The SmallBizChat Podcast: Building the Lifestyle Business of Your Dreams with Donna Maria

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Donna Maria is an entrepreneur, mentor, and the founder and CEO of Donna Maria & Co. Under her umbrella company, she leads brands including The Indie Business Network and The Membership Maker, and runs two associated podcasts called The Indie Business Podcast and The Membership Maker Podcast. Additionally, Donna Maria is a member of the Charlotte Area Association of Black Journalists and writes as a columnist for Small Biz Trends.

Donna Maria joins me today to discuss what it takes to build a lifestyle business and why knowing your desired lifestyle is instrumental in building the brand of your dreams. She shares insights on the importance of brand design and what comes first: the website or the brand. Donna Maria also highlights how customer feedback patterns can help you identify and refine your target customer and how to be discerning when it comes to business coaches who market themselves on social media platforms such as Instagram.

“If your business is about the people you serve, you will have a thriving community.” – Donna Maria

Listen to the podcast below:

Here’s what you’ll learn in this episode:

What Donna Maria defines as a lifestyle business and the initial steps to starting one
How to create a marketing and sales system that leads to recurring revenue
The importance of self-awareness in the emergence of your entrepreneurial venture
Why understanding your customer is essential to gaining recurring revenue
How to effectively approach designing your brand’s website
Three things you need to know about your brand as you build it
How design can help make intangible aspects of your brand more tangible and the importance of images and videos
Why you shouldn’t rely solely on social media networking to find a business coach and how to “look under the hood” to think critically about these connections
Advice for building an online community that can lead to recurring revenue and the importance of putting your community first
The best business advice Donna Maria has ever received