058 | Chelsea Sonksen, Boss Ladies Magazine on layering in new products and services, working towards a freedom business model and why making a good first impression is so important.

Chelsea Sonksen is the founder and Editor in Chief of Bossladies, a movement that began with a print magazine in 2016 and has grown into a vibrant in-person and online community of entrepreneurs through her monthly event series, Work Sesh.

On today's episode we're talking about the mission behind Bossladies, how Chelsea is layering new products and services that will give her the freedom and flexibility to work from both California and Maine. Chelsea also shares her thoughts on why making a good first impression is so important.

ON TODAY'S EPISODE:

• Chelsea's motivation for starting Bossladies and why she choose publishing as her method for sharing her message with the world
• Her background as an editorial assistant
• Why she decided to stop reading other publications for the first six months of Bossladies
• The mission behind Bossladies
• How she decides which women to feature and which brands to include in each issue
• How Chelsea is layering in new products and services while staying true to the mission of Bossladies
• What Work Sesh is, how she facilitates it, and what the goal is
• Chelsea's experience working with a significant number of contractors all over the country
• How she has found her contractors
• The way Chelsea decides what questions to ask the women featured in Bossladies
• How she defines success
• The advice she would give to a new entrepreneur
• What's next for Bossladies & Work Sesh

KEY TAKE-AWAYS:

"I try really hard to take a month before we start designing the magazine, not to actually look at any publications for that month because I find that my design preferences and tendencies get swayed by whatever I'm seeing at that time. I think it's just easier to be original when you have periods of time where you sort of hibernate and block out all of the input." - Chelsea Sonksen

"The Bossladies mission has three parts. It's to inspire, educate, and provide community for the growing group of women who are wanting to create their own businesses." - Chelsea Sonksen

"I feel like that's really important for founders, as you're starting a company, it has to be what you want to be doing and what you want spending your hours doing and the people you want to be spending your hours with." - Chelsea Sonksen

"My company is a people first company." - Katie Hunt

"I love seeing the natural progressions that happen when people come together, when women come together, entrepreneurs. There's just so many things we have in common, and so many ways that we can leverage each other's experiences for good. We can help each other where we feel weak in something, we can leverage other people's skills and experiences, and also give back ourselves." - Katie Hunt

"Communication is always the most important thing and I've learned how to be a more efficient and effective communicator before launching into a project." - Chelsea Sonksen

"I find that whenever it's time to do the interviews, I'm usually in a certain season of life and I'm interested in certain kinds of things. So that's where I start every interview, what are the things that I'm most interested in in that moment and what are their thoughts on those things." - Chelsea Sonksen

"I view success as freedom." - Chelsea Sonksen

"It's really important to study other companies. You have to learn from people that are experts at what you are trying to do." - Chelsea Sonksen

"You have one opportunity to make a first impression, and your branding and what you present of your brand, is that first impression." - Chelsea Sonksen

LINKS:I Love CreativesUpwork

CONNECT WITH CHELSEA:

Website: http://bossladies.us

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

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

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Bossladiesmag

PAPER CAMP ECOURSE:

Many of you have been patiently waiting for the return of our Paper Camp E-course and I'm excited to tell you that it's here. This is a 4 week online program that kicks off on June 4th. You'll get new videos to watch each week on your own and we'll have a live Q&A call every week with me and special guest experts.

But you've got to act fast, because registration closes on June 2nd. If you've want to see your products on the shelves of retail stores big & small, if you want to launch or refine your wholesale program, or maybe you want to exhibit at large scale trade shows, this is the program for you! We'll cover product development, sales tools for wholesale, working with reps, marketing to retailers and exhibiting at shows.

To learn more and register, head to https://tsbc.teachable.com/p/pce. I look forward to having you there!

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ABOUT PROOF TO PRODUCT:

Proof to Product is brought to you by Tradeshow Bootcamp and hosted by Katie Hunt. Since 2011, TSBC has worked with hundreds of product based businesses to help them up level, scale, and build profitable sustainable companies. You can find our show notes and additional resources at ProofToProduct.com. If you like what you heard today, please head over to Apple Podcast to leave a five star review and subscribe. Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back next week with a new episode!