LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE IF YOU WANT THE INSIDE SCOOP ON WHAT SMART BRANDS ARE DOING IN OCTOBER TO GET AHEAD OF THE HOLIDAY RUSH.

Think it’s too late to make a difference in your holiday sales? Or maybe you’re already mentally checked out and telling yourself Q4 will be what it will be. Not so fast.

In this episode of Steal This Strategy, we’re pulling back the curtain on what successful product-based brands are doing in October to prepare for the busiest shopping season of the year. We’re talking about what’s happening behind the scenes with inventory, fulfillment, customer experience, and marketing. And how brands are still testing, optimizing, and finding opportunities to drive more sales before the holiday rush hits.

We’re also breaking down what customers are actually doing right now, why October is about getting on their holiday shopping lists before they’re ready to buy, and how to nurture your audience so you’re top of mind when November and December roll around.

In this episode:

• What customers are actually doing in October before peak holiday shopping begins
• Why people may be shopping for the holidays before they’re ready to buy
• The behind-the-scenes preparations that can make or break your Q4
• Why the holidays expose the operational cracks already hiding in your business
• The marketing strategy that goes beyond Black Friday and Cyber Monday
• How to get your brand onto customers’ holiday shopping lists early
• How to test holiday offers before the biggest shopping weekend of the year
• The three things I want you focusing on right now to prepare for the rush
• Why it’s not too late to make meaningful changes to your holiday sales
• How to use the next few months to create your strongest Q4 yet

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THE HOLIDAYS SHOULD BE A SPRINGBOARD INTO YOUR 2027 GOALS

Everyone wants a record-breaking Q4. But what if the real win isn’t just how much you sell during the holidays, but how many of those customers you can bring back in 2027?

In this episode, we’re breaking down how to turn holiday shoppers into repeat customers and use Q4 as a springboard for next year’s growth. Because when you have more eyes on your brand, more people discovering your products, and more customers buying gifts, you have an opportunity to build a much stronger sales baseline. Not just a temporary holiday spike.

We’re getting into the overlooked parts of holiday strategy that can make a massive difference, from your packaging and post-purchase email flows to shifting your messaging in January and identifying the products that will bring customers back for a second purchase.

In this episode:

• Why your holiday sales strategy shouldn’t end when the gifts are delivered
• The hidden opportunity inside every gift purchase
• Why the second purchase is the one you really need to focus on
• The packaging mistake that could be costing you future customers
• What your post-purchase email flow should actually be doing
• How to turn gift buyers into customers who shop for themselves
• The messaging shift your brand needs to make between December and January
• Why January is a data goldmine for your business
• The overlooked holiday follow-up opportunity that could bring customers back sooner
• Why sophisticated brands are already planning their Q1 launches during Q4
• How to use holiday customer data to build a stronger sales baseline for 2027

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LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT ACTUALLY MAKES INFLUENCER MARKETING WORK IN 2026.

In this episode, I’m joined by Chelsea Evans, founder and CEO of Momfluence, to break down what brands are getting wrong about influencer marketing, UGC, gifting, and working with creators. We’re talking about why smaller creators can often outperform bigger names, why authenticity matters more than perfectly scripted content, and how to think about influencers as part of your broader marketing ecosystem. Not a magic sales button.

We’re also getting very tactical about what to do with a $10,000 influencer marketing budget, how to structure gifting campaigns, what metrics actually matter, and why the content you get from creators may be far more valuable than the immediate sales it generates.

If you’ve tried influencer marketing and thought “this doesn’t work for my brand,” this conversation might completely change the way you look at it.

In this episode:

• Why influencer marketing isn’t the instant sales machine it used to be
• The reason smaller creators can outperform creators with millions of followers
• How to tell the difference between influencer marketing and UGC
• Why brands need to stop over-controlling creator content
• The gifting strategy that can actually make sense for smaller brands
• How to make the most of a $10K influencer marketing budget
• Why content quality and CPM can matter more than immediate sales
• The role of whitelisting, retargeting, and paid ads in making influencer content work
• What brands should actually be testing before deciding influencer marketing “doesn’t work”
• Where TikTok Shop, affiliate marketing, and creator marketing are headed next

• 
  

Connect with Chelsea:

Website: https://momfluence.co/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/momfluence.co/

LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/chelsea-clark-momfluence

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LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE IF YOU WANT MY COMPLETE RULEBOOK OF WHAT I SEE TO BE THROUGHPUTS FOR SUCCESS AFTER RECORDING 500 EPISODES WITH SOME OF THE BIGGEST NAMES IN BUSINESS

500 episodes. Hundreds of conversations. Founders who have built $100M+ businesses, category-leading experts, brilliant operators, and hundreds of product-based businesses I’ve worked with behind the scenes. After all of those conversations, there are certain lessons that just keep coming up.

For episode 500, I’m turning everything I’ve learned into one rule book for building a successful product-based business. The tactics will change. Platforms will change. Algorithms will change. But these principles have stayed remarkably consistent.

We’re talking about the things that actually separate businesses that grow from businesses that stay stuck. So if you’re building something bigger than where you are today, this is the rule book I want you to keep coming back to.

In this episode:

• The 10 rules I’ve seen consistently drive successful product-based businesses
• Why being different matters more than trying to be everything to everyone
• The surprising reason doing less can actually accelerate your growth
• The one thing your competitors can never truly copy
• The tiny details that can make a massive difference in your business
• The founder trait I believe is wildly underrated
• Why the strategies that got you here may not get you to the next level
• How your mindset can put a ceiling on your strategy
• Why revenue alone is a terrible definition of success
• The lesson 500 episodes taught me about never feeling ready
• What I’ve learned from talking to some of the biggest names in business

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LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE IF YOU EVER FEEL LIKE YOU’RE BROUGHT DOWN BY THE NARRATIVE THE WORLD OR SOMEONE HAS PUT ON YOU OR YOU JUST WANT A WAKE UP CALL

Whether it’s building a business, getting married, having kids, getting older, or stepping into a new season, there always seems to be a story about why it’s going to get harder, why you’re going to lose something, or why you might not be able to do what you want to do. But what if you stopped accepting those stories before you’ve even lived them?

We’re talking about choosing the bigger story, questioning the assumptions you’ve been carrying, and paying attention to the beliefs that might be quietly shaping the decisions you make. Because if you keep telling yourself the smaller story, you might never give yourself the chance to find out what’s actually possible.

So if you’ve been playing small, bracing for things to go wrong, or letting someone else’s reality dictate what you think your life or business can look like… this is your nudge to rethink the story.

In this episode:

• The stories we accept as “truth” without ever questioning them
• Why someone else’s experience doesn’t have to become your reality
• The business narrative I’ve spent years trying to change
• Why success doesn’t have to mean working yourself into the ground
• How the stories you believe can shape the actions you take
• The difference between choosing a bigger story and ignoring reality
• The questions I want you to ask yourself about the narratives you’re carrying
• Why you need people around you who will challenge your limiting stories
• How to start proving the bigger story to yourself
• What would change if you genuinely believed you could figure it out?
• Why your next level might require you to stop believing the story that you’re “not the kind of person” who gets there

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LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE IF YOU WANT A FULL BREAKDOWN OF HOW I TOOK A START UP FROM BLENDING IN TO STANDING OUT AS A PREMIUM OPTION IN THEIR CATEGORY

What does it actually take to launch a product-based business that doesn’t look like everyone else in the category? In this episode, I’m pulling back the curtain on a real client case study and walking you through how we took a startup idea and built the foundation for a premium brand before it even launched.

We’re breaking down the strategic decisions that happened before the website, packaging, content, or marketing. Including defining the long-term vision, finding the customer and visual gaps in the category, and creating a brand world that gives people a reason to choose this product over the alternatives.

If you want to build a brand that can command a premium, stand out in a crowded category, and eventually earn a place on major retail shelves, this is what needs to happen before you start pouring money into marketing.

In this episode:

• How we took a startup concept and turned it into a premium brand
• The first question you need to answer before touching your branding
• How to find the customer gap hiding inside a crowded category
• Why your differentiation doesn’t have to be a completely new product
• How to build a brand world around the customer you actually want
• Why premium customers are buying more than product features
• The messaging shift that can completely change how a product is perceived
• How packaging, photography, and your website become proof of your positioning
• Why premium doesn’t automatically mean spending more money
• The exact order we followed to build this brand before launch
• How this brand started attracting wholesale opportunities before going live
• Why strategy and creativity have to work together to create momentum

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LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE IF YOU WONDER IF INVESTING IN INFLUENCER MARKETING IS WORHT YOUR DOLLARS TODAY

Everyone seems to be doing influencer marketing. But between expensive brand deals, gifted products that never get posted, and creators getting more selective about what they promote, it’s fair to wonder whether the investment is actually paying off.

In this coaching session, I’m answering Lauren’s question about whether influencer marketing is worth it for scaling product-based businesses. We’re breaking down the difference between gifting, paid influencer marketing, affiliates, and long-term creator partnerships. And why treating them as one big strategy can lead to unrealistic expectations.

We’re also looking at what brands like Bloom Nutrition did to build visibility at scale, why smaller creators can be valuable, and when influencer marketing makes sense in your growth journey. Because sending a few boxes and hoping for the best isn’t a strategy. and the right approach depends on where your brand is today.

If you’re considering putting serious money into creators, let’s talk about what needs to be in place before you start sending products, signing contracts, and crossing your fingers.

In this episode:

• Why gifting a product doesn’t mean an influencer owes you a post
• The big difference between gifted and paid influencer marketing
• Why a creator’s follower count doesn’t tell the whole story
• What Bloom Nutrition’s massive creator strategy can teach us
• Why sending products to 15 influencers isn’t a full strategy
• The hidden costs of trying to make gifting work at scale
• Why influencer marketing can take months to generate meaningful results
• When it makes sense to pour more fuel on your brand’s existing momentum
• How to identify creators worth building long-term relationships with
• The questions to ask before investing heavily in influencer marketing

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LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE IF YOU SHOULD BE EXCITED FOR THE HOLIDAYS BUT INSTEAD YOU’RE BRACING FOR IMPACT

In this episode, we’re talking about the side of holiday strategy that doesn’t get nearly enough attention: capacity. Because creating demand is only half the equation. If your fulfillment, inventory, team, production, customer service, or systems can’t keep up, more sales can actually create more problems.

We’re breaking down how to figure out what would break first if your sales doubled, the three major levers I’m looking at with my clients right now, and how to build capacity before you desperately need it. Because the goal isn’t to survive your biggest sales season of the year, it’s to use Q4 to create a stronger business going into 2027.

If you’re hoping for a huge holiday season but secretly wondering, “What if we actually get the sales we’re aiming for?” You need this conversation before Q4 kicks into high gear.

In this episode:

• The hidden ceiling that could be limiting your Q4 sales
• Why more revenue doesn’t automatically mean your business is ready for more growth
• The first question I want you to ask if your sales doubled tomorrow
• Why simplifying your holiday strategy can make your business easier to scale
• The operational gaps you need to find before the holiday rush
• What you can streamline, eliminate, outsource, or move earlier
• Why waiting until November to fix capacity problems is too late
• How to stop reacting to fires and start anticipating where they’ll start
• Why your Q4 capacity could determine what your 2027 business looks like

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