Work Less, Earn More

In this episode, podcast coach and God-Led Business host Stefanie Gass joins me for an honest, unscripted conversation about the changes we've each made in our businesses over the last year - new platforms, overhauled teams, and product lines we simplified (or didn't, lol). If you're running an online business and wondering whether it's time to shake something up, this one is for you.
In This Episode, I Cover:
Why Stefanie added YouTube after years of podcast-only growth, and what changed when she did
The real reason we both overstaffed our teams, and how we knew it was time to cut
Why offering a cheap "dip your toes in" option is quietly costing you sales
What happened when Stefanie stopped niching down on a specific topic... and let faith lead her content instead
The unstructured, no-slide format that still converts better than anything polished
How to know when one product has earned the right to become your whole business

Stefanie's Free Podcast Bootcamp:
5-Day Profitable Podcast Bootcamp, free with code GILLIAN: https://stefaniegass.com/gifts
Listen to God-Led Business: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/god-led-business-make-money-online-work-from-home-passive/id1437868374

Gillian's free $100K Method audio course:
https://www.gillianperkins.com/100k-method-signup

Connect with Gillian:
Website: https://gillianperkins.com
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@gillianzperkins
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gillianzperkins/

Connect with Stefanie:
Website: https://stefaniegass.com
Instagram: instagram.com/stefaniegass

Screenshot this episode and share it to your Instagram Stories - tag @gillianzperkins so I can see it.
Until next week - stay focused and take action.

This week I'm breaking down a policy change YouTube announced a few weeks ago that's about to reshape how every creator reads their own analytics. It's a quick, practical episode for anyone who publishes on YouTube - or watches their view count as a signal of how they're doing.
In This Episode, I Cover:
Why YouTube changed how Shorts views were counted a year before this update
What actually counts as a "view" starting August 24, 2026
Where your old, more honest view count is still hiding in your analytics
Whether this change touches your monetization or Partner Program status
Why I still don't care about a view under three seconds long
Which channels are about to see the biggest (and smallest) jumps

Free Resources to Grow Your Online Business: 
Early Access - Why Your Audience Isn't Growing: https://www.gillianperkins.com/early-access 
$100K Method (free audio course): https://www.gillianperkins.com/100k-method-signup 
Small Business 101 (free course): https://gillianperkins.com/free-training-small-business-101/

Work with Gillian Perkins: 
Startup Society: https://startupsociety.com 
$100K Mastermind: https://gillianperkins.com/100k-mastermind

Connect with Gillian: 
Website: https://gillianperkins.com 
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Screenshot this episode and share it to Instagram Stories - tag @gillianzperkins so I can see it.
Until next week - stay focused and take action.

Everyone's using AI to make more content, but Kimberly Ann Jimenez has taken a different path - she used it to rebuild how her entire business runs, and now she does more in half the time with a smaller team than ever.

Today I'm sitting down with Kimberly to talk about her AI strategies and systems. She’s the COO of The Business Lounge and a woman who's spent about a decade helping service providers, coaches, and small business owners turn their content into consistent customers. We get into how AI has shifted buyer behavior, what people still need from real humans in an AI world, and - my favorite part - exactly how she built a team of AI "thought partners" and agents that know her business, her offers, and her voice.

In This Episode, We Cover:
From accidental entrepreneur to CMO - how Kimberly went from a background in academia (and zero interest in business) to managing over 100 social media channels and a multi-seven-figure ad budget in corporate, then building her own company with her husband Chris
Why she scaled down on purpose - how her core community grew to serve over 10,000 people, and why she moved from "really large" to a more boutique, three-tier model (community, small-group coaching, and just four one-on-one seats a year)
How the buyer changed after COVID and after ChatGPT - the three waves she watched play out: wanting more one-on-one connection, growing more sophisticated, and now craving in-person, "look over my shoulder" access - plus why old-school tactics like Facebook ads are trending back in a "throwback season"
Information overload vs. the age of insight - why long-form podcasts and deep content are winning, and why AI's confident-but-wrong answers are sending clients back to real experts (one client burned $1,000 on a Gemini-built Facebook ad plan before Kimberly's team fixed it)
Her AI "thought partners" - how every team member has a trained Claude project (named Rosalina, Edie, Harvest) tied to a central knowledge hub in ClickUp, so the whole team stays in sync through "context handoffs"
3 files that instantly upgrade your AI - the ideal client avatar, your offers, and your goals. Keep your conversations inside one project with these three files and, in Kimberly's experience with clients, results improve by at least 50%
3 simple agents to start with - an inbox agent (turned her 2-hour email slog into 5 minutes), a podcast/content research agent (Google Trends + VidIQ), and a lead-research agent that briefs her on new leads before she reaches out

Connect with Kimberly Ann Jimenez: 
📺 YouTube - Kimberly Ann Jimenez: https://www.youtube.com/@KimJimenez
🎙️ The Business Lounge Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-business-lounge-podcast-with-kim-chris/id1207088296
📲 Instagram: @kimannjimenez

Work with Gillian Perkins: 
👉 Startup Society membership: https://gillianperkins.com/join-startup-society

FREE Resources to Grow Your Online Business: 
🎧 Free audio course - The $100K Method: https://www.gillianperkins.com/100k-method-signup 
📚 Free course - Small Business 101: https://gillianperkins.com/free-training-small-business-101/

Connect with Gillian: 
🌐 https://gillianperkins.com 
📺 https://youtube.com/gillianperkinsonline/ 
📲 Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Screenshot this episode, share to Instagram Stories, and tag @gillianzperkins - I'd love to see you listening!

Until next week - stay focused and take action.

What if you could reclaim 10+ hours a week without working harder, waking up earlier, or finally finding the perfect productivity system? Grab my free 10-episode series, The $100K Method, for the systems that let me build a business that doesn't need me in every corner of it: https://www.gillianperkins.com/100k-method-signup

Delegation sounds simple: hire help, hand things off, get your time back. In reality, it often creates more questions and more management, unless you build the right structure around it. This week I'm joined by Gina Cotner, founder and CEO of Athena Executive Services, one of the top US-based executive assistant agencies. Gina's spent the last decade pairing highly skilled EAs with busy founders and executives, and she doesn't just treat delegation as an outsourcing task. She teaches leaders how to build trust, transfer real ownership, and create accountability so their business runs better without them doing everything.

In This Episode, I Cover:
Why delegating a task doesn't automatically buy you your time back
The one habit that turns a hire into a task-doer instead of a real partner
Why the first 30 days with a new hire matter more than any month after
The exact three questions Gina uses to hand off a project and make it truly theirs
What a US-based executive assistant actually costs, and how that compares to overseas VAs and solo freelancers
How to tell early whether you've hired the wrong person for the role
Special Offer for Work Less, Earn More Listeners

Receive 5 free hours of service added to your first full month of work with Athena Executive Services (AES) — a $275 value! Just mention this offer during your first call with them.

Connect with Gina Cotner:
Website: https://www.athenaexecutiveservices.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/athenaea/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aes_executive_assistants

Grow Your Online Business:
Free training, Small Business 101: https://gillianperkins.com/free-training-small-business-101/
The $100K Method (free 10-episode podcast series): https://www.gillianperkins.com/100k-method-signup

Connect with Gillian:
Website: https://gillianperkins.com 
Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

If your launches have been underperforming, the problem probably isn't your offer — it's the strategy around it. Today I'm sitting down with Shannon Matson, founder of The Social Bungalow and former corporate VP of marketing, to talk about what's actually working in online business launches right now.

Shannon has built an eight-figure business helping online entrepreneurs build a signature offer and sell it consistently. In this conversation, she breaks down the exact launch framework she's using today, why the old playbook isn't cutting it anymore, and the subtle mindset shift that makes buyers feel like they came to the decision, rather than being sold to you.

In This Episode, We Cover:
The Double Milestone Approach: How Shannon structures a private podcast + live event sequence to warm and pre-sell audiences before cart ever opens, and why it converts so much better than a cold webinar
Intrinsic vs. extrinsic motivation: Why flipping the 80/20 ratio (less urgency, more conviction) is the key to lower refunds and higher referrals
Low-ticket self-liquidating offers: How Shannon uses a paid asynchronous product between launches to build a pool of buyers (not just subscribers), and why a price tag actually increases conversion into the main offer
The deposit + bonus month structure: A specific payment plan design that reduces buyer friction, increases completion rates, and builds in a natural renewal conversation
The Popcorn Theory: Why most business owners quietly run out of new customers and don't notice until it's too late, and what to do about it (hint: it's not more Instagram content)

Connect with Shannon Matson: 
Free private podcast WTF Is Happening in the Online Space: https://thesocialbungalow.com/wtf-is-happening-online
Instagram: @thesocialbungalow

FREE Resources to Grow Your Online Business:
Is your online business making as much as you hoped it would? If not, listen to my free private podcast series Stuck at Zero: Why Your Online Business Isn’t Making Any Money (And What to Do About It) https://gillianperkins.com/stuck

Connect with Gillian: 
🌐 https://gillianperkins.com 
📺 https://youtube.com/gillianperkinsonline/ 
📲 Instagram: @GillianZPerkins

Screenshot this episode, share to Instagram Stories, and tag @gillianzperkins — I'd love to see you listening!

Until next week — stay focused and take action.