Wanna get a coffee with me? Depending on your location, we can meet in person or do a virtual. I'm gonna be all over the US this year so there's a good chance I'll show up in your area. The reason I'm offering is because sometimes it's helpful to meet who we will work with. I pride myself and my business on having integrity and being true. And I had an experience lately that was the opposite of that. I ignored the signs and gut feelings and gave the person a shot and I got burned. Thankfully not for a lot of cash but definitely for not trusting myself. So how can we show integrity and good values in our marketing as people are getting to know us? That's what we're going to cover today.

• Digital Street Cred

👉 For all the links and resources mentioned in this episode, check out the supporting blog post here.

🧰 I love me a good digital marketing tool.This week’s recommended tool is Termageddon
Speaking of digital street cred… this tool is an easy to use app for generating things like a privacy policy, various disclaimers, terms and conditions and end user license agreements.

Peek inside my toolbox for all my tools.

🎧 This week’s recommended podcast episode is Micheal J. Fox on Literally! with Rob Lowe. I'm about halfway through but so cool hearing them talk back and forth. I forgot that Michael J. Fox wrote some books, quite a few and now I want them all.

🗞️ Like newsletters? Digital Marketing Takeaway

About This Show

Created by Compass Digital Strategies, the Small Business Sweet Spot offers an eclectic mix of episodes, all meant to help you find the sweet spot in your business. Each week, you'll hear the what, why, and how's of getting more visibility on your website for the goal of more traffic and leads, along with bonus episodes, some experiential from other business owners sharing their own sweet spot.

We talk about everything that influences creating an atmosphere around and inside you that you actually love because how you grow your business and how you move through your life are connected, and neither of them are linear.

Do you ever find yourself moving "crap" from your desk to your kitchen counter just to feel like you have a "clean" workspace, only to move it back again when you need to cook dinner? If your home feels like a constant shuffle of clutter, it's possible your home’s layout might be sabotaging your focus. In this conversation with Julie Corcoran, owner of JC Renovators, we got into why "pretty" design is secondary to functionality and how the "hidden science" of your home impacts your mental well-being and business performance.

Enjoy the episode!

• Julie’s Instagram ProfileConnect with Julie at ⁠@jcrenovators⁠
• ⁠Julie's Home Remodel Calculator⁠

Timeline

01:29 Introduction to Julie Corcoran and JC Renovators
02:31 The Importance of Functional Design
03:41 Maximizing Small Spaces
04:25 The Power of Layered Lighting
06:01 Navigating Design Choices
07:30 AI vs. Professional Design Expertise
09:25 Impact of Home Design on Mental Health
09:35 Creating a Functional Home Office

👉 For all the links and resources mentioned in this episode, check out the supporting blog post here.

🌟 Wish your website pulled in more leads? The Website Power-Up Plan™ is built for service-based business owners who feel like their website should be doing more but aren’t sure what’s standing in the way. Let’s make that darned thing work!

🧰 I love me a good digital marketing tool.

Peek inside my toolbox for all my tools.

🗞️ Like newsletters? Digital Marketing Takeaway

About This Show

Small Business Sweet Spot offers an eclectic mix of episodes, all meant to help you find the sweet spot in your business. Each week, you'll hear the what, why, and how's of getting more visibility on your website for the goal of more traffic and leads, along with bonus episodes, some experiential from other business owners sharing their own sweet spot.

We talk about everything that influences creating an atmosphere around and inside you that you actually love because how you grow your business and how you move through your life are connected, and neither of them are linear.

It's quite possibly I'm taking everyone's story telling advice a little too far in this episode. LOL But you know what? It's ok. What I'm about to share is how it happened. I'm going to share about my trying to get drunk from non-aholic beer and then relate that to our avoidance in business.

I identify four key areas where business owners often avoid tasks (visibility, finances, marketing, and analytics) and practical steps to confront these avoidances. Additionally, I introduce the helpful digital marketing tool of the week and recommend a podcast episode. The episode wraps up with an invitation for you to identify and share their own areas of avoidance.

Enjoy the episode!

👉 For all the links and resources mentioned in this episode, check out the supporting blog post here.

🌟 Wish your website pulled in more leads? The Website Power-Up Plan™ is built for service-based business owners who feel like their website should be doing more but aren’t sure what’s standing in the way. Let’s make that darned thing work!

🧰 I love me a good digital marketing tool.This week’s recommended tool is Napkin AI.
You plug in numbers, it outputs a pretty format. Literally a few seconds. It's quite amazing.

Peek inside my toolbox for all my tools.

🎧 This week’s recommended podcast episode is 5 Hard Truths That Changed My Design Business in 2025 from The McClain Method podcast. It wasn't a wrap up like some do; he went in to share specific learnings that as a business owner we can benefit from.

🗞️ Like newsletters? Digital Marketing Takeaway

About This Show

Small Business Sweet Spot is a podcast show created by Compass Digital Strategies LLC. Founder, Barb Davids, wanted to create a show that has actionable topics that grow our business and personal life. A self-professed podcast junkie, she listens to a variety of shows on her runs and road trips.

Small Business Sweet Spot is a place for business owners wondering what matters in growing their business. Episodes range from quick, tactical advice on improving website visibility, marketing and analytics to guest interviews with experts on topics like productivity, branding, and mindset to support the "whole" business owner. Let’s find the sweet spot between business and life so you can enjoy both.

SEO related questions I've been asked or have seen a lot in discussions on various platforms.

Enjoy the episode!

👉 For all the links and resources mentioned in this episode, check out the supporting blog post here.

🌟 Wish your website pulled in more leads? The Website Power-Up Plan™ is built for service-based business owners who feel like their website should be doing more but aren’t sure what’s standing in the way. Let’s make that darned thing work!

🧰 I love me a good digital marketing tool.This week’s recommended tool is Gamma.
Quite literally the most thought out tool from a business perspective. The functionally in this thing is what every business owner has been looking for. It creates presentations for you! PDFs too. You can load up your bullet list of notes or word for word what you want and then answer a couple of questions, and bam! You got yourself a handy presentation. I've used it to present ideas and share pricing with prospects. It's so much prettier than a word doc. This visually takes away the boring.

Peek inside my toolbox for all my tools.

🎧 This week’s recommended podcast episode is The Liberating Power of Conscious Intention part 1 by Tara Brach. If you've ever wondered how to get more intentional with your day, this is a good one to listen to.

🗞️ Like newsletters? Digital Marketing Takeaway

About This Show

Small Business Sweet Spot is a podcast show created by Compass Digital Strategies LLC. Founder, Barb Davids, wanted to create a show that has actionable topics that grow our business and personal life. A self-professed podcast junkie, she listens to a variety of shows on her runs and road trips.

Small Business Sweet Spot is a place for business owners wondering what matters in growing their business. Episodes range from quick, tactical advice on improving website visibility, marketing and analytics to guest interviews with experts on topics like productivity, branding, and mindset to support the "whole" business owner. Let’s find the sweet spot between business and life so you can enjoy both.

A lot of businesses that come to me have a "skeleton website". Bare bones pages that fall short of informing, building trust, and definitely not ranking in search engines. I have 4 questions you can ask to see if your website is a skeleton website.

Enjoy the episode!

👉 For all the links and resources mentioned in this episode, check out the supporting blog post here.

🌟 Wish your website pulled in more leads? The Website Power-Up Plan™ is built for service-based business owners who feel like their website should be doing more but aren’t sure what’s standing in the way. Let’s make that darned thing work!

🧰 I love me a good digital marketing tool.This week’s recommended tool is Keywords Everywhere.
It installs as Chrome Extension and keyword data shows in the search results page. If you connect it with Google Analytics and Google Search Console, it adds columns for search volume, CPC, competition and trending.

Peek inside my toolbox for all my tools.

🎧 This week’s recommended podcast episode is Shaman's tips for An Amazing 2026 Part 6 on the Jim Fortin Podcast.
I realize that not a lot of people are interested in content around shaman advice, however, this was a good episode around person responsibility and convenience.

🗞️ Like newsletters? Digital Marketing Takeaway

About This Show

Small Business Sweet Spot is a podcast show created by Compass Digital Strategies LLC. Founder, Barb Davids, wanted to create a show that has actionable topics that grow our business and personal life. A self-professed podcast junkie, she listens to a variety of shows on her runs and road trips.

Small Business Sweet Spot is a place for business owners wondering what matters in growing their business. Episodes range from quick, tactical advice on improving website visibility, marketing and analytics to guest interviews with experts on topics like productivity, branding, and mindset to support the "whole" business owner. Let’s find the sweet spot between business and life so you can enjoy both.

What a fun convo with fellow marketer Sarah Gemmell! She helps small business owners and solopreneurs who don't have a dedicated marketing team. Sarah has amazing advice around following up, whether to invest time and energy into free or paid networking and shares how we have gotten so scared of being salesy that we've flipped our possible business opportunities to the friend zone.

Enjoy the episode!

👉 For all the links and resources mentioned in this episode, check out the supporting blog post here.

🌟 Wish your website pulled in more leads? The Website Power-Up Plan™ is built for service-based business owners who feel like their website should be doing more but aren’t sure what’s standing in the way. Let’s make that darned thing work!

🧰 I love me a good digital marketing tool.

Peek inside my toolbox for all my tools.

🗞️ Like newsletters? Digital Marketing Takeaway

About This Show

Small Business Sweet Spot is a podcast show created by Compass Digital Strategies LLC. Founder, Barb Davids, wanted to create a show that has actionable topics that grow our business and personal life. A self-professed podcast junkie, she listens to a variety of shows on her runs and road trips.

Small Business Sweet Spot is a place for business owners wondering what matters in growing their business. Episodes range from quick, tactical advice on improving website visibility, marketing and analytics to guest interviews with experts on topics like productivity, branding, and mindset to support the "whole" business owner. Let’s find the sweet spot between business and life so you can enjoy both.

In this episode, I’m walking through six clues that help you figure out which marketing channels are actually working for your business and how they can help you decide what to keep, cut, or bring in.

Enjoy the episode!

👉 For all the links and resources mentioned in this episode, check out the supporting blog post here.

🌟 Wish your website pulled in more leads? The Website Power-Up Plan™ is built for service-based business owners who feel like their website should be doing more but aren’t sure what’s standing in the way. Let’s make that darned thing work!

🧰 I love me a good digital marketing tool.This week’s recommended tool is BrightLocal.

A local SEO tool used by both business owners and SEO professionals. See who your competitors are in the Google map pack and track your keywords for the maps also. Super handy.

Peek inside my toolbox for all my tools.

🎧 This week’s recommended podcast episode is from Diary of a CEO, called Anxiety Is Just a Prediction. It's one of their most replayed moments. The host, Steven Bartlett, interviewed Lisa Feldman Barrett. It blew my mind. I knew of the concept already but not quiet in this way. And it's one of the reason I continue to listen to episodes even if the title sounds like something I already know. Different people, different perspectives and ways of explaining things.

🗞️ Like newsletters? Digital Marketing Takeaway

About This Show

Small Business Sweet Spot is a podcast show created by Compass Digital Strategies LLC. Founder, Barb Davids, wanted to create a show that has actionable topics that grow our business and personal life. A self-professed podcast junkie, she listens to a variety of shows on her runs and road trips.

Small Business Sweet Spot is a place for business owners wondering what matters in growing their business. Episodes range from quick, tactical advice on improving website visibility, marketing and analytics to guest interviews with experts on topics like productivity, branding, and mindset to support the "whole" business owner. Let’s find the sweet spot between business and life so you can enjoy both.