This one’s for all of you hiding behind your laptop, hoping no one notices you haven’t posted since May. I sat down with the brilliant and refreshingly real Megan Hamilton to talk all things visibility in your business.

Megan is a speaking, confidence, and visibility coach—and she brings some serious depth to this conversation. We get into the emotional weeds of showing up in your business and how to make it feel actually doable without doing forced TikTok dances.

In this episode, we dig into:

• What visibility really means
• The mindset blocks that keep us playing small
• How pricing your offers is a form of visibility
• Megan’s “visibility ladder” technique to take small, sustainable steps
• Why your energy is the strategy and how excitement = magnetism
• The uncomfortable truth about launches, sales, and business droughts
• That time we bonded over meat flowers and salami rivers 🧀

So if you're struggling to show up, feeling like no one’s listening, or just sick of pretending you’re not scared—we got you.

About Megan:

Megan Hamilton is a speaking, visibility and confidence coach, a speaker, a musician and the host and producer of the Embracing Enchantment podcast on the Women in Media network. She’s also the speaker advisor for the award-winning TEDxQueensU.

Megan’s Links:

Socials: @ubuskills for everything but I’m off X :) Embracing Enchantment Podcast IG

Megan’s website: https://www.ubuskills.com

Thriving visibility cohort 5 begins in September. Learn more here: https://www.ubuskills.com/thriving-visibility

Learn more about BizMagic or the BizMagic Podcast.

This episode is a little different, y’all—because BizMagic just turned 8 years old! 🥳

So I’m throwing a party in podcast form. This one’s part celebration, part reflection, and part storytime about how this wild business of mine came to be—and what I’ve learned (and unlearned) along the way.

If you’ve ever scaled too fast, hired the wrong person, clung to a million-dollar fantasy check, or wondered if you’re doing it “right,” this one’s for you.

In this episode, I’m sharing:

• BizMagic’s journey into being
• The moment I realized I accidentally became an agency
• Why 2022 was a giant dumpster fire and also one of my best teachers
• What scaling too fast taught me about systems, boundaries, and trust
• Some of the milestones that actually matter (hint: it’s not always about revenue)
• The unglamorous but essential magic of just staying in business
• Why my team is the real MVP
• And a big ol’ thank you to you for being part of this wild ride

If you’re a small biz owner who is thriving, surviving, or even just treading water, join me to celebrate the messy, magical, still-here years.

Learn more about BizMagic or the BizMagic Podcast.

Today, we dig into how to keep your business seen—even when you’re running on empty—thanks to the brilliant Marketing Minimum framework from Shari Balouchi. We cut through the shiny fluff and get down to bite-sized strategies that actually stick.

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• What a “Marketing Minimum” actually is—and why it means way more than skimping on visibility.
• How to pre-decide and OWN your lowest-effort marketing actions so you don’t freeze up when you’re burned out.
• Real-world examples from guest pitching to email follow-ups—even when life hits.
• The big myths around “consistency” and why showing up perfectly every day is bullshit.
• Tactics to ditch the “all-or-nothing” mindset.
• One simple question to ask yourself to kickstart your own marketing minimum in under 60 seconds.

If you’ve ever felt paralyzed by all the content ideas, schedules, or tech BS—and wondered why the hell can’t I just get visible?—this episode is your vibe. Grab your favorite drink, and let’s do this.

About Shari:

Shari Balouchi is a business coach, marketing strategist, and unapologetic whole ass human®.

She brings over a decade of professional marketing experience—leading strategy for universities, global nonprofits, and impact-driven brands—alongside six years of coaching entrepreneurs 1:1, from solo consultants to seven-figure CEOs. Shari blends deep expertise with lived experience to help people build businesses that actually work for their lives.

As a multiracial woman navigating chronic illness, her whole ass human approach is equal parts data, lived experience, and cultural nuance. She’s helped clients create consistent full-time income, scale without sacrificing their wellbeing, grow teams that feel supportive (not overwhelming), and build systems that align with how their brains operate.

She’s also the host of Success for Whole Ass Humans, a podcast that explores business growth through grounded analysis and real-world client case studies. Today, we’re diving into her signature framework, Find Your Marketing Minimum, so you can keep your business moving, even on your lowest-energy days. When she’s off the clock, you’ll find her sipping strong tea, nerding out on the human condition, or exploring Oregon’s natural beauty with her phone firmly on Do Not Disturb.

Links:

Website: https://www.sharibalouchi.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sharibalouchi

Subscribe to The Marketing Minimum, a free email series designed to help you simplify your strategy, build momentum in a way that works with your real-life capacity, and stop overextending yourself just to stay visible.

(Shari also offers a limited number of Find Your Marketing Minimum intensives each quarter if you want 1:1 support building a personalized strategy.)

Tune into her podcast Success for Whole Ass Humans where she shares a grounded approach to business growth—for entrepreneurs who want strategy that honors their values, lived experience, and real-life capacity.

Learn more about BizMagic or the BizMagic Podcast.

Today we’re talking about one of my favorite sanity-saving business moves: optimizing the tools you're already using.

This isn’t about adding more to your plate—it’s about doing more with less.

Inside this episode, I walk you through exactly how to clean up your tech stack and streamline the backend of your business without going down another software rabbit hole.

You’ll learn:

• Why quarterly tool audits can save you major time and money
• How to decide which tools to keep, consolidate, or ditch
• When it’s time to switch platforms—and when it’s not worth it
• My favorite ways to actually learn the tools you’re already paying for
• Why SOPs matter for scaling (and staying sane)

You don’t need more tech. You need smarter tech use. This episode is your permission slip to clean up your digital junk drawer and make your systems actually work for you.

Links:

SOP Template

Want help optimizing your tools? We’ve got you!

Learn more about BizMagic or the BizMagic Podcast.

Let’s talk about the three little letters that give a lot of business owners the ick: SEO.

This episode is NOT another jargon-packed, algorithm-fueled stress spiral. Instead, I sat down with Jodie Mitchell from Nowhere to No 1 to break SEO down in a way that actually makes sense and feels doable.

In this episode, we cover:

• What SEO really is (and how to stop making it scarier than it is)
• The three types of SEO—and why “on-page” is your BFF
• Why keywords are less mystical than you think
• Page titles, meta descriptions, and how to make them NOT suck
• Tools you can actually use (yes, they’re free!)
• Jodie’s exact monthly SEO workflow (it’s one hour a week and very doable)
• Why tricking Google with hidden text is very 2001—and please don’t do it
• How blogging and small tweaks help keep your site alive (without burning you out)

If SEO has felt like a confusing cloud of nonsense, this episode will bring the sunshine. You’ve got this. Let’s make Google your new low-key business partner.

About Jodie:

Jodie has spent the last eight years learning SEO and also learning how to explain it to business owners and stakeholders, as a part of her career both at an agency and in-house at one of the UK’s biggest brands.

Now, as a self-employed business owner, she’s putting all of her skills from her old life into action on her own website and helping other business owners demystify the world of SEO and realise that it’s not as scary as it seems. Jodie is a firm believer that anyone can do SEO—because if she can, with no qualifications and a lack of understanding of anything technical, anybody can.

That’s why she’s started teaching SEO to other small business owners and self-employed people. With a bit of time, effort and trial and error, they can get the same results for their business that Jodie has been getting other businesses during her 8-year SEO career.

Links & Resources:

instagram.com/nowheretono1

Super Quick and Easy SEO Tasks Guide: https://nowheretono1.co.uk/lazy-girls-guide-to-seo

Learn more about BizMagic or the BizMagic Podcast.

If you’ve got a website (or you’re trying to build one without burning it all down), this episode is for you. I’m breaking down the 12 must-haves every small business website should include—plus some bonus best practices to help you get more conversions and create a better experience for your people.

I’ve been building websites since the days of Yahoo Site Builder (hello, 90s soap opera fangirl life 👋), so yeah—I’ve seen it all. Whether you’re DIY-ing or working with a designer, here’s what I want you to know:

✨ The goal of your site? To be clear, welcoming, human, and effective.

💻 The reality? A lot of sites are missing the basics.

In this episode, I cover:

• The two pages every website needs
• What you absolutely should include on your About page (and the mistake I’ve seen more than once!)
• Where to put your face and your name (yep, we’re getting personal)
• The role of your email list—and why you still need one even if you’re not sending anything yet
• How to serve both the scrollers and the clickers on your homepage
• The #1 thing that builds trust with new visitors (hint: it's not your pricing)

Plus, I’m dishing out website best practices for accessibility, SEO, mobile responsiveness, and site speed—because a beautiful site that no one can find or navigate is not the vibe.

You don’t have to do it all at once. But each tweak you make moves your site from “meh” to magical. Let’s get into it.

Learn more about BizMagic or the BizMagic Podcast.

Today on the Biz Magic Podcast, I’m joined by the amazing Melissa Rich of Virtually Done Systems—workflow queen and systems whisperer for creatives who swear they “just aren’t systems people.” Spoiler: They are. And you are, too.

We’re diving into the behind-the-scenes dream team duo: your CRM and your Project Management tool. If you’ve ever felt like you’re duct-taping your biz together with a handful of random tools and a prayer, this one’s for you.

Here’s what we get into:

• Why you actually need both a CRM and a project management tool (even if it’s just you)
• What roles each tool plays—and why using them interchangeably leads to tech chaos
• Real-world examples of how to integrate them without losing your mind
• Why “just a solopreneur” is not a valid excuse to keep everything in your head
• How to start simple, stay consistent, and avoid the trap of customizing everything before you even use it

Melissa shares her journey from wedding photographer to systems expert, and we nerd out about Zapier automations, messy to-do lists, client onboarding, and why even reminders to "feed the dog" might belong in your workflow.

Let’s break the myth that systems have to be complicated—and start building something that works with your brain instead of against it.

About Melissa:

Melissa Rich is the founder of Virtually Done Systems, a business dedicated to all things systems and workflows for creative small business owners. She's spent the last 16 years behind the camera as a full-time wedding photographer, secretly enjoying all of the behind-the-scenes work more than her time making pictures. Now, Melissa specializes in helping overwhelmed business owners get their lives back by implementing strategized systems, workflows, and automations to take care of the day-to-day tasks that stress them out so they can fall back in love with their businesses, spend less time behind their laptop, and live their damn lives.

Links and Resources:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virtuallydonesystems

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/virtuallydonesystems

Reclaim your time and create a smooth, professional client experience: https://virtuallydonesystems.myflodesk.com/ultimatecheatsheet

Learn more about BizMagic or the BizMagic Podcast.

Let’s be real—your brain wasn’t meant to carry every client task, content idea, and “buy oat milk” reminder. In this episode, I’m breaking down why a project management tool isn’t just a “nice to have” but a “how-am-I-not-using-this-already” kind of tool—no matter where you are in your business journey.

Whether you’re still riding solo or wrangling a growing team, I’ll walk you through:

• Why a PM tool is your ticket to less mental clutter and more clarity
• How repeatable tasks = sneaky SOPs (and yes, you're fancy now)
• Prioritization hacks to help you work smarter, not longer
• How to actually tell if you have the bandwidth to say “yes” to more
• The game-changing benefit of smoother onboarding for your VA, team, or support pro
• A reminder not to turn your PM tool into another full-time job
• A quick look at tools like Trello, Asana, ClickUp, Notion, Airtable—and even spreadsheets if that’s your jam
• Bonus: Some tools even connect with your email (yep, magic)

✨ Your challenge: Pick one repeatable task (like client onboarding or sending your weekly newsletter) and build it into your project management tool of choice. Make it easy. Make it repeatable. Your future self is already doing a happy dance.

Want help figuring out which PM tool fits your brain? Visit bizmagic.co or email me at patti@bizmagic.co.

Learn more about BizMagic or the BizMagic Podcast.