The Self Made Life Podcast

You did the SEO audit. You filled in the meta descriptions. You felt good about it. And then not much changed.

I want to clear up the biggest misconception about SEO today, because I think it's why so many service providers put in the work and feel like nothing happened.

We talk about:

• The two layers of SEO, foundational and ongoing, and why most people stop at the first one
• Why Google trusts the business that's actively showing up over the one with a beautiful, untouched website
• What AI search means for your content strategy right now
• Whether blogging still works (spoiler: it's not dead, it's the long game)
• The four things that actually make SEO content work
• The simplest way to start if you've been avoiding this

🎧 Listen, send this to the business owner friend who keeps saying they'll start blogging and never does, and come find me on Instagram @monarchdesignco or online at www.themonarchdesign.co .

Ready to get your website actually working for you?

I've known Heidi for years, long before either of us were running the businesses we actually have today. We met building handmade businesses, lost touch a little, and reconnected once we were both deep in the world of creative entrepreneurship. Since then we've collaborated in both directions: she's brought me in for branding, I've brought her in for Shopify development. Most recently we worked together on a project for Libs Elliott, where I built the brand and Heidi turned it into one of the most detailed websites she's ever created.

Heidi's the founder of Endswell Studio, and her origin story is one of my favorites. She built one Shopify website for a friend, went to bed, and woke up to 22 requests to build more. She wasn't trying to start a business. She just said yes to the next thing, and then the next.

In this episode, we get into:

• Why Heidi's "accidental" business start is actually a pretty common entrepreneurial story
• What she'd tell her younger self about trusting her gut over doing what's expected
• Why we've never once felt competitive with each other, even working in overlapping spaces
• How a website functions as a 24/7 team member for product-based businesses specifically — automations, customer forms, and hosted courses included
• Real, unfiltered conversation about parenting through business ownership, including built-in village support, flexible hours, and knowing your own limits
• Heidi's most underrated business investment (it's cheap, it's easy, and most people skip it)

This one's for you if you've ever wondered whether working alongside someone in your industry means competing with them. Spoiler: it doesn't have to.

🎧 Find Heidi on Instagram @workswithendswell or at endswellstudio.com, and come hang out with me @monarchdesignco.

That quiet feeling where your brand still "works," but you don't reach for it the way you used to? That's what this episode is about.

I'm walking through five signs you've outgrown your brand, before it ever gets to the point of embarrassment. This is for service providers who are booked, respected, and doing great work, and still feel a strange friction they can't name.

Inside this episode:

• The hesitation test: what it means when you pause before sending someone to your site
• Why mismatched touchpoints (Instagram, website, proposals, email) quietly cost you trust
• What happens when you raise your prices but your brand still reads like three years ago
• The difference between needing a refresh and needing a full rebrand
• My own experience stepping into more of myself after two babies and a postpartum fog

Come find me on Instagram @monarchdesignco or over at themonarchdesign.co

What if AI doesn't replace you, but forces you to become more you? That's the question at the center of this conversation with Kelsey Kerslake, CEO of The Align Business and creator of Sol, an AI coaching tool.

Kelsey scaled a coaching business past seven figures, then had to step back from most of it after a rare immunodeficiency diagnosis. We talk about the grief of losing an identity built around a business, how she started using AI as a coach and emotional outlet during her hardest health season, and what it actually means to build something that doesn't rely on you having consistent energy every single day.

Inside this episode:

• Using AI as a processing tool, not just a task manager
• The identity shift of stepping away from a business at its peak
• What Sol is, and how it's built differently than a general chatbot
• Why creative point of view becomes more valuable, not less, as AI advances
• Designing a business model around energy you don't always have

🎧 Listen now and find Kelsey on Instagram @kelseykerslake, or check out https://thealignedbusiness.com/become 

You're good at what you do. You've been doing it long enough to prove it. But your calendar is full of the wrong people, and you keep saying yes because the alternative is scary.

In this episode, I want to talk about something I see constantly with established service providers: the placeholder brand. The brand that got you here, that said "I'm a real business" just enough that people didn't think you were a scam. The one that's past its expiration date, but hasn't been replaced yet.

I'm pulling from a real discovery call I had recently (with all the details changed, of course) to walk through exactly what this looks like, why it happens, and most importantly, what it actually takes to fix it.

We talk about:

• What a placeholder brand is and how to know if you have one
• The gap between knowing who you're not for and being able to say who you are for
• Why a prettier website without strategy underneath it is just a prettier placeholder
• The order of operations that actually works: brand strategy → visual identity → website → SEO and content
• What SEO really means when it's built in properly (not just a box you check)
• The magic wand question I ask at the end of every discovery call — and what it reveals

This episode is for you if you love your work most of the time, but that other 20% is slowly draining you.

🎧 Listen, share it with the friend whose website is also past its expiration date, and come find me on Instagram @monarchdesignco.

Ready to figure out your next steps? Book a discovery call at themonarchdesign.co/contact and let's chat about whats possible

You're not behind. You're just creating content without a clear direction and that's the thing that's burning you out.

In this episode of the Self Made Life Podcast, I'm talking with content strategist Rebecca Stanisic about what it actually means to show up online with intention rather than just pressure. Rebecca has been in the content space since 2009 and has spent years helping small business owners cut through the noise, stop chasing vanity metrics, and build a content approach that works in real life not just on a good week.

We get into the real mistakes that make content feel so exhausting (hint: you're probably creating way more than you need to), why long-form content like blogs and podcasts are anchor pieces that keep working long after you publish, and how to plan your content in a way that actually connects back to your goals.

Rebecca also shares her 3-1-1 planning method — quarterly, monthly, weekly — and why knowing your messaging first makes everything else click.

If you've been feeling stuck, scattered, or just over it when it comes to content, this episode will help you reset.

Connect with Rebecca at rebeccastanisic.com or @bitofmomsense on Instagram — and book her free 20-minute call if you want to figure out your next content move.

If you've ever felt like there's just not enough hours in the day—you're not behind. You're just building a business in a season that doesn't look like the highlight reel productivity gurus are selling.

In this episode, I'm sharing the habit stacking system that's completely changed how I run Monarch Design Co. as a mom of two under two. No 5 a.m. wake-ups required.

We talk about:

• What habit stacking actually is (and why it works better than trying to build brand-new routines from scratch)
• The brain dump method I use with AI to get out of my own head and create a realistic plan for the day
• Real examples from my actual life — nursing and meditating, car commutes, nap time CEO work, and evening resets
• Why your business has to support your life — not the other way around
• Three takeaways you can start using today, even if your pockets of time are tiny

This one is for every business owner mom who's wondering how to keep the momentum going when the workday happens in 60–90 minute windows.

🎧 Listen, share with a friend who needs it, and tag me on Instagram @monarchdesignco so I can see you listening.

And if your brand and website no longer reflect where your business is headed? That's exactly the work we do at Monarch Design Co. → themonarchdesign.co

 

Shannon Littlehale built Make Space Organizing from a dream she'd been sitting on since college—and almost walked away from it entirely in 2023. After years of showing up with branding she knew didn't reflect her skill set, she made the decision to go all in. Weeks after her rebrand launched, she sent a $25,000 proposal to a client she'd never met — and got the deposit before she finished weeding her garden.

In this episode, Shannon gets honest about the moment she nearly quit, how perfectionism and anxiety create executive dysfunction (and what she's doing about it), and why a slow Q1 turned into one of her most strategic quarters yet. We also talk about what it actually looks like to stop following the industry playbook and start building the business you actually want  including her expansion into commercial and small business spaces.

If you're building intentionally and wondering when it's going to start feeling like it's working, this one's for you.

🔗 Book a call with Shannon — $99 for Self-Made Life listeners (reg. $150): makespacenj.com 📲 Follow along: @makespaceNJ

Shannon went from a Canva logo she couldn't explain to booking a $25,000 project just weeks after her rebrand launched. That's what the right brand foundation can do. If you're ready for that kind of shift, I'd love to work with you. Visit themonarchdesign.co to book a discovery call.

Ashley's back with a brand new season and a lot has changed. In this season premiere of the Self Made Life Podcast, she's getting real about the past couple of years: her second baby, a complete business rebrand, financial challenges, and the shift that changed how she sees her work entirely.

She opens up about how Monarch Design Co. went from taking on almost anything to becoming a strategic brand and website studio, why she stopped hiding behind her expertise, and what this season of the podcast is going to sound like — honest, practical, and anything but a highlight reel.

If your business has started to feel a little stale, a little stagnant, or just like it doesn't fit who you are anymore, this episode is your permission slip to let it evolve.

Topics this season: brand strategy, websites that convert, SEO, AI visibility, systems, pricing, motherhood, and building a business that supports your actual life.

See the new Monarch Website: www.themonarchdesign.co
Connect with me: Instagram @monarchdesignco   Linked In: Ashley Wyatt

What happens when the version of your business that got you here is no longer the one meant to take you forward?

In this final episode of the 7 Lessons in 7 Years series, Ashley Wyatt shares a powerful reflection on growth, identity, and giving yourself permission to let go of what no longer fits. This conversation is for the entrepreneur who feels pulled toward change but is wrestling with guilt, fear, or the pressure to stay loyal to an old version of success.

Ashley opens up about her own path from calligraphy, Etsy, and wedding stationery to branding, web design, and building a business that better supports her life, family, and future. She talks about outgrowing offers, releasing old identities, moving through resistance, and choosing support over struggle.

If you’ve been feeling the nudge to pivot, simplify, refine your offers, or step into a new season in business, this episode will remind you that you are not starting over. You are building from experience.

In this episode, Ashley shares:

• why outgrowing parts of your business is a sign of growth

• how to release old offers, roles, and expectations

• the mindset shift that changed how she built her business

• why getting support can increase your capacity and impact

• encouragement for entrepreneurs stepping into a new chapter

This episode is a must-listen for creative entrepreneurs, small business owners, moms in business, and service providers who want to build a business that feels aligned with the life they actually want.

If this episode speaks to you, share it with a fellow business owner and explore working with Ashley at themonarchdesign.co.