, finding where it is they are on the internet and reaching them. Stop making them search for you. Once you get your mindset ready to accept what the universe has in store for you, big things will happen!

In the words of Carrie Green, “I can and I will. Watch me.” I’m ready to watch you blossom in 2018!

My Virtual Dream Job: How I Got Here and How You Can Too

My Virtual Dream Job: How I Got Here and How You Can Too

How are you progressing with your goals?

I’m sure you set some pretty big goals for the year, and I want to help you accomplish them; I think you can learn a little bit from my story of creating my virtual dream job. How did I accomplish my massive goals and create my dream job in just 12 months? Let me take you on a journey.

In December 2016, I hopped on a plane back to the US of A to spend the holidays with my family. A little discouraged and largely at a loss for my next steps, I felt a little like a dog going home with its tail between its legs. I had just been let go from my second Au Pair family . . .OK BYE.

But I needed money, and I kind of needed it quickly. What was I to do?

I knew I wanted to go back to Australia, but how could I do that and build a career?

I felt stuck. But not for long. 

I turned to UpWork. If you haven’t heard of it or used it before, it’s a platform for freelancers to find work and connect with people who need their services. UpWork’s motto is “creating a world of work without limits,” which is exactly what the company has done.

UpWork has made virtual assistantship easy to jump into, but the company takes a large portion of your income (20%). Overall, the interface is easy to use, but there are a lot of junk or spam posts that you have to filter through to find the best opportunities. I wanted more. I wanted to have my own connections and make the money myself. Why was I giving money to this corporation if I didn’t have to?

Anyway, I digress. UpWork is how I started in virtual work. I found a few data entry jobs and even some solid virtual assistant work. I was a little surprised at just how good I was at finding and taking on this work, and I ended up making $2k+ each month with only 10 to 15 hours of work per week. THE DREAM, RIGHT?

Wrong!

I needed to plan out what I wanted to be doing. Being good at filling in Excel spreadsheets is a great skill, but it wasn’t what made me light up and wake up each morning excited to get busy working.

So, what was my passion? What would make me want to work each day?

I set up an Asana account and set forth planning my adventure. I utilized the skills I had developed as a VA setting up the processes for others to achieve their business goals and dreams in order to effectively prioritize and strategize my own path to success and business alignment with my passions. I looked at my established clients to develop an idea of the kind of people I want to work with and developed a strategy around those particular people and themes. This helped me focus my marketing efforts as well as my networking.

I knew that working with organizations and companies that were socially responsible, and getting back to supporting non-profit work, was where my passions truly lie. Once I established a few strategies of my own, I was able to appropriately move away from the clients who weren’t fulfilling those desires and get back to the aforementioned client avenues.

Your greatest dreams deserve to become reality.

However, they won’t come true by sitting on your laurels. You have to be willing to put in some upfront work of strategizing and planning along with a little elbow grease in order to get there.

Are you following a detailed plan for success to make your dream job a reality? What are your biggest goals to achieve by this time next year?

If you are ready to truly start making your dreams a reality I would love to chat with you.

Feel free to sign up now for a FREE Strategy Session with me!

 

Working a 9-5 While Building a Dream

Working A 9-5 While Building a Dream

An Interview with Sally Cochrane

 

Sally Cochrane is the beautiful human behind Dream Board Digital, Dream Board Digital is a digital design + marketing studio for female online blog + biz owners, femtrepreneurs and overall girlbosses. Their goal is to turn your dream board into reality by getting your message across in a purposeful, passionate and fun way.

 

 

I hope that this episode inspires you to begin making your dreams a reality. I know how scary it can be to drop everything and begin focusing on your goals, that’s why I was so happy to chat with Sally about how she manages to continue working her 9-5 while building her brand for sustainability.

Show Notes:

Things we mentioned:

Asana

Dubsado – Use code (SnowSun1) for 20% off! 

Connect with Sally:

Hang out with her on Instagram Read the blog

Download her FREE CREATIVEPRENEUR BUSINESS PLAN

Hey Everyone! My name is Katee Blizzard and I am the owner and lead strategist behind Social Greatness. I have a passion for helping purpose-driven entrepreneurs achieve the success they deserve through strategic planning, social media management, and impact-driven outreach. I’m a firm believer in you get what you give and I know that together we will leave a great impact on this world.

Brand Authenticity and What It Does For Your Business with Lauren Gordon

Episode 04: Authenticity and What It Does For Your Brand with Lauren Gordon

An Interview with Lauren Gordon

http://https://www.buzzsprout.com/133963/594578-episode-004-authenticity-and-what-it-does-for-your-brand-with-lauren-gordon

 

On today’s show, I chat with Lauren Gordon of LGCopy.com about her story of entrepreneurship as well as her insight on brand authenticity as a powerful marketing tool. Lauren is the wordsmith behind Social Greatness Strategy’s brand story. I truly don’t know where I would be without her help to define my brand’s personality.

 

Lauren has developed a successful business through her powerful Facebook Lives that she holds multiple times a week. Her honesty and authenticity has truly transformed the way she does business and she wants to help you do the same. Lauren has become my Biz Bestie and I am so excited to share that we have an amazing workshop planned for you all about branding your business!

Take a listen to our chat to hear more about Lauren’s Story and her tips for creating your Authentic Brand Story that will be sure to draw in more ideal customers.

Show Notes:

Connect with Lauren:

Hang out with her on Facebook Become Her Friend!

Visit lgcopy.com

Hey Everyone! My name is Katee Blizzard and I am the owner and lead strategist behind Social Greatness. I have a passion for helping purpose-driven entrepreneurs achieve the success they deserve through strategic planning, social media management, and impact-driven outreach. I’m a firm believer in you get what you give and I know that together we will leave a great impact on this world.