Aprille Reed is a business & marketing strategist for ambitious coaches or consultants who struggle with building their coaching practice. Aprille helps them cultivate a 6-figure mindset, attract their ideal clients, and make more sales, so that they can have more high-paying clients and build a business that allows them to do whatever they want, whenever they want. She does this by teaching three things all successful business owners know: Marketing, Mindset, and Sales.
What motivated and inspired you to start your own business?
My background is in Corporate America. When I started having children, at first I thought owning my own business was about being home with them. I learned that it went far beyond being home with my children. It was a calling – something I knew a lot about, am passionate about and wanted to know more about. I was the go-to person in my circle of family and friends on starting a business. But my previous businesses were always side hustles, nothing that earned me the opportunity to leave my 9 to 5. As time went on, I always seemed to find myself around a growing population of moms who didn’t love their job, but didn’t know what else to do. They were worried about taking sick time or never having enough paid time off, but that’s just the 9 to 5 grind right?!
My turning point to stop playing small with side hustle and start building an empire came in early 2016. My presence was requested for a very important meeting several states away. I just had my son seven weeks prior and to be away from him for several days devastated me. I started thinking back to all those women who fretted over sick time, PTO, field trips, short checks and such, and how they felt that there was just no choice. And here I was feeling like I also had no choice. So, of course I went. I realized right then and there that I wanted my life to be my own, and the only way to get there would be to create it for myself. I was gifted with a natural passion for business and a natural passion to teach others how to be successful in their business. So, I stopped playing small myself and had to embrace what I felt I was put on this earth to do.
Tell us about your business.
I am a business and marketing strategist and currently offer one-on-one packages. I have discovered that in order to have a successful business there’s three categories that need to be address: mindset, marketing and sales. There lies the core of my one-on-one coaching business. I help my clients with their marketing and also with closing the sale. In addition, I help my clients with their website, creating and hosting webinars, cultivating a six-figure mindset and understanding leaving behind the scarcity mindset or any other negative self-talk in their entrepreneurial journey. I also give talks.
Are you currently running any promos/contests/giveaways that you would like our readers to know about?
I offer a FREE 30-minute coaching assessment for ambitious female coaches or consultants who want support in knowing that very next move they need to progress in their business. The FREE assessment is available for any members of my Facebook group community. I also offer a FREE clarity strategy action session, which is a 60-minute call. We get clear on your short-term and long-term goals for your business and will identify the very thing that is holding you back, the very next action steps to take to move your business forward and my best recommendation on what I believe you can achieve.
List awards/certifications/accomplishments.
- Digital Marketer Social & Community Mastery
- Currently getting certified as a business coach through the Universal Coach Institute
- Currently getting certified as a Tapping Into Wealth Coach by Margaret M. Lynch’s Tapping Into Wealth Program
Where is your business based?
Decatur, Illinois, but my business is completely online.
What were the first few steps you took to get your business up and running?
Building relationships and conducting market research to better understand who I wanted to work with. The relationships I have built online have been irreplaceable. Not everyone is going to be a client. Some people are going to be collaborators, referrals and other supporters. It’s nice to have someone you can bounce your business ideas around with and they actually get it. In between building relationships, I did a lot of market research. This was something I did not rush. However, I didn’t wait until I had full clarity because I believe that complete clarity comes from action. The more I researched, the more actions I took, the more I was able to tweak my business in a way that felt great for me. I continue to do market research. I also continue to learn, and am involved in two programs to get certified as a business coach and Tapping Into Wealth coach by Margaret M Lynch.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness of your business and getting new customers?
Facebook hands-down. Although, I am currently looking to incorporate LinkedIn as well.
What have been your biggest challenges so far?
My biggest challenge so far has been a one woman show and doing everything myself.
How did you overcome these challenges?
I bit the bullet and hired a few VA’s, each knowledgeable in their own area. I set them up for success by creating processes and checklist through Trello. I even took it upon myself to do a lot of research into how to build a successful business. I even read about concepts such as the datawheel, which was quite interesting. I had no idea about this before, but I am glad I do now. From reading books and watching videos, I managed to take away useful tips that I am going to apply to by own business.
How do you keep motivated through difficult times?
The best way to manifest money is to be grateful and not dwell on lack. I’ve learned that the more grateful I am, the more God blesses me and money is drawn to me. I’m not saying anybody can just sit around and do nothing and be grateful and awesome things will happen to them. Of course, it takes action, but I am definitely seeing the fruits of what I’ve sewn.
How do you distinguish yourself from your competitors?
Not only do my clients get the strategies to market and grow their business, but they also get the deep personal development work that helps them take more action. Those who’ve had a chance to work with me will also say I am very hands-on. I love web design, I love tech and so I create tutorials for my clients. Sometimes I’ll just pay it forward and get really hands-on if that means getting unstuck for my clients. Because there’s nothing more frustrating than tech.
What is the best advice you have received recently?
Outsource. The less I do the more money I make. I’ve heard of some people taking out small loans through companies similar to Invoice Finance Australia to aid in finding similar results.
What advice would you give to other entrepreneurs?
Don’t leave your job just to turn around and be an employee of your own business. Before jumping into your business idea create a vision for the lifestyle that you want and then build the business that supports that lifestyle. An example I used is if someone wants to travel the world, yet they open a restaurant. It would be really hard to run a restaurant if they truly want to travel the world. And secondly, look for opportunities in your business idea for it to be scalable in the future. Again, you don’t want to create a business that the only way you can make money is if your time is in it at every beck and call.
What are your favorite business tools/resources and why?
- I love Canva because it is so quick and easy to create beautiful designs.
- I am loving CoSchedule because I can set up a blog social media sharing template, and with one click of a button my whole blog post is scheduled across all my social media channels.
- Lastly Dropbox. I love having all of my files at my very fingertips, wherever I go. You get Dropbox free, but I have so much information in there that I’m paying for the extra storage.
What is a good article or book you have read recently?
“The Year of Yes” by Shonda Rhimes. This book is about honoring yourself and not being afraid to define what you want and go after it.
What are you currently learning about for your business or looking for help with?
I am currently learning how to leverage LinkedIn as a way to find more of my dream clients.
What are your goals for the next few months and how are you striving to achieve them?
My goal is to be consistently fully booked in my one-on-one coaching packages. I have created a couple of live webinars and once they are converting well, I am going to automate them. This will be a way to generate leads without me having to actually be present all the time. After that I want to look into creating digital products and continue to connect with more women whether it be a virtual coffee chat, a free assessment, or a clarity strategy action session. This is truly what I love to do and my ultimate vision is to serve 1 million mamas.
What social media outlets do you use? List them below.
Instagram @aprillereed
Twitter @aprillereed
Facebook www.facebook.com/aprillereedbiz
Facebook Group www.facebook.com/groups/SavvyMommypreneurs
Website www.aprillereed.com
Email aprille@aprillereed.com
Hashtags #savvymommypreneurs #businesscoach #mompreneurs
Sylvester Vanessa says
What an inspiring interview!