012 | Tara Gentile, CoCommercial on overcoming mindset obstacles, proactive decision making in business and how to align yourselves with partners that elevate your brand.

Tara Gentile is the founder of CoCommercial, a digital small business community for entrepreneurs serious about making money, impacting their communities, and transforming the lives of those they love. She’s also the host of Profit. Power. Pursuit., a podcast that takes you behind the scenes of successful small businesses. Entrepreneur named it one of 24 top women-hosted podcasts for business owners. Tara’s work has been featured in Fast Company, Inc, DailyWorth, Forbes, and The Huffington Post.   On Today’s episode we’re talking about overcoming mindset obstacles, proactive decision making in business and how to align yourselves with partners that elevate your brand.   ON TODAY’S EPISODE: [01:00] Misconceptions people have about running a business.[04:00] How mindset plays into business decisions, growth and general success.[10:00] How Tara tackles mindset concerns.[12:30] Making decisions now for what you want your business to be in the future.[18:30] How to decide on your long term goals.[20:30] Five year plans aren’t set in stone & business isn’t a straight line.[23:00] Benefits of dreaming bigger than you can imagine.[25:30] Ruthlessly auditing the way we present our products and services so that they align with our brand story.[30:00] Importance of research when building your products & services[33:00] Determining which strategic partnerships align best with your brand.[38:00] How strategic partnerships have elevated Tara’s brand.[43:00] How Tara defines success for her business[45:00] What’s next for CoCommercial. KEY TAKE-AWAYS:   “If you truly believe that you are taking action and things aren’t happening, traction isn’t there, it’s really time to examine that mindset stuff.” - Tara Gentile   “I have to build something a lot bigger than what I’m building right now and I have to build something that’s just not designed to make me a lot of money, but that’s actually designed to create something huge.” - Tara Gentile   “Research, research, research and don’t be afraid of research. One of the things that I find both in the product world and in the service world is that people are really afraid of researching their “competition”. - Tara Gentile “Pricing tells a story.” - Tara Gentile   “Get out in the world and look at what things are selling for in a broader scope.” - Katie Hunt   CONNECT WITH TARA:   Website: http://cocommercial.co Facebook: http://facebook.com/taragentilebusinessstrategist Instagram: http://instagram.com/taragentile Twitter: http://twitter.com/taragentile   JOIN THE TSBC FAMILY: Interested in learning more about launching or refining a wholesale line or exhibiting at trade shows?  Join us for our next Paper Camp conference in Los Angeles. Get more details and register at www.tradeshowcamp.com/papercamp   ABOUT PROOF TO PRODUCT: Proof to Product is brought to you by Tradeshow Bootcamp and hosted by Katie Hunt. Since 2011, TSBC has worked with hundreds of product based businesses to help them up level, scale, and build profitable sustainable companies. You can find our show notes and additional resources at ProofToProduct.com. If you like what you heard today, please head over to Apple Podcast to leave a five star review and subscribe. Thanks so much for listening. We'll be back next week with a new episode.