Today’s featured guest Emmelie De La Cruz is best known for her ability to empower entrepreneurs, college students and young professionals to become more competitive in the market. Emmelie will be the first to tell you: “Entrepreneurship isn’t cute. It’s not an exit strategy or an alternative to a job you hate.” As a personal branding strategist and brand auditor, Emmelie is here to empower us all to gain clarity around our personal brands, build a credible brand from scratch and make money on our own terms. Her insights have been featured in Refinery 29, Black Enterprise, Cosmo for Latinas, The Miami Herald, PR Daily, and The Huffington Post. Most notably, Forbes named her site one of the top career websites in 2013.
On this episode we discuss:
Links mentioned in this episode:
Show notes from this week's episode: SideHustlePro.co
Click here to subscribe via RSS feed (non-iTunes feed): http://sidehustlepro.libsyn.com/rss
Important Announcements:
If you listened to last week’s episode, you know I’m gearing up to release the exact email templates I used to land even the most hard to reach guests. Be the first to get it when you subscribe to the Side Hustle Pro newsletter here: SideHustlePro.co/SideHustleCorner
Side Hustle Pro has a buzzing Facebook group! Get the support you need to create and grow your side hustle in the welcoming Side Hustle Pro Community on Facebook. I’m continually impressed by the level of support and candid conversation happening in our community. Join us here: SideHustlePro.co/Mastermind
More from Emmelie:
http://www.emmeliedelacruz.com/
More from Nicaila:
SideHustlePro.co
Connect with us on Instagram:
Side Hustle Pro – @sidehustlepro
Emmelie De La Cruz – @emmeliedelacruz
On this episode, I'm sharing the art of reaching out to potential collaborators, customers and clients via the cold email. While many of many of my guests are people I know or have met, 50% of the women I interview on my podcast were complete strangers before I reached out to them via email. In this episode I’m sharing the art of writing enticing cold emails that get responses. Here are some of my key tips:
If you want my exact email templates that I’ve used to reach out to the likes of Luvvie and Courtney Sanders of Think and Grow Chick, sign up for my email list at sidehustlepro.co/sidehustlecorner.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Show notes from this week's episode: http://sidehustlepro.co/
Click here to subscribe via RSS feed (non-iTunes feed): http://sidehustlepro.libsyn.com/rss
At the age of 5, Denise Sarkor escaped the Liberian Civil War with family and lived as a refugee in Ivory Coast. Raised in a rough part of NJ by a determined mother, she would go on to graduate from The Wharton School on a full scholarship and obtain her Masters in International Finance and Economic Policy from Columbia University. Although entrepreneurship tugged at her heart, she took a safer path, working as an international banker and development consultant at Goldman Sachs and the World Bank.
But after a devastating divorce rocked her to the core, she became fearless. Realizing that Corporate America had led her to yet another glass ceiling, she finally made the leap.
On this episode, you’ll learn how she hit the ground running after quitting unexpectedly and how she’s navigating the twists and turns of starting her own business.
Topics discussed:
Links Mentioned:
Important Announcements:
If you’re not subscribed to the Side Hustle Pro newsletter, you’re missing ALL the #goalgetter tea, OK?? Subscribe here: SideHustlePro.co/SideHustleCorner
Side Hustle Pro has a buzzing Facebook group! Get the support you need to create and grow your side hustle in the welcoming Side Hustle Pro Community on Facebook. I’m continually impressed by the level of support and candid conversation happening in our community. Join us here: SideHustlePro.co/Mastermind
More from Denise:
More from Nicaila:
Connect with us on Instagram:
How did a former wedding planner turn her side hustle into a million dollar business? Today’s guest has the answer. If you’ve ever heard the phrase “bias for action” she is the epitome of that. When she thinks of an idea, she doesn’t just sit on it, she acts on it. She’s founded two successful businesses in her lifetime with no business degree and only education from the school of hard knocks. I’m talking about Vivian Kaye, the Founder and CEO of KinkyCurlyYaki, a successful natural hair extensions brand.
Known by fans as The Queen of Kank, Vivian founded KinkyCurlyYaki in 2012 to provide natural hair solutions for women who wanted the ease and flexibility of kinky curly hair extensions.
On this episode, you’ll learn how she got the idea and started her business from her living room and is now at the head of a soon to be million dollar brand.
What’s it like to be a 13-year seasoned blogger in the age of Instagram and Snapchat Influencers?
On this episode I sit down for a conversation with Luvvie Ajayi to talk Branding 101. Luvvie is is a writer, digital strategist and creator of entertainment and humor blog AwesomelyLuvvie.com. As a fellow writer and avid blogger, I’ve always been inspired by Luvvie’s journey to full-time entrepreneur. She started her blog after peer pressure from friends who recognized her talent. After starting as a casual blogger, she slowly increased to blogging more than once a week. Three years in, she was working a 9 to 5 then blogging from 7 to 9 like a true side hustler. Though she was getting paid zero dollars, her first blogging award in 2009 made her realize maybe she was on to something. The rest, as they say, is history. Now Luvvie is getting ready to debut her first book, called I’M JUDGING YOU: The Do Better Manual, which is available on September 16 (or earlier if you pre-order).
FYI, I talked to Luvvie a few months ago for a Q&A before I launched my podcast. There we covered more of her background and how she got started. Check out part one here: then tune in to the episode.
On this episode we discuss:
On this episode, we are welcoming back Meiko Drew, the Side Hustle Pro Entrepreneur-in-Residence. We’re following Meiko for an entire year to chronicle her journey from Corporate America retiree to the Founder of Food and Lifestyle brand MeikoAndTheDish. For those of you who don’t know, Meiko walked away from a six-figure salary at Target to focus on Meiko And The Dish full time. Though it hasn’t always been smooth sailing, her brand is steadily rising and so it’s time to check in with her again to see how it’s all going. On this episode we talk about:
Find out how Meiko is making it work despite the twists and turns life throws at her.
Podcast Details
When you’re starting your own business, the company you keep is more important than ever before. On this episode, I'm answering a listener’s question about how to ignore the haters and find a true entrepreneurship support group. I talk about how I found my own tribe and created a mastermind group, and what you can do to find your own entrepreneurship support system.
I also get into updates on my own side hustle journey, including: what I’m doing to monetize and my new Side Hustle Pro Shop. Tune in to hear my latest updates in this Side Hustle Pro journey! Links mentioned in this episode:
In 2009, Tiffany “The Budgetnista” Aliche lost her job as a preschool teacher. Unable to afford her mortgage, she moved back home with her parents at age 29. At her lowest moment, she was 31 years old, with no job, no money, and no home of her own. After hitting rock bottom, she determined it was time to put the financial wisdom she had learned growing up to good use. In this week’s episode, she shares how she bounced back from financial despair to take charge of her own life and help others do the same. Along the way, she has built a hugely profitable brand and even more, an insanely loyal community of Dream Catchers devoted to her Live Richer principles.
Author of two #1 Amazon bestsellers, The One Week Budget and Live Richer Challenge, Tiffany The Budgetnista and her financial advice have also been featured in The New York Times, Reuters, US News and World Report, the TODAY show, PBS, Fox Business, MSNBC, CBS MoneyWatch, TIME, ESSENCE Magazine, and FORBES.
In this episode, Tiffany breaks down:
Links mentioned in this episode
In 2009, Courtney Sanders found herself drowning in debt, bad grades, and almost having to leave college. Three years later, she had paid off all her debt, earned a scholarship, started a business and graduated from college magna cum laude. How did she turn her life around? Find out on this week’s episode.
Courtney is an entrepreneur, speaker, and goal achievement specialist. Through her training and development company, Think & Grow Chick, LLC, Courtney provides online & in-person education, mentorship, and community for women, students, and minorities looking to accomplish BIG goals. Courtney reaches nearly 50,000 young professionals every month through her blog and social media platforms. In 2015 she authored the book, Get What You Want: The Ultimate Guide to Figuring Out + Getting What You Want in Life which has since served as a catalyst for several related trainings and programs, including her 2015 live workshop, Launch Your Life.
In this this episode, Courtney breaks down:
Find out about all Courtney’s experience as a woman who has scaled her side hustle to extraordinary levels and is getting ready to make the leap into full time entrepreneurship.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Think And Grow Chick Instagram
On this episode, I'm providing an update on how my own side hustle is going. How am I balancing my 9to5 at NPR with my podcast and burgeoning Side Hustle Pro brand and business? I talk about the challenges I’m facing with time management and why I believe time management is a myth. I’m also sharing the best tools I’ve found to help me manage my calendar and organize the Side Hustle Pro process (Shout-out to Amanda Miller Littlejohn for the productivity tips!).
I also get into a strategy that I’m using to build my brand and network: attending strategic conferences. I talk about the hustle bombs I learned from Myleik Teele, CEO of curlBOX:
Tune in to hear my latest updates in this Side Hustle Pro journey!
Links mentioned in this episode:
Show notes from this week's episode: http://sidehustlepro.co/
Click here to subscribe via RSS feed (non-iTunes feed): http://sidehustlepro.libsyn.com/rss
How did the product of a once homeless single mother become the Founder and CEO of a rising startup? This week’s guest, Stephanie Lampkin, shares how an influential aunt led her to coding at a young age, setting the stage for her to graduate from Stanford and MIT Sloan.
Later, a surprise rejection from Google would lead her to found Blendoor, a mobile job matching app that hides candidate name and photo to circumvent unconscious bias and facilitate diversity recruiting in tech companies. Blendoor’s goal is to highlight the information that's most relevant to a candidate being a "good fit" independent of race, gender, military history or sexual orientation.
In this this episode, Stephanie breaks down:
Find out about Stephanie’s experience founding not one, but two startups and her journey to Silicon Valley in this episode.
Links mentioned in this episode
This is your day YouTube video
Podcast Details
The number one question I get asked is how to leverage social media to build a brand. When people ask me this, I know that they're really searching for a quick and dirty shortcut to get thousands of followers without having to put in a lot of work.
Well I hate to break it to you, but there's no way to build an engaged social media audience without consistent and authentic effort.
With over seven years of professional experience as a social media marketing strategist, I've learned firsthand the challenges that come with trying to keep up with changing platforms and algorithms. If you want to be successful in social media, you have to abandon the 'I want to make something that will go viral’ mentality because that's not how it works.
On this episode, I'm providing a detailed blueprint for how to grow an active and engaged social media following. I'm going to go over step by step what I've done to grow my own social media accounts and I'll provide a full checklist of resources to measure and grow your social channels, but don't worry, you don't need to take a lot of notes because I've created a downloadable freebie for this episode. So if you go to sidehustlepro.co/episode7 you can see the show notes from this episode and get the FREE step by step checklist for the Side Hustle Pro Social Media Toolkit.
My special guest on this episode is Muoyo Okome, Founder of Daily Spark Media & the Daily Spark Entrepreneur Community, who details how he was able to grow his account from a little under 600 followers to 25,000 in less than a year by studying his Instagram insights. He used the data on the most liked and most commented posts to plan his content strategy and explode his social media audience.
Show notes from this week's episode: SideHustlePro.co/Episode7
Click here to subscribe via RSS feed (non-iTunes feed): http://sidehustlepro.libsyn.com/rss
What goes into the making of a YouTube personality? CeeDotCee is this episode’s special guest. Whether it's recapping the latest episode of Love & Hip Hop or reviewing the hottest new music and gossip in pop culture, CeedotCee is an all around entertainer. Trailblazing the internet with her hilarious videos from YouTube to Facebook, she has over four million views combined. Her hilarious videos, like her Beyonce lemonade recap have garnered the attention of the likes of PEOPLE magazine. As if her talent in front of the camera isn't already enough, she also has skills behind the camera as a videographer and editor for various artists such as Chrisette Michele, Mya and Keke Palmer. If you haven't heard of her yet, now is the time to become a member of the rapidly growing "Cee Hive." In this episode she breaks down: How to create and build a brand as a YouTube personality Why you don’t need expensive equipment to have successful YouTube channel How to stand out in the crowded YouTube space The secret ingredient that accelerated her Facebook and YouTube following How she’s paying the bills and keeping the lights on as an entrepreneur Connect with CeeDotCee: YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/ceedotceeTV Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CeeHive Twitter: https://twitter.com/ceedotcee Snapchat: CeeDotSnaps
The words "Side Hustle" means different things to everyone. In this episode I’m breaking down:
As a Corporate America retiree, Meiko Drew walked away from a 6-figure salary to start a lifestyle and food empire. But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. As the Side Hustle Pro Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Meiko will share the real picture of entrepreneurship after quitting your job. On this episode we talk about:
Tune in for an eye-opening episode.
Today’s guest is Genese Jamilah, Founder of I Don’t Do Clubs, a successful events and lifestyle blog that caters to African American professionals across the country. In 2015, Genese also created the popular Must Love Beards Day Party Series and the first ever Black-Owned Restaurant Month. You’ll hear how Genese built I Don’t Do Clubs into a profitable business and how she got her brand and coins in formation to prepare to leave her day job.
What goes into the making of a Venture Capitalist? Wharton graduate and Michigan MBA Stefanie Thomas shifted from a career in banking at Citigroup to centering her passions around support for under-resourced entrepreneurs. But the road to VC was not always clear. Learn about the key experiences she gained at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business, the steps she took to feed her entrepreneurial fire, and the way she set herself on the path to Senior Associate with Impact America Fund.