There are never ending hurdles to overcome as you build a business for yourself, but one of the biggest challenges is learning to truly believe in yourself.

Christine Nelson, the founder and CEO of AnnMann Designs, is the definition of heart and soul in small business. AnnMann Designs is a jewelry brand that creates pieces inspired by natural and architectural elements. Her entrepreneurial journey has been nothing short of incredible and by taking a chance on herself, she was commissioned to create the crown featured in the new series, Bel-Air, now streaming on Peacock. Although there has been many lessons learned, it has been an important reminder of how YOU can create amazing opportunities when you put yourself out there.

“I decided to put it on myself to do things that I hadn’t done before” – Christine Nelson

In this episode, Christine discusses:

• The brand discovery process and how important it is to the business
• Lessons learned from understanding and negotiating contracts with large corporations
• The evolution of new entrepreneur to savvy business owner 

Thought starters: How can I apply this thinking to my business?

• What is the personality of your business?
  How is your brand communicating that personality to your ideal customer? What does your brand say about your business? What does it say about you? How are you reflected in the brand? How is your brand telling a story and inviting people in? Is the audience you're inviting in the right customer fit? Are there things you could be changing to have better residents with your target customer? 
  
  
  
• How are your contracts supporting your business?
  Are they allowing and considering the amount of work that’s going to go into a project? Are they setting the right price and the right expectation for you and the other party within the agreement? Is it time to take a critical look at your contracts or your contract structure to see if anything is missing? Is there something that needs to be enhanced, added, or rephrased in your contract? 
  
  
  
• What inspires you?
  What are you taking from the world and using to influence your next step? If you are a technical executor or developer, what inspired you? What creates that fire? What keeps you going and how do you pursue more of that? How do you infuse that into the work that you’re doing every day? 

Key themes

• Branding
• Business Evolution
• Inspiration 
• Contracts

For extended show notes, resources, and ways to connect, learn more at: mavenminds.com/season-1-trailblazers 

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Podcast Editor and Strategist: @episodeready

Rob Ellerman of The Rob Ellerman Team has the #1 real estate group in both Missouri and Kansas with over $3.5 billion in career sales, over 12,000 homes sold, and 26 years of consecutive growth. 

Behind the years of success has been a lot of hard work, dedication, and trust for his team. Caring for and providing the best possible support for the agents has been a main focus for the Ellerman Team since its inception. Although the upward momentum hasn’t come without its own set of challenges. In an industry that’s easily accessible, they are constantly challenged to compete with a massive lack of consumer education, making it a critical mission to build strong client relationships and to educate them on finding the right support for such large investments. 

“With everything that I do, I really try to make sure that the agents are thought of first and foremost. What can I do to help them? What can I do to help their clients?” – Rob Ellerman

In this episode, Rob discusses:

• Focusing on retention and ensuring that his team is set up for success 
• The importance of consumer education and qualifying your support
• Continuously improving your skill set and staying open-minded to new opportunities 

Thought starters: How can I apply this thinking to my business?

• How are you helping retention in your own business?
  Does your business acknowledge the individuals within your organization as individuals? Does it cater to them or are you structuring for the masses? Does a blanket approach apply to those who don’t get the same value from what is being offered? 
  
  
  
• Are you taking a diversified approach in your business?
  Are you siloed into approaches that are really inside a clear path and funnel? What about when it comes to innovation and new opportunities or ways to evolve with that the market is demanding? Are you exploring new avenues in facets of your business that allow you to continue growth or to capitalize on new opportunities when they arise?
  
  
  
• What are you doing to be the expert in your industry?
  Are you seeking out new information to continuously build upon your skills? Are you adding to that institutional knowledge or adding to a skill set that’s already valuable? How does that differentiate you? Do you talk about that often? Are you using that in your marketing? Does it give you an edge? Is it something completely unheard of in the space that you’re in? 

Key themes

• Employee Retention
• Consumer Education
• Training & Resources
• Client Relationships

For extended show notes, resources, and ways to connect, learn more at: mavenminds.com/season-1-trailblazers 

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Podcast Editor and Strategist: @episodeready

The rapid growth of AllTrails has required them to explore what it means to hire and build a team of individuals who all share a common purpose; connecting people with the outdoors. CEO, Ron Schneidermann, shares how they’re making hiking trails all around the world accessible for everyone while also handling the demand for improvements due to the app’s rise in popularity. He shares more about how their focus on the foundation within is what makes all the difference.   

“You start with the stuff that doesn’t scale. Sometimes you need to do that. And then from there, you can build up momentum and build off of it.” – Ron Schneidermann

In this episode, Ron discusses:

• Hiring candidates that are the right cultural fit for the business
• Staying true to the mission and values of the company 
• Embracing change, empowering team members, and communicating with proactive intentionality

Thought starters: How can I apply this thinking to my business?

• What are you doing to establish the culture in your business?
  Do you have guideposts in place to make sure that you are staying true to the spirit of your company and what you’re trying to do? Are you building a place that is a magnet for the people that you want to have employed there? 
  
  
  
• How you are improving communication within your own walls?
  How are you helping your team to be proactive about red flags that they might see, or problems that they perceive, or sharing new ideas? Do they feel empowered to share those? Is there a space to share those?
  
  
  
• How are you setting an intention for that communication?
  Are you scheduling meetings without any purpose? How do you set that intention in advance? How do you make sure that everyone is on the same page coming in and is ready to act, ready to talk, and ready to collaborate? How do you creat those spaces for more natural collaboration? 
  
  
  
• Is your business in a stage of rapid growth?
  What things are fueling that? What outside influences are fueling that? What inside things are fueling that growth? Is there something that you can be doing to any of those spaces to impact what is fueling that growth? Can you make it more efficient? More effective? Are you just standing back and watching it happen? Can you be learning from the process or documenting anything related? 

Key themes

• Rapid Growth
• Company Culture
• Internal Communication
• Empowering Team

For extended show notes, resources, and ways to connect, learn more at: mavenminds.com/season-1-trailblazers 

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Podcast Editor and Strategist: @episodeready

With such a fantastic lineup for the first 7 episodes of Maven Minds, we wanted to take a moment to pause and reflect on all the amazing insights and strategic concepts that our guests have shared with us so far. 

Listen to the ideas, thought processes, and lessons learned behind these stories and see how they can be applied to your business. It could be the answer to your next big breakthrough! 

“Innovation can be analysis driven. You can be looking at the data and the information in front of you and make decisions accordingly. It can also be completely creatively driven.” – Laura Crossley

What can you do today to: 

• Prioritize your content and better communication about your product or service
• Connect with your audience and build community
• Think beyond the box
• Take advantage of the resources, team, and opportunities around you

Key themes

• Content Creation
• Community
• Innovation
• Team

For extended show notes, resources, and ways to connect, learn more at: mavenminds.com/season-1-trailblazers 

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Podcast Editor and Strategist: @episodeready

To stand out among competitors you have to create a memorable brand which is exactly what Garmin International is doing through the Women of Adventure campaign. Associate Creative Director Rebecca Sommers shares some insight on the mission behind this incredible campaign and why they feel so passionately about the stories their sharing. Through this campaign, Garmin has focused on sharing and celebrating the amazing athletic adventures and unbelievable feats that women are experiencing, to motivate and inspire others to do the same. 

“It’s not really about our product. They’re using our product, but it’s not our story, it’s yours.” – Rebecca Sommers

In this episode, Rebecca discusses:

• Creating meaningful connections with their audience through authentic storytelling
• Key components that make an authentic story so captivating
• The impactful life lessons behind these stories and the challenges they’ve faced to capture them
• Embracing new creative opportunities with the development of a children’s book

Thought starters: How can I apply this thinking to my business?

• What are you doing to tell authentic stories about your brand?
  What are those stories? Do they come from the customer? Do they come from work the brand is doing? How do they reflect your product or service? What kind of tone do they set? What does the customer receive from them? What do they feel? How are they impacted?
  
  
  
• What are the creative opportunities ahead for your business?
  What are the unique situations in which you could find yourself creating a children’s book, going on a trip, or hosting an event? What is something out of the box that you haven’t tried that just might work?
  
  
  
• What are the challenges that your business is facing?
  What are you doing to take the next step to overcoming them? What’s the next small step you can take today that will get you close to overcoming that hurdle? 

Key themes

• Authentic Storytelling
• Brand Affinity
• Customer Connection
• Overcoming Adversity

For extended show notes, resources, and ways to connect, learn more at: mavenminds.com/season-1-trailblazers 

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Podcast Editor and Strategist: @episodeready

As the head of marketing, Nathan Ellering and the rest of the team at CoSchedule have soared to new heights since their inception in 2013. Growing from a plug-in for WordPress to a full-fledged web-based management software for marketers, in just a few short years. CoSchedule is able to cater to businesses of all sizes, helping them to organize and schedule their content marketing in the most efficient way. Nathan and his team are continuously working to break down barriers in the marketplace, making it easier for marketers to optimize their messaging for the best exposure.

“I think of marketing as an experience. No matter what stage you are in the customer journey, marketers are there trying to influence profitable customer action by delivering the right message to the right person at the right time.” – Nathan Ellering

In this episode, Nathan Ellering of CoSchedule discusses:

• Widespread adoption of content marketing 
• Utilizing team collaboration and customer feedback for product development
• Positioning and staying ahead of the market
• Realigning vision and mission with product evolution

Thought starters: How can I apply this thinking to my business?

• What are you doing in your business to gather feedback?
  Do you have a form, a survey, an email address that can be used to collect information? Are you just asking people directly? Do you have a way to document and share that information within your organization? Do you have a way of bringing that feedback back to the people that are developing your product? Do you have a way of making that feedback impactful to your business?
  
  
  
• What are you doing in your business to get content out there in front of people?
  Are you marketing in other ways? Would content be able to make your strategy a bit more well-rounded? Would it get you in front of more people? Do you need a blog or a podcast? Do you need scheduled posts, interactions and engagements with your customers?
  
  
  
• How are you championing collaboration in your own organization?
  How are you breaking down silos and barriers between teams? Are you allowing for that communication to happen in multiple avenues? How are you making sure that what the customer says to your customer success team or what the product engineering team thinks is indeed the right next move? How do you pull all of that together and move your product forward? Are you offering avenues for collaboration in your organization? Are there meetings scheduled intent on creating collaboration? Are there spaces in your organization that allow for multiple groups to gather together?

Key themes

• Customer Feedback
• Content Marketing
• Team Collaboration
• Artificial Intelligence
• Software as a Service

For extended show notes, resources, and ways to connect, learn more at: mavenminds.com/season-1-trailblazers 

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Podcast Editor and Strategist: @episodeready

Sarah Hoffman is blazing a new trail in agri-business with her grass-fed, sheep dairy farm. With a strong team of women to support her endeavors, she’s gone from a sheep farmer to cheese maker to restaurateur. Throughout the years, Green Dirt Farm has garnered accolades as one of Food and Wine’s best artisan cheese makers and has won several awards from the American Cheese Society.

While staying true to the handcraft tradition of cheese making, Sarah talks about how they’ve evolved their process to make the most out of the low volume of raw materials that sheep provide. 

“We are constantly looking for ways that continue to celebrate and use the old methods, but also improve on those and create more efficiencies in the process.” – Sarah Hoffman, Green Dirt Farm

In this episode, Sarah Hoffman discusses:

• The challenges of offering a unique product that’s not well known to consumers
  
  
  
• Creating efficiencies and techniques that celebrate an old-school craft while still accommodating scale
  
  
  
• Utilizing a team to increase opportunities to expand their product

 Thought starters: How can I apply this thinking to my business?

• Are you making your product available in a cost-effective manner?
  Are there other ways of getting your product into the hands of people that could be more cost-effective? Can you find distributors to hold your product? Can you get other people to talk about it and get it into the hands of customers? Can you partner with a shop? Can it end up on a menu? What are some other creative ideas you have?
  
  
  
• What are you doing to educate your customers?
  Do they need it? Do they need to know more about your product or the process, or the benefits? Is it understandable out of the gate? Do they know what your product is or how it works? What questions can you answer for your customers? Are they confused in a spot that you didn’t quite realize? How can you help them along? How can you help them complete that purchase journey?
  
  
  
• Where are the responsibilities on your team?
  Where is the structure? How are you creating operational efficiencies across those? Do you have owners, champions, and people leading? Do you have the support you need to get everyday tasks done?

Key themes

• Operational efficiency
• Scalability
• Consumer education
• Brick and mortar expansion
• Niche product

For extended show notes, resources, and ways to connect, learn more at: mavenminds.com/season-1-trailblazers 

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Podcast Editor and Strategist: @episodeready

As Kansas City’s first artisanal brigadeiro shop, owners Jessica Harris and mom Regina, are bringing the heart of Brazilian tradition to the midwest. Similar to chocolate truffles, brigadeiro is soft in texture, luxuriously creamy, and can be crafted with a unique mix of flavor combinations. 

Jessica and Regina started Sweet Kiss Brigadeiro on the side of their corporate jobs and have since been able to scale to a storefront with a certified kitchen and have landed features in major publications such as Good Morning America and New York Live.   

“I’ve learned one thing - that everybody deserves publicity. You just have to do the work. ” – Jessica Harris, Sweet Kiss Brigaderio

In this episode, Jessica discusses:

• Building a brand that embraces cultural traditions
  
  
• Using PR to scale beyond their local area
  
  
• And expanding their focus on a unique customer experience  

Thought starters: How can I apply this thinking to my business?

• Consider what it takes to take something from concept to execution.
  Where in that process are you at with your business today? If you’re in those earliest stages, what is it going to take to get you to that next step? What is your most immediate goal? What is your long-term goal?
  
  
• What is the role that PR could play in your company?
  How would additional exposure help you? Is your product accessible online? Are there other opportunities that would additionally be beneficial?
  
  
• What role does culture play in your business?
  Are you telling that cultural story? Is that culture reflected internally as much as it is externally? Does that culture create a niche? Is there differentiation in how your product is conveyed to customers?
  
  
• What are you doing to market your business?
  Have you taken an audit of your marketing? Do you know how your marketing efforts are performing? Are you making the most efficient marketing decisions? Are you getting a return on your marketing investments? Are you tracking conversions? Are you aware of what it costs to bring in new customers? 

Key themes

• Small business ownership
• Public relations
• Cultural experience
• Marketing
• Scale and visibility

For extended show notes, resources, and ways to connect, learn more at: mavenminds.com/season-1-trailblazers 

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Podcast Editor and Strategist: @episodeready