52: Hiring Contractors vs. Employees with Kira La Forgia from Paradigm Consulting

Do you REALLY need to have a website - can't you just use social media to run and grow your business?   In this episode, Kristin discusses the importance of having a website for your business, even if you are using social media. She highlights the benefits of a website, such as increased credibility, the ability to guide visitors through your brand and offerings, and the opportunity to grow your email list.   Kristin also clarifies that a website serves as a home base for your online presence, linking to other platforms and functionalities.   Starting with social media is recommended, but eventually, having a website becomes essential for a more professional and comprehensive online presence.   Reasons you want to have a website vs. just relying on social media:   #1- Having a website increases your credibility and makes your business more legitimate online   #2- You're able to guide someone through who you are, your values, your services, all your offers, etc in a thoughtfully crafted manner - vs. all the random posts on social media   #3- Grow your email list with opt-ins   #4- Your home for everything on the web

In this impromptu episode, Kristin shares her approach to getting into the groove with work when feeling low energy. She discusses the importance of choosing an approach that feels aligned to you and highlights the difference between a masculine and feminine energy approach. Kristin emphasizes the significance of putting your own state and energy first before tasks, as it leads to better outcomes. She also provides tips on how to create a positive environment and mindset for tasks you don't feel like doing.

I am changing the Girlboss Designer name. EEEK! And I want to walk you through all of this in the latest podcast episode.  I'll go over why I'm changing it, why I'm changing it NOW, what the new name is, just the whole kind of behind the scenes of this name change and how it's going to play out.

In this episode, Kristin shares her experience of living back in the US for the past nine months -after six years of being in Australia. She discusses the positive aspects of living in a nice, safe and convenient suburb of Chicago, being closer to family, friends and team, and having a settled routine for her son Jack. However, she also talks about missing the beach and the challenges of flying and traveling so often. Overall, she reflects on the ups and downs of her transition and looks forward to what the future holds.    

In this episode, Kristin shares three recent wins in her business and her biggest takeaways from each that you can apply to your journey.     The first win is a 40% increase in business revenue in 2023 compared to 2022. The second win is the transition of a team member from part-time to a full-time salaried employee with benefits. The third win is the purchase of one of Girlboss Designer's website templates by Manifestation Babe for their latest venture - Manifested Adventures.     The main takeaways from these wins are the importance of focusing on money management, not basing the future on the past, small steps forward can lead to big accomplishments that feel normal, and realizing that people you admire are in closer proximity than you think.

The time has finally come when you're ready to share your brand new website to the world, how exciting!     Maybe you're a brand new business or you've redone an existing website. Either way, it's so much fun to show off your new website to everyone.     I want to give you some tips to help maximize this, so you can get the most out of this really exciting moment to increase your visibility and leads for your business.     I've broken this down into two parts.     One part will be talking about tips for maximizing your website launch for a brand new business. And then I also want to touch on if you're an existing business doing a relaunch of your brand or website, how to maximize it for you.     There are definitely a lot more tips for the brand new business because there's just a lot more going on here. Like it's a brand new business. You're revealing it for the first time.     Someone who's established, who's relaunching their website. They've already kind of been building that audience over time. People already know who they are. It's a little bit of a different situation, but I do want to touch on both. And we're going to start with the brand new business.     FOR A BRAND NEW BUSINESS   Begin building your social media and audience ahead of time vs waiting until the website is done Begin your email list ahead of time (add existing personal and professional contacts) Have a way to capture emails easily on the site when it goes live (freebie) - the launch will be the most high-traffic time Get your audience excited with a lead up & maybe even sneak peeks SHARE big time everywhere when you're ready! (email list, all socials, mailable card etc) Ask your friends and family members to share   FOR AN EXISTING BUSINESS DOING A RE-LAUNCH   Have a way to capture emails easily on the site when it goes live (freebie) - the launch will be the most high-traffic time Get your audience excited with a lead up & maybe even sneak peeks SHARE big time everywhere when you're ready! (email list, all socials, mailable card etc) If you're changing your business name with this launch - start talking about the transition ahead of time

In this episode, Kristin shares a major client success story (a 6-figure client booking!) and highlights the key takeaways we can all learn from this big win. She emphasizes that a website is like a storefront and digital business card in the online space, and even if most of your business comes from referrals, people will still look you up. Kristin also discusses the benefits of using website templates instead of custom websites, explaining that templates can be customized to fit your branding and messaging. She then outlines key elements of a successful website, including clear messaging, legibility, and a professional vibe. Finally, Kristin reminds listeners that building a business takes time and that each client can contribute to its growth.

During Christmas time in the midst of a conversation with a family friend, I mentioned how I wanted to work the same amount of time I work now and make WAYYYY more money.    She laughed a little like as if wanting to say "well, wouldn't that be nice!". Her reaction to this was like I was a bit crazy and it's not possible.    Then I gave her real life examples of people creating exponential quantum leap type growth in their business. Women I follow in the online space tripling their business's income in a year. Women making multi-millions of dollars working part time hours with their kids.    I could see her mind starting to open up and shift a little bit more.    It can be easy sometimes to buy into other people's opinions about what we want to with our life.    I'm sure you've been there at some point where you open up to someone about an idea or goal you have: whether it be creating a new business, switching careers, making more money, working while raising kids, travel dreams, lifestyle dreams.   And their reaction or comments about what you've shared creates a bit of doubt or deflation in you.   When this happens we can sometimes second guess ourselves, lower our dreams and expectations, or feel a bit frozen in indecision.    Sometimes people sit for so long on big ideas or changes because of the doubt that was instilled in them from others.    First I want you to remember - no one else can actually do this to you. No one else actually has the power to make you doubt yourself, to feel deflated, or to make you second guess yourself.   We are in control of taking outside information in (other people's opinions) - and deciding what we want to do this that information.   And so in this episode I want to share a few useful perspectives on how we can approach receiving opinions from other people about our goals and dreams that are not in our favor.

Welcome to a brand new year! It's that time when many set new intentions/goals for the year, and get excited about what's to come.   As I've been going through my own goal setting and future visioning process for this year, I've felt called to share more of how I'm approaching this with you all.   The traditional way people approach setting their goals for the year would be to write down a list of what you want to achieve for the year (however long or short).   This is typically a simple and to the point list of changes you'd like to make, and what you'd like for your life to look like in the future.   Listen to the full episode to check out the tips for working with your unconscious mind with goal setting.   If you want to learn more about how to actually implement this for yourself....   Join me for the Aligned Goal Activation Workshop!   After going through my own goal activation process, I've been feeling pulled to share this with you in a very practical and actionable way!   Here's what this workshop will look!   DAY 1:  Chose your aligned goal(s) for this year DAY 2:  Write a detailed visualization of your goals incorporating subconscious language (using NLP - bringing in all 5 senses) DAY 3:  Create your Vision Board - templates for phone background, printable, & laptop background DAY 4:  Have a plan for what to do next moving forward   Sign up for this LIVE workshop here: https://checkout.kristinrichards.co/aligned-goal-workshop-live/

We're about to close one year and open another, which is the perfect time to reflect back on everything that's happened over the past 365 days. In this episode I'm sharing my personal and professional reflections from 2023. My biggest moments, biggest lessons, what I'm most proud of, and what I envision going into 2024.