Text Emily!

Have you been burned by bro marketing? Exhausted by all the social media hacks? Underwhelmed with the "just manifest it" advice?

If so, you're going to LOVE the wisdom of my guest, Jessica Lackey.

Jessica reminds us that when you play by their rules, the house always wins in the entrepreneurial casino.

We discuss how to stop betting on tactics and build a business that actually works for YOU as we tackle some of the bigger, better questions.

In our conversation about Leaving the Casino:

• What does being in a casino have to do with entrepreneurship?
• How to identify which type of business you're running and what that might mean for your marketing
• How to determine your stage of growth and use it as a filter for focus and the actions that matter most
• What is ENOUGH?
• The myth of passive income
• Why more isn't always a good thing
• And more (despite having said more isn't always a good thing in my previous bullet point 🤪 but if you're reading the show notes, at least you'll get a chuckle)

About Jessica - Links & Resources

Jessica Lackey is a business systems consultant and guide. She brings both corporate sophistication and soulful wisdom to the table to help established service providers build sustainable businesses. She’s worked with over 60 entrepreneurs 1:1, served as a fractional COO for multiple 7-figure organizations, and helped hundreds of business owners through her memberships and programs. She brings an exceptional depth of business knowledge, a genuine care for her client’s success, and the ability to make complex business concepts practical and actionable.

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Website

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About the Host, Emily Aborn

Emily Aborn | Small Business Copywriter & host of Small Business Casual. 12+ years of copywriting experience in 121+ industries. I help you step into becoming (and sharing) the real YOU. For fun/downtime, I love reading, writing, hiking with friends, and moments of uninterrupted silence.

Got a Question for the Show? Email Me! emily@emilyaborn.com

Website | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Substack

Text Emily!

Do you feel guilty if you don't post or engage on social media for a week? Do you feel like you did something WRONG if you just spent an hour scrolling instead of being productive?

I recently asked this question about social media guilt on LinkedIn, asking people to share their experience with this no-win guilt phenomenon, and the comments and solidarity totally surprised me! Lots of people felt equally guilty posting as they did NOT posting! People felt just as bad being ON it as they did NOT being on it.

Something sparked in me well beyond social media guilt... I think businesses feel guilt in a whole lot of other ways, too. Even if they didn't do anything "wrong"!

Making too much money, not enough money, saying no to clients, taking a break, working too much, the list goes on...

Let's unpack the TRUTH about guilt and talk about how to overcome it to get us back on track with how we want to feel and be:

Inside the episode:

• Guilt vs. shame: Which is which, and do they really motivate us to change?
• False guilt vs. real guilt
• The guilt inventory: Oh, the things we can inflict upon ourselves!
• Should you feel guilty marketing your business when the world is falling apart?
• Why guilt isn't a productive emotion and how to turn it into beneficial thoughts and behaviors

Resources, Links & Key Takeaways:

👋🏼 Welcome to our new listener, Richard, of Groove Fitness, who said hello to me from Belgium!! Follow him on Instagram HERE 🪩💃🏻

Guilt isn't always bad: It can signal misalignment and show you where you need to course-correct

A lot of entrepreneurial guilt is false guilt or borrowed guilt: Who's telling you that what you're doing is WRONG? Is that your voice or someone else's expectations?

Guilt implies there's a right way and a wrong way and you're not doing it RIGHT. Usually, there's no right/wrong, you're doing it your way.

People who make you feel guilty for XYZ: Might be on a guilt trip of their own. Don't take on their guilt. Don't borrow anyone else's moral compass.

Tangible Steps to Unpacking Guilt:

1. Specifically name the guilt

2. Ask where the voice of guilt is coming from

3. Check it against YOUR values (not that external voice's values)

4. Give yourself permission to do things your way

5. Reframe the action: i.e., "I feel guilty for resting." → "Rested and recharged is how I do my best work."

About Me & Let's Connect

Emily Aborn | Small Business Copywriter & host of Small Business Casual. 12+ years of copywriting experience in 121+ industries. I help you step into becoming (and sharing) the real YOU. For fun/downtime, I love reading, writing, hiking with friends, and moments of uninterrupted silence.

Got a Question for the Show? Email Me! emily@emilyaborn.com

Website | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Substack

Text Emily!

Over 80% of internet users rely on search engines regularly, and billions of searches happen every day! If you're not thinking about how people find you through search, you're missing a massive opportunity for your business.

In this episode of Small Business Casual, I’m joined by Marketing and Business Strategy Consultant, Sarah Moon, for a deep dive into what’s working in search in 2026

We go beyond keywords and algorithm hacks and instead look at building a solid foundation, establishing true topical authority, and sharing your human expertise, all while playing nice with Google, AI chatbots, YouTube, and more.

Sarah breaks down her “layer cake” approach to modern SEO and walks us through establishing core topics, building a hub-and-spoke system, and creating content people and search engines will find delicious!

We dig into:

• What on earth is Dog Dancing? Click HERE to watch a dog-dancing video!
• How large language models (LLM’s) are changing discoverability and visibility
• Where AI fits (and doesn’t) in your content
• Why your unique insights and credibility matter more than ever
• How to future-proof your website in a world of chatbots and constant change
• And more!

About Sarah Moon & Resources Mentioned

Sarah Moon is a Portland, Oregon-based marketing and business strategy consultant who founded Sarah Moon Consulting in 2008. She specializes in helping conscious entrepreneurs and thought leaders increase their online visibility using her proprietary, SEO-fueled Alignthority® System. Her work focuses on data-informed ethical, sustainable, and tailored marketing strategies. When she's not supporting awesome clients doing awesome work, you'll find her practicing dog dancing (yes, really), befriending local crows, or baking sourdough to share with her neighbors. Find her at sarahmoon.com!

Google Business Profile Workshop Tuesday, April 14th @ 4pm ET

Engineer Luck with SEO: FREE SEO Course

50 Post Titles for Business Blogs: FREE E-Book

Website: sarahmoon.net/

Instagram: instagram.com/sarahmoonco/

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sarahmoon/

YouTube: youtube.com/@sarahmoonco

About Me, Host Emily Aborn

Emily Aborn | Small Business Copywriter & host of Small Business Casual. 12+ years of copywriting experience in 121+ industries. I help you step into becoming (and sharing) the real YOU. For fun/downtime, I love reading, writing, hiking with friends, and moments of uninterrupted silence.

Got a Question for the Show? Email Me! emily@emilyaborn.com

Website | Facebook | Instagram | LinkedIn | Substack