Entrepreneurship Archives | Bourn Creative

#FREECON: The Freelance Conference In Austin, Texas

September 13, 2017 Jennifer Bourn

The Freelance Conference claims the spot as the longest running, industry agnostic, freelance business conference in the world.

#FREECON is an event created by freelancers, for freelancers. It was born in the spirit of those who leave or are desiring to leave a job with the dream of time, freedom, better income, and the ability to control your own careers and life. The conference combines that shared vision with the reality of what it takes to make the dream of self-employment come true; a set of skills that few of us come equipped with in full.

Until this fall, I had never attended the Freelance Conference… But earlier this year, I had the opportunity to connect with event founder Emily Leach for a personal and frank conversation about freelancing and our experiences over the many years of being our own bosses. Not only were our experiences similar, but our views and philosophies were aligned so well that she extended an invitation to speak at the Freelance Conference — and of course, I said yes right away.

How To Achieve Higher Profits While Working Less And Enjoying More Freedom

August 9, 2017 Jennifer Bourn

“I want to work less and make more money,” is a common desire among internet business owners, freelancers, and entrepreneurs, but often with so much work to do, it seems next to impossible.

If you focus on sales and marketing, you end up falling behind on client work, and if you focus on client work, you risk losing potential new business. Sometimes it’s a struggle just to get ahead of the work you have so you can take the evenings or weekend off… and maybe you’re even so busy that things are starting to slip through the cracks? I have been there, and almost 10 years ago, it all came to a head one night when I realized that I had a big problem in a very embarrassing and public way, and that it needed to be fixed as soon as possible or my business would begin to suffer greatly.

After celebrating Bourn Creative’s twelve year anniversary this July, I decided to share my story, the lessons, learned, and how I overcame exhaustion and stress to run the streamlined, freedom-based business Bourn Creative is today.

Kyle Maurer Interviews Jennifer Bourn For WP Roundtable

November 29, 2016 Jennifer Bourn

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to chat with Kyle Maurer for the WP Roundtable podcast. Our conversation was really organic and natural and it covers some WordPress, some business, some personal stuff that I’ve never shared in an interview before.

I’m not sure how much caffeine I drank the day we recorded this interview, but this is probably my most honest, animated, candid, and feisty interview ever.

StudioPress.FM Podcast Talks Building A Sustainable Agency With Brian And Jennifer Bourn

September 29, 2016 Jennifer Bourn

The StudioPress.FM podcast is designed to help creative entrepreneurs build the foundation of a powerful digital business. Each week, StudioPress founder Brian Gardner and VP of StudioPress Lauren Mancke share their expertise on web design, strategy, and building an online platform, and this past week, Bourn Creative partners, Brian Bourn and Jennifer Bourn, were the featured guests.

In the most recent StudioPress FM episode, Brian and I talk shop with podcast host Brian Gardner. From how we started our own business and how we found the Genesis Framework, to the steps we take to create fulfillment in both our personal lives and professional lives and what we wish each other did better, this podcast offers up some classic infotainment.

Host Brian Gardner asked us about:

How To Increase Productivity And Get More Done

August 11, 2016 Jennifer Bourn

Every time I am at a conference I get asked over and over, how do you get so much done? They want to know how I write for the Bourn Creative blog, my personal blog Inspired Imperfection, and other marketing blogs, how I get so much client work done, create new talks for speaking engagements, do interviews, and write website content for ourselves and clients, how I work in being co-organizer for the Sacramento WordPress Meetup and Lead Organizer for WordCamp Sacramento 2016, AND still have time to take a ton of vacations.

No, I’m not superhuman. No, I don’t stay up all night or sleep only a few hours (any more). No, I don’t have a clone.

I am simply ruthless with my time and focus during the work day.

But it wasn’t always this way.

How Do You Manage The Work Life Balance Challenge?

March 23, 2016 Jennifer Bourn

We recently shared with you that Bourn Creative’s managing partner, Brian Bourn will be speaking at WordCamp San Diego 2016 on Custom Data Management Made Easier, An Intro To Custom Fields, and today we have more great news to share.

Jennifer Bourn will also be joining the lineup of speakers as part of the Sunday Business Track. Jennifer will be speaking on the topic of Balance: How do you manage the work/life balance challenge?

For years Jennifer has juggled several competing requests on her time. She’s a full time business owner, entrepreneur, wife, mom, writer and more. Yet, she’s also had time for family vacation, business travel and more — which raises a question. Is she cloned, or does she know something about how to manage the challenges of this thing we call a “work/life balance”?

Motherhood Simplified: Juggling Work & Family

January 7, 2015 Jennifer Bourn

Most often when invited to speak at a live event or conference, on a teleseminar or webinar, or a podcast or radio show, I am asked to speak about business related topics, including:

Website strategy
Design
WordPress
Business Systems and Processes
Content Strategy / Blogging

Rarely do I have the opportunity to talk about mommy stuff and the messy attempts to achieve balance between work and family, but that is exactly what I got to do with Katie O’Brien.

Katie, known as the simplicity coach for mom entrepreneurs, invited me to be a guest in her Motherhood Simplified Interview Series spotlighting inspirational moms.

Authority Intensive 2014: Create Raving Fans Without Content (#Authority2014)

May 15, 2014 Jennifer Bourn

I’ve been investing in attending professional events, conferences, seminars, and workshops since graduating from college and today attend at least 5 every year.

Now, I’m not talking about local networking events. I’m talking about plane rides, hotel stays, food budgets, and conferences tickets ranging from several hundred to several thousand dollars (just for the ticket).

Overall, most of the events I have attended have been professional produced with big budgets — and most are pretty great. But, sometimes the speakers aren’t as great as you would have hoped, sometimes there is barely any time for networking, and sometimes the food is lackluster at best. The latest event I attended was different — and in a good way.

Leaders In The Trenches

April 2, 2014 Jennifer Bourn

One of my favorite things is speaking, and one of the best ways to do that without traveling to an event is do do interviews and guest talks on podcasts, radio shows, and teleseminars. Recently I was asked to give a interview for Gene Hammett’s podcast, Leaders In The Trenches.

Gene is a business coach who works with high-achieving leaders in small businesses who want to lead with confidence and achieve true financial freedom. As the Managing Director of Core Elevation, Inc., Gene helps leaders transform from stagnate, stressed and struggling to thriving, growing, and loving their work. On his podcast, he interviews business owners and leaders about their business — about getting started, building it, growing it, about marketing and selling, and strategies for success.

I give a lot of talks on branding, website strategy, WordPress, content creation and content marketing, and blogging for business — all of the stuff we do for our clients at Bourn Creative. But I rarely get the opportunity to talk shop — to talk about business itself and running and growing a successful, profitable business, so I loved the idea of chatting with Gene on this very topic!

Where do you get your business advice?

August 20, 2013 Jennifer Bourn

I am a firm believer that no one knows everything about building and growing a business — at least I know I don’t! In fact, most business owners and entrepreneurs (like me) start businesses not because they know how to run a business, but because they are exceptional at what they do and seize an opportunity.

In my experience, learning about business and how to run one effectively comes along the way. A few years into my business, I received a great piece of advice: Know the path you want to take and surround yourself with people who are farther down the path. In other words:

Find the people who have achieved what you want to achieve and learn from them.
Find out what they did wrong and what they did right; what worked and what didn’t work; what they wish they had done differently.
Find a mentor or mastermind group who can answer your questions and guide you in the right direction when you need it.

Learn How Successful Entrepreneurs Are Packaged For Profit (and Freedom)

November 2, 2012 Jennifer Bourn

There are lots of ways to make money in business; there are lots of ways to make a difference that don’t make money; and there are CERTAINLY lots of ways to make money and make a difference that don’t give you, as a business owner, the FREEDOM you desire. Unfortunately many entrepreneurs have created offerings in their businesses that excite them — and it’s not that they aren’t creative people and talented providers — they just haven’t considered all of their options.

How many times have you seen this from entrepreneurs (or yourself?):

Getting online and researching the “industry standard” and going rate for their profession, and using that information to decide what they’ll offer.
Offering “freelance” services that requires asking each client what they want, a lengthy proposal process, and agonizing over what to charge time and time again.
Developing products and programs that mirror those of a coach or mentor because that is what they have said works… yet it’s not really working.
Longing to make money while they sleep, yet not understanding the ins and outs of passive and leveraged revenue, or what it takes to truly make it happen.

How would you like to go behind the scenes with 14 thriving business owners to understand their journey to being “Packaged for Profit,” and pick up some inspiration for your own business design?

Today’s Innovative Woman Magazine Cover Feature

May 6, 2012 Jennifer Bourn

In July 2011, Today’s Innovative Woman debuted as a magazine solely focused on women and their businesses, lives, families, and more. Unlike the barrage of online magazines that seem to be popping up everywhere you turn, Today’s Innovative Woman is both a content-rich website full of resources, and a print magazine that gets mailed directly to subscribers’ doorsteps — FOR FREE!

That’s right, subscriptions to the magazine are absolutely free for both the print and online versions. And today almost 1 year later, the print edition has distribution of more than 10,000!

Currently I am a regular featured writer, contributing articles on web design, branding, blogging, and WordPress. But in this issue, I’m on the cover and have a special feature!

Closing the Gap Between Prospects, Patrons, and Profits

March 5, 2012 Jennifer Bourn

2008 was a year of near economic collapse in the United States. Americans in some sectors are still reeling from the great slump in the housing market, the widespread loss of jobs, and the ongoing outsourcing of work overseas, among other catastrophes. When it comes to our economy, unrest and uncertainty seem to be its calling cards. In such a climate, it’s easy for us entrepreneurs to focus on the negatives, mostly that consumers don’t have any money to spend on our goods and services.

But what about focusing on the positives?

Kiplinger reported at the end of last year that “Consumers are finally loosening the purse strings.”
Time magazine announced in January that 2012 is “The year of the entrepreneur.”

In fact, entrepreneurialism is at an all-time high. And that means that businesses, especially targeted, niche businesses, are continuing to push ahead, finding a steady stream of customers for their products and services. If you’ve been convinced by all the talk about the bad economy, you may be missing what’s right in front of you: money, ready to be picked up off the table, and leads and prospects who want to work with you. Eventually, if you do things right, they will give you their money.

If you shift your focus a little bit, you can close the gap between your prospects, patrons, and profits.

Business is Kind of Like Learning to Ride a Two-Wheel Bike

December 16, 2011 Jennifer Bourn

Brian and I love riding bikes, Carter loves riding his Lightning McQueen bike, but Natalie, not so much. In 2010 Santa brought Natalie an awesome big-girl bike and she spent (maybe) 20 minutes on it all year. To put it mildly, riding bikes hasn’t been a fun experience for all. Natalie was so afraid of wobbling and falling that she couldn’t even try to ride her bike. She would sit on it. Then it would wobble. Then she’d burst into tears and run in the house almost hysterical — and she couldn’t seem to control it.

When we rented bikes in Tahoe and did our 16-mile ride, she cried for the first 20 minutes or so begging us to return them.

Ali Brown’s Millonaire Protege Club Platinum Retreat Recap

October 4, 2011 Jennifer Bourn

I recently met up with fellow members of Ali Brown’s Millionaire Protege Club Platinum Group at the gorgeous Montelucia Resort in Scottsdale, Arizona for two full days of inspiration, learning, and focus to move our businesses forward. (RIGHT: Me with Ali Brown and Head Coach James Roche) The women (and a few men) at the retreat were gracious and brilliant, sharing their expertise and insights in facilitated mastermind groups, over meals, and by the pool. Being a part of such a supportive and smart group has been such a wonderful experience!

And, I won’t lie and tell you we didn’t spend the whole day after enjoying libations by the pool! It was warm, relaxing, and fabulous… and the views were stunning. Plus, the resort was humming with activity as they are preparing for what was rumored to be a $2 Million dollar event that is part of the 2011 Google Global Science Fair. We’ve been watching them build rooms and stages, and completely transform the spaces at this resort for days and I got interested. Guess what? This year was the first ever Google Global Science Fair and three American Girls swept the awards winning more than $100,000 in prizes and an amazing array of life changing gifts and opportunities.

Detours, Delays, and A Magic Escalator to Business Success

August 23, 2011 Jennifer Bourn

This past week we spent the day in Mount Lassen Volcanic National Park in Northern California. We sweat through a mid-day hike, plugged our noses at the sulfur springs, saw a mama bear and her two cubs play in the meadow, and played in the snow!

Our hike was the Kings Creek hike back to the Kings Creek Falls.

It was supposed to be a moderate, two hour hike — perfect for the kids! But that wasn’t exactly the case. Pretty far into the hike when we came across a trail sign telling us that the trail was closed due to all of the snow and that we needed to take a detour and hike the horse trail instead, adding about .2 miles to our hike.

Only .2 miles right? No biggie. So we kept on hiking, this trail was more rocky and much steeper. The kids were a bit afraid and we were all tired and hot. Then came another sign saying it was just .2 miles to the falls. We were almost there, or so we thought.

Using Core Values to Make Decisions With Speed, Ease, and Confidence

July 6, 2011 Jennifer Bourn

Every successful business has values. Values are the standards of behavior in a business. They are the operating principles that guide the business.

Some businesses look at values definition as a simple exercise to complete and get through — for these businesses, their values statement is just an empty, meaningless statement. But other businesses, the truly successful businesses look at values definition as a core requirement to define their brand. For these businesses, their values are meaningful and the are infused throughout the entire business and live by them each day.

Your values represent what you stand for and what you believe is most important. They can’t be defined based on what others think they should be, or what you think they SHOULD be — they need to come from your heart and from the heart of your business.

Lessons from my 16-Mile Ride: Tahoe City to Squaw Valley and Back

June 15, 2011 Jennifer Bourn

Last week was an incredible (and busy) week. It started with my trip to LA for the Platinum networking and mastermind retreat for Ali Brown’s Millionaire Protege Club. I was joined by 49 other entrepreneurs to work ON our businesses and our mindsets for two days and the experience was intense. I set some pretty brazen goals for myself and had a few personal ah-has that will result in some business adjustments too!

After LA, the family headed up to Lake Tahoe for a long weekend. We rented a very cute house right outside Tahoe City and we’re having a blast! Yesterday we took on a 16-mile bike ride from Tahoe City to Squaw Valley and back. The weather was gorgeous, sunny, and warm … and there is still snow ALL OVER!

Maker Faire San Francisco: You Don’t Have to Monetize Everything

June 7, 2011 Jennifer Bourn

This past weekend my family took a trip to San Francisco to visit my brother-in-law and to spend the day at Maker Faire, hosted by O’Riley Media and Make Magazine, was similar to a county fair or festival, but everything was hand-crafted or homemade.

There were people showing and selling everything you can think of — from robots and technical wonders with lights and sounds, to giant metal sculptures, giant flame guns, human/bike powered carnival rides, a life size version of the game Mousetrap, carved wooden bikes, Lego displays, crafters, engineers, and more.

Our favorite display and showcase was by the R2-D2 Club. The members were showing their working, life-size, remote control R2-D2 robots that interacted and “played” with the kids!

Maker Faire was full of amazingly talented people who were sharing their hobbies with all of us in attendance — hobbies that clearly take up a lot of time and money. When talking with vendors, I learned that for many (except the crafters), this wasn’t their primary business and it didn’t tie in with their job. They just do it because they love it.

Charging Your Worth And My Daughter’s Kindergarten Flea Market

March 9, 2011 Jennifer Bourn

Why is it that as entrepreneurs we often struggle so much with owning our worth and charging our worth? Is it because of fear? Are we afraid of judgment? Are we afraid of what other might think, or of what others might say? Whatever the reason is, I want to you to understand that your feelings around charging what you are worth are learned feelings.

They don’t exist when we are young. They are feelings that were created and accepted by the rules, judgments, and expectations put on us by other people. When we are young all we have is confidence. As children we believe in ourselves. We believe we can charge $2.00 for a paper cup of lemonade. We believe everyone will buy a bar of chocolate to support our sports team. We believe in our own decisions.

Take my daughter for example. In kindergarten, her class was learning about money. To reinforce their lessons, her teacher planned a Kindergarten flea market. For the flea market, each child had to bring in three things from home to sell at their table. So my daughter picked out two small toys and a book to sell.