Marketing Happy Hour Podcast

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In this episode we get practical about what ROI in marketing really looks like when you’re running social media marketing, ads, email campaigns, and search. I walk through the hard truth nobody can control: you can drive clicks, build a funnel, and set up a CRM with workflows, but you cannot physically make someone buy, book, or fill out a form. That gap between attention and action is where most “guarantees” fall apart, especially when customers need repeated touchpoints across platforms before they trust you.

You’ll also hear the simple m...

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One bad email can wreck your whole day, your mood, and your next sales call, unless you learn how to pause. Guest host Jason Fakouri sits down with Shelby McFarland, “The Marketing Broker,” for a candid conversation about confidence, boundaries, and the mindset shifts that quietly drive better marketing results.

Shelby shares how her “boss persona” started as pure survival, being the youngest person in the room and learning to carry herself like she belonged. Then motherhood, postpartum depression, and the chaos of COVID forced a deeper reset. We talk about how pers...

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Referrals feel like magic when they show up and like frustration when they don’t, so we get practical about what actually creates them. Shelby McFarland sits down with Hannah McDonald, a professional business developer in the insurance world, to talk through the real work behind relationship marketing: coffees, lunches, drop-ins, follow-ups, and the consistency it takes to become the name people trust. Hannah shares her path from radio sales to promotional products to remote corporate sales leadership, and how burnout pushed her back toward people-first growth.

We break down the bu...

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You can eat “pretty healthy,” work out, and still feel like your body is failing you. That’s what made this conversation with Megan Green hit so hard, because her turning point wasn’t a trendy plan, it was finally getting the right lab testing after years of being brushed off as “just a busy mom.” Megan is a registered dietitian with 20 plus years of experience, and she shares how an autoimmune disease was misdiagnosed for eight years, leaving her depleted, inflamed, exhausted, and desperate for real answers.

We get into what functio...

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You can start from scratch in a brand-new industry and still build something real, as long as you stay coachable and keep showing up. Shelby McFarland sits down with Chelsea Todd from Revolution Financial Management, who openly shares how she went from having zero finance background to becoming a trusted resource for families, without cold calling or door knocking. The thread running through everything is simple: bet on yourself, learn fast, and let your integrity do the marketing.

We get practical about how referral marketing actually works when you are new...

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Marketing can be a punch in the gut when the numbers refuse to move, even when you know you’re doing the work the right way. I’m sharing a story that was hard for me to admit out loud: I landed an exciting out-of-state client, built a full digital marketing plan, and still watched the results fall flat.

You’ll hear what it’s like to market a software product in a competitive niche where the big players have investors and huge monthly budgets for Google ads. I walk through what we...

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A customer tells you they won’t pay a deposit, they’ll pay “when they see it and like it.” Another tries to cancel a project halfway through. Somewhere in the middle, you’re answering emails, keeping clients happy, and wondering why it feels like a full moon every day. We’re getting honest about what that pressure does to your brain, and how you can respond like a seasoned business owner instead of spiraling like the old version of you.

We dig into the mindset shifts that come with experience: letting stre...

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Loneliness does not always look like being alone. Sometimes it looks like running the meeting, leading the team, keeping the home calendar in your head, and still lying awake at night thinking, What did I miss and what do I need to do next? We get into the loneliness of leadership for women and why it hits differently when you are also carrying motherhood, boundaries, and the invisible mental load that rarely gets acknowledged.

We talk about the double standards women face in male-dominated industries, the pressure to wear a “work ma...

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“Reasonable” sounds harmless until you’re the one paying rent, utilities, supplies, insurance, and self-employment taxes while still trying to deliver flawless work. Shelby McFarland  sits down with Rachel Harris for an honest, funny, and deep talk about what customers don’t see behind the chair and behind the screen.

We dig into the real economics of a service-based small business: licensing and training costs, the pressure to people-please, and why “you get what you pay for” isn’t a slogan, it’s math. We talk about the clients who demand endless tweaks on...

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One ad. A clear hook. A budget that actually makes sense. That’s how you stop throwing money at Facebook and Instagram and start getting results you can measure. We’re talking Meta ads with the practical perspective of someone who used to avoid paid social completely, then spent the last two years running campaigns that consistently improve ROI for real clients.

We walk through what “good” looks like at different budget levels, including a roofing company spending $1,000 a month that doubled website views in the first month, plus an example of an ad...

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You know that feeling when you finally sit down to work and you’re already wiped out and all you’ve done is make choices for everyone else? That’s what Shelby and Kayla unpack, honestly and in real time, as we talk about decision fatigue and the mental load that quietly runs your day. From sick kids and last-minute school messages to travel recovery and the constant “Where is it?” questions, we get into why the smallest decisions can be the ones that break you.

We also dig into a truth that...

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Most marketing advice falls apart the moment you ask one question: who are you trying to reach, and where do they actually make decisions? Shelby McFarland and Mattie Loomis pull questions straight from a recent local marketing panel and give honest, small business friendly answers you can use immediately, especially if your budget feels tight and your to-do list is already overflowing.

We start with the money question: where to spend first when you have a limited marketing budget. From there, we get real about a mistake that quietly costs businesses...

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The fastest way to lose momentum in business is to hand your confidence to people outside your company. A quiet inbox, a declined proposal, or a slow month can feel personal, but we’re not in the feelings business, we’re in the action business. We’re digging into a simple truth that changes everything: as the business owner, marketer, or salesperson, we control the effort, and the effort drives the outcome. 

I share a real example of setting an aggressive sales goal before a big trip and hitting it by doing t...

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Recruiting can feel like a completely different world than marketing until you realize they run on the same engine: clear positioning, consistent visibility, and trust built one conversation at a time. Shelby McFarland sits down with Demi Mathis, a business development officer at Northwestern Mutual in Arkansas, to unpack how she finds and attracts high-potential advisors and interns without relying only on job boards. 

We get specific about what recruiting “in the wild” really looks like. Demi shares how she markets opportunities on campus through class talks, professors, and career fairs, then...

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Everybody can post now, which is exactly why real marketing has never been harder to spot. We’re Alexis and Mattie, and we’re stepping in this week to talk about a trend we see nonstop: people calling themselves marketers when what they’re really doing is just uploading content. The gap between “a cute post” and a working marketing plan is massive, and if you’re a small business owner, that gap can cost you time, money, and momentum.

We pull back the curtain on what actually happens behind the scenes at a...

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Doing everything yourself can look like dedication, but it often feels like a slow chokehold on your time, your focus, and your revenue. Shelby sits down with Leia, an adult ADHD and executive function coach, to talk about the real moment entrepreneurs hit: keep taking clients and risk burnout, or start delegating and build a team that can actually scale. We get specific about what delegation looks like when your brain craves novelty but your business demands follow-through. 

We unpack Shelby’s path from solo marketing hustle to building support roles tha...

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You’ve heard the advice: post everywhere, grow fast, go viral, and let a great product sell itself. We don’t buy it and we explain why. We’re doing a quick, focused deep dive into the marketing myths that quietly derail small business growth and leave people feeling like “marketing doesn’t work.”

First up: the pressure to be on every social media platform. We talk about choosing one or two channels that match your audience instead of spreading your time across LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook with mediocre results. A strong dig...

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$48,000 in 14 days sounds like a book sales fairy tale, until you hear the real numbers: Shelby has sold about $710 worth of books. The twist is the point. She writes “Market Like a Boss” to make money through her business, using the book as a lead magnet, a credibility shortcut, and a trust-building sales asset that walks into every room with her.

We talk through the mindset shift that changes everything for entrepreneurs, consultants, and service providers: the book is not the product, it is the marketing tool for your brand. Shelby brea...

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AI is not waiting for anyone’s comfort level, and small business owners feel that tension every day. We talk through the good, the bad, and the ugly of AI marketing from a real-world perspective, including what’s changed as of June 2026 and why “it knows too much” isn’t a strategy. The goal is simple: use AI to move faster and think clearer without letting it erase the thing that makes your business recognizable. 

We get specific about what we avoid, especially AI-generated graphics and logos. If your posts suddenly look like e...

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I opened a second sign shop location, got three months in, and then lockdown hit. Suddenly my calendar meant nothing, my assumptions about growth got tested, and I had to figure out how to keep two employees paid while the world argued about curfews, safety rules, and who was “bringing COVID” into town.

What kept us afloat wasn’t luck. It was a fast pivot to the unglamorous work everyone needed right then: six-foot floor stickers, distancing decals, door signage, and simple instructions that helped schools and restaurants reopen. One school distri...

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Your LinkedIn isn’t broken, it’s just missing you. Shelby McFarland sits down with LinkedIn specialist Katie Rasure to get radically practical about what actually grows a personal brand, drives B2B leads, and builds a reputation people remember. We start with the real-world moment that proves the point: meeting someone in person and instantly recognizing them from their LinkedIn presence, then watching that relationship turn into trust.

Katie shares her story from graduating during the pandemic to using LinkedIn as more than a job board, curating a smarter feed, and...

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You can feel the energy of a real networking floor in Conway, Arkansas as we bounce from booth to booth at a Women in Business Showcase, asking one simple question at a time and letting the answers stack into a blueprint for modern entrepreneurship. Founders and leaders share what helps them recover from burnout, how they set boundaries when business feels all-consuming, and why “work-life balance” is less about perfect schedules and more about being present where you are needed.

We dig into small business marketing that actually works, especially authentic cont...

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Most business owners don’t need another marketing “hack.” They need the uncomfortable truth about why visibility does not automatically turn into sales and what to do when the phone is not ringing.

Shelby McFarlane talks with Arkansas insurance agent Nick Tuberville about the gap between marketing and selling, especially in service businesses where you are not shipping a product, you are selling a promise. We get practical about what actually drives growth: showing up locally, starting conversations, and building relationships strong enough that people choose you even when you are not th...

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You can study marketing for years and still feel unprepared the first time a real client and a real deadline land on your plate. Mattie and Alexis step in for Shelby and tell the honest version of what it looks like to break into a marketing career when your path is not perfectly linear, from a creative background to an esthetics business owner who fell in love with the marketing side before learning the fundamentals through an online digital marketing program.

We get into how both of us actually got hired...

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One painful week in a 500 square foot apartment changed everything for Shelby McFarland and it eventually became the foundation for how she leads, sells, and builds. Shelby shares the part of her story she rarely tells, then connects it to a simple framework she uses to guide decisions when life feels messy and business feels heavy.

We break down her BOSS mindset acronym: Bold, Opportunistic, Strong, and Service Minded. Shelby gets specific about what “bold” looks like when you’re scared, how to treat rejection as redirection, and why strength is not ab...

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Your best marketing content is already happening, and it sounds a lot like the questions people keep asking you. We take the everyday conversations from sales pitches, client meetings, and team chats and turn them into a simple, repeatable content engine. When you notice the same 10 to 15 questions showing up over and over, you’re not stuck for ideas anymore, you’re sitting on a roadmap for what your audience actually needs to hear before they trust you and buy. 

We walk through practical ways to reuse those answers across your marke...

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People don’t choose the “best” service on paper. They choose the person they trust with their money, their time, and their expectations. Shelby McFarland sits down with Alexis Valenti to talk about what we’re both seeing right now in sales and why buyers feel more cautious, especially when they’ve had a bad experience with a past provider.

We break down the real differentiators that make someone pick you over a competitor: authenticity in your pitch, the courage to tell the truth when a solution isn’t a fit, and the pati...

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Marketing can feel like a black hole: you post, you pay, you wait, and somehow nothing changes. We get real about why so many small business owners reach the point of saying, “I don’t think my marketing is working,” and why that feeling is often a signal that the strategy, expectations, or partner relationship is off, not that your business is doomed.

Shelby brings Mattie onto the mic, the teammate behind the b-roll videos and the edits, to talk about what they see in everyday conversations with business owners. We dig in...

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You can post every day, run Google Ads, perfect your Google Business Profile, and still wonder why revenue feels stuck. The missing piece usually isn’t another platform or another funnel, it’s sales. We talk through a hard truth for small business owners and service providers: digital marketing creates interest, but it doesn’t replace the face-to-face trust that closes deals.

We dig into how social media marketing used to feel effortless when Facebook and Instagram delivered massive organic reach, then shifted as algorithms and regulation changed the game. Consistent conten...

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You know that moment when your marketing agency pulls up a dashboard and someone says, “So you’re just going to show me numbers?” We get it. But those numbers are the receipt. In this Marketing Happy Hour conversation, we walk through the core Meta analytics that show real progress on Facebook and Instagram, then translate them into plain English so you can actually use them to grow your business.

We dig into the metrics that matter most inside Meta Insights, including the difference between views and viewers, why that change is hel...

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Trying to post everywhere, run ads, keep up with algorithms, and still deliver for clients? That’s not a marketing plan, that’s burnout. We’re coming to you from a casual volunteer day at a local nonprofit that supports small businesses, and we crack open Chapter Nine of my book Market Like a Boss for a reset you can actually use.

We talk about how marketing has evolved from “hard copy” Yellow Pages and local TV to Facebook business pages, SEO, Google Business Profile, and today’s world of Meta ads, Google...

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If the first question you ask about marketing is “How much does it cost?”, this conversation is going to challenge you in the best way. I’m reading one of my favorite chapters from my book, Market Like a Boss, and it’s a blunt reminder that a business with no marketing budget isn’t being “scrappy” it’s choosing invisibility. When you skip the investment, you don’t magically save money, you usually just trade strategy for hope. 

We dig into what a real marketing budget actually does for growth: it creates consiste...

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Worried that AI will edge out your creative work? Let’s flip the script. Shelby shares how she uses AI to win back hours each week, then invests that time into better research, clearer strategy, and stronger content. The goal isn’t to replace your voice; it’s to remove the busywork so your voice gets louder.

We unpack how Google’s AI Overview chooses sources and what it actually means for traffic and trust. The playbook is practical and focused: text-heavy website pages that answer real questions, descriptive alt text for ever...

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The noise around AI makes it feel like a silver bullet or a looming threat, but the real advantage comes from pairing smart prompts with strong SEO bones. We walk you through a practical, repeatable system to win local search and get cited by AI tools like ChatGPT and Grok, without chasing every trend or burning cash on guesswork.

We start by resetting expectations: AI pulls from the web’s existing sources, so your job is to become the clearest, most trusted source in your niche. That means tightening your Google Bu...

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Ever feel like the algorithm ignores your best work? Here’s the twist: the feed isn’t random—it’s consumer-first. We break down what that really means for small businesses and creators, and how to design content that actually reaches the people you want. Instead of chasing volume or praying for virality, we map audience segments and craft posts that match intent—education for learners, proof for skeptics, and empowerment for DIY marketers—so every piece has a job and a measurable outcome.

We get specific about staying on brand while tailor...

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A lime green carpet shouldn’t be the reason you walk away from a dream. Shelby takes us inside the leap to open Little Rock Creative—a new photography studio and hybrid office built to raise the bar for content creators in west Little Rock—while celebrating ten years of The Marketing Broker and nearly fourteen years in entrepreneurship. This is a candid, behind-the-scenes look at why standards matter, how to spot the right space beneath the chaos, and what it really feels like to scale while the calendar is already full.

We...

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Ice on the roads turned into clarity on the plan. After six days at home with my five‑year‑old and a full notebook, I’m sharing a practical visibility blueprint for small businesses that want more than likes—they want bookings. We start with the foundation most people skip: crisp clarity. If a stranger can’t describe what you do in one sentence, the algorithm won’t either. I walk through how to define your core service, name your ideal client, and trim the offers that drain your energy so you can do your best...

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Ready to grow a new business without draining your wallet? We break down five free, high-impact moves that build a clear brand, boost visibility, and turn real-world connections into steady referrals. Shelby McFarland, the marketing broker behind Marketing Happy Hour, lays out a lean playbook you can execute right now and refine as you scale.

We start by building a brand foundation that actually guides decisions: simple logo and colors, consistent voice, and a mission that shows customers what you stand for. From there, we claim the essentials—domain, Google Business Pr...

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Ready for a hot take that might change how you grow? We unpack why competition—not vague “collabs”—is the engine that sharpens your craft, speeds up decisions, and wins better clients. From a fast start to 2026 with a new office and a rentable photo studio in Little Rock, we dig into the systems that turn momentum into measurable wins and the partnerships that actually add value.

You’ll hear how a competitive mindset fuels daily execution: smart discovery questions, tight proposals, and respectful, consistent follow-up. We talk through real bid stories—wh...

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Stuck in that “blah” headspace but still need to ship content that moves the needle? We’ve been there—staring at a blank calendar, juggling client work, family, and admin, while the algorithm and your sales pipeline quietly drift. Today we share the exact system we use to market consistently even when inspiration doesn’t show up, and why it led to a 25% lift in sales after just thirty days of steady posting.

We start by breaking the cycle of stop‑start marketing and the frustration that follows halfhearted posts. You’ll hear how we...