As a self-employed business owner, you know you've got to deal with contracts. But this isn't the fun part of the job. It might even be scary to make something "legal" like that. What you don't know is that a good contract is at the root of making client experiences more ease-ful. Here I'll break it down into three simple principles, making it easy for you to reap the rewards of contracts.
Read MoreIf you’ve ever caught yourself thinking you just need one more class, book, or certificate before you’re ready — this one’s for you. Learning feels productive, but it can also keep you stuck in preparation mode. In this article, I challenge you to break free from the “learning loop” and start taking real, imperfect action. Leave the sidelines and start building your business and confidence for real-world results!
Read MoreAre you struggling to set goals or planning how to achieve them? This article is for anyone who wants to create a robust personal management plan that is flexible. Even better, it’ll provide insights and help you improve the plan as you go. Here, I’ll provide a structure that will help you figure out how to be a good boss to yourself.
Read MoreThis article is for busy self-employed business owners struggling with doing too much. You crave identifying which operations in the business to streamline. Sounds like you need an Operational Plan! I'll help you clarify your priorities and help you feel less overwhelmed by your task list.
Read MoreYou're no dummy. You know a financial plan is a key part of business, even for a self-employed business that's just getting off the ground. You want to have reasonable financial expectations for your business. And it'd be great if you didn't have to overwork to get there. (But is that even possible?) This article is for anyone struggling with overwhelm when trying to understand the money side of their business. Here, I'll help by providing you with clarity and simplifying the mathematical process. This will help you to launch a business with a solid financial footing.
Read MoreMarketing is a big umbrella that covers many, many different things. When coming up with a marketing plan, it can be difficult to focus in on the aspects of marketing that you really need to learn about. This article is for any aspiring self-employed business owner who wants to do it right. This overview will help you to understand all that's involved with a marketing plan, and help you zero in on the stuff you need to learn about.
Read MoreIf you've never felt insecure when comparing yourself to others, this article isn't for you. For the rest of us normal people, we need to explore this and how it's impacting our current or future businesses. It's vital for self-employed businesses to understand their competitive advantages and disadvantages. But trying to understand this usually gets us stuck, demoralized, or frozen. Let me reframe competition and the dis/advantages of your business so that you can more easily succeed.
Read MoreYou're self-employment curious, but you're not even sure what your business is or does. It's not clear to you what your business does and what it means to know what it does. You want to have confidence in knowing the general form of your business. I'll help orient you to the basics of your business. This also addresses what's required of the Executive Summary and Company Description sections of a business plan.
Read MoreBusiness Plans. Are they archaic? Vital? Confusing AF? This is the first of a series of articles designed for self-employed businesses and people critical of capitalism. This series will go in-depth into each component of a business plan. This first article is an overview going through all the parts of a business plan. By understanding the components, it will become less monolithic. You might realize you know more than you thought, or that you've missed a key thing. Launch your business smartly with a solid plan!
Read MoreThis article is for the cautious first-time business owners who don't want to "risk it all" in launching their business. You're struggling with a fear of risk, especially in the case of litigation. You want to move forward and put protections in place confidently. I'll enlighten you regarding the risks you're exposed to. Then I'll further soothe your fears by describing the many methods you can use to protect yourself and your business. By the end of this article, you'll know risk-reducing actions and be able to move forward with confidence!
Read MoreYou can't know what you don't know, and that's true of so much for self-employed folks who are just getting started. You could be missing out on clients that you're not even aware of! That's not clickbait, it's just a fact. People interested in your services might never contact you. You can't completely solve this, but there are things you can do. In this article, I provide clarity for the client's purchasing decisions. Then I illuminate an easy but significant change that will help you to have more client inquiries.
Read MoreThis is an article for multi-talented and full of potential self-employed business owners who want to identify their first or next best business offering. Those just starting out will get clarity on what offering to start with, and more established businesses will learn which offerings to expand to. I help you analyze your offering ideas and prioritize your business offerings.
Read MoreOnce upon a time, you decided on rates for your business. They made sense at that time. But now, you're not sure they're working for you anymore. Is it time to raise prices? What should you raise them to? How do you roll out these new rates? This article is for folks like you: business owners who are struggling with changing their rates. You don't know how to raise your rates and want to confidently decide upon and implement a new price. Read on as I clarify the process. You'll get instructions on each step so that you can confidently make an increase in your rates.
Read MoreEarnest aspiring business owners like yourself want to make wise decisions when it comes to launching their business. Marketplace websites can seem very attractive for those who worry about where customers will come from. Marketplaces attract just as much competition as customers. And do you really need competition? I say you don't! Allow me to illuminate what you need to know to launch a fruitful business.
Read MoreAnxieties about starting a business abound. Strategic-thinking folks like you seek to distinguish legitimate fears from illegitimate anxieties. What many don't realize is that the outcome of self-employment is not success. Yes, that could be one of the outcomes, but it's not the only or even the most valuable. As I reflect back from my 10th year in business, I share three key outcomes I see all my clients benefit from. I hope my perspective will help reinforce your confidence. And - for those not yet started - encourage you to launch your business!
Read MoreThis article is for those who are struggling to understand what market research means. As a small business, you need to avoid overwhelm and focus on the most relevant market data. Allow me to illuminate what works best for self-employed businesses. I'll show you how to understand your market well enough to properly steward your business. It's not just, What trends are you noticing? but also How are you noticing trends?
Read MoreDid you just get blind-sided by self-employment taxes? Or maybe you're early in your entrepreneurial journey and you're afraid of all the taxes you'll have to pay when self-employed. Let's clarify what's going on with self-employed taxes. Then we can make a plan that anticipates your tax liability.
This blog article is for progressive self-employed business owners who want to institute business practices throughout the year that will make tax time less stressful. But who also want to (legally) minimize the amount of tax they have to pay. Read on to better understand how to build a successful business with minimal stress at tax time.
Read MoreYou haven't started your business yet, and you're not sure where to start. It seems like everything is interconnected and all needs to be done at the same time. Is there a starting point? If you do find a starting point, what comes next?
In this article, I provide 4 strategies to guide you through all the paradoxes of an early business's life. If you're a conscientious aspiring self-employed business owner, this will show you how to move through the early stages of your business with more confidence!
This is an article for business owners who are struggling with getting knocked off balance when big life stuff happens. It's possible to navigate negative events with less stress. This is true even if you're only just launching your business. Let's explore a few principles that will help you get through a tough time with a successful business.
Read MoreYou want to start a business, but you're not sure what to buy now and what to hold off on. You want to make purchases with confidence to launch your business, but you also don't want to end up bankrupt. Starting a business comes with tight budgets and tough spending decisions. Read on as I provide guidance on differentiating between must-have and nice-to-have expenses. Learn when to invest in essential items and when to consider nice-to-haves like virtual assistants or upgraded tools, all while managing your funds effectively.
Read MoreMaggie Karshner is a self-employment coach based in Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. She specializes in coaching solo entrepreneurs and owner-operated small businesses in industries such as real estate, mental health therapy, massage therapy, yoga, doulas, and non-profit.
Maggie's coaching practice encompasses one on one coaching, group coaching, and asynchronous learning via the member area of the website.
As seen on King5's New Day NW and in The Seattle Times.
If you’ve ever caught yourself thinking you just need one more class, book, or certificate before you’re ready — this one’s for you. Learning feels productive, but it can also keep you stuck in preparation mode. In this article, I challenge you to break free from the “learning loop” and start taking real, imperfect action. Leave the sidelines and start building your business and confidence for real-world results!
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As a self-employed business owner, you know you've got to deal with contracts. But this isn't the fun part of the job. It might even be scary to make something "legal" like that. What you don't know is that a good contract is at the root of making client experiences more ease-ful. Here I'll break it down into three simple principles, making it easy for you to reap the rewards of contracts.