Empowering and supporting
creative women
through personalized coaching
Imagine spending your days doing the thing you love.
Using your talents to build a life of joy and inspiration while creating a thriving small business that supports you financially, physically, and mentally.
Whether your passion lies in music, design, photography, real estate, or retail, turning that dream into a successful and fulfilling life can feel impossible.
I’m here to tell you it’s not.
I’m a bass player, small business owner, writer, and coach originally from New Zealand.
I currently work as a touring musician out of Nashville, Tennessee, and live in the North Woods of Wisconsin where I run two retail businesses with my partner.
I’ve been involved in the music business for… ahem… several decades. I’ve played all over the world, been an artist, booking agent, tour manager, events agency director, and session player, and toured with bands at all levels performing everywhere from folk clubs to rock arenas.
In addition to touring as a bass player and backing vocalist, I’m the marketing and merchandising director for Nicolet Beach, a seasonal tourist business in a State Park, and the co-owner of an apparel store called Blue Pine Door County.
Turning your passions into a career can feel impossible. Like you’ll be stuck forever working endless hours at a job you hate so that you can grab a few moments a week doing the thing you really love. And often, when those precious moments roll around, you’re too exhausted from work to enjoy them.
You absolutely can turn your passion into a career that inspires and nourishes you financially, physically, and mentally.
The best part? You just need one thing to make your dream career a reality:
Me.
Lol, no - sure, I can teach you some skills and help you create a plan, but that’s not it.
The one thing you need is your story.
This is your problem…
Unless you’re completely new to running a business, you probably already have a passable website and a social media presence.
Things are likely going generally okay, but deep down, you’ve known for a while that logging into Instagram once a week to post a badly cropped photo isn’t the way to grow your business.
You probably hate the idea of being on camera, feel like a narcissist talking about yourself, and never know what to write in a caption. So, you end up saying something pointless that gets the lackluster response you know it deserves.
When you start googling “how to grow a small business,” you see terms like SEO, data analytics, geo-targeting, UX, and A/B testing; you’re left confused and resigned to never have the business you dream of.
Here’s the truth:
It isn’t the algorithm you don’t understand; it’s storytelling.
Humans are hardwired for stories.
Your story is the foundation of your business.
It’s the reason you got into business in the first place and what motivates you to keep going now.
Think you don’t have a story? I promise you do.
It’s who you are, where your passion stems from, why you’re different than your competitors, and the seed of connection that inspires strangers to bloom into customers.
Nerd alert: anthropologists tell us that storytelling is central to human existence.
Simply put, we evolved into storytellers because we didn’t have fangs and needed to develop problem-solving skills and cooperation with other humans to stay safe from predators who wanted to eat us.
As well as being super useful in protecting you from being eaten by a bear, telling your story makes writing your business plan simple, your marketing strategy rich and full and your audience flourish.
Writing your story is the first step in my coaching program because everything else, your audience, goals, style, vibe, and content, stems from it.
You don’t need another content marketing course.
Not like the ones you see advertised on social media anyway.
The Instagram gurus who promise you 10,000 followers in 30 days, or to get your Facebook ads seen by 1000 people a day, and the “done-for-you” social media companies who charge thousands of dollars a month only to tell you the lackluster outcome is because your photos weren’t good enough or your business isn’t interesting enough.
I call bullsh*t.
Vanity metrics are the best thing to sell you in a 10-second TikTok because they’re the easiest to quantify. But they’re meaningless in the real world of running a small business.
The fact is 10,000 random people “smashing the follow button” or 1000 zombie-scrolling eyes on your Facebook ad isn’t what builds a thriving business.
Most social media courses don’t work because they’re generic.
They teach algorithm tricks to get people to click the like button and Facebook ad strategy designed to get views but don’t help you figure out the story you’re trying to tell about your business or who you’re talking to.
Your story is what inspires strangers to become customers, followers into fans.
Thousands of likes from people who don’t go on to actually buy from you equals a waste of your time.
You need someone to guide you through creating a comprehensive digital marketing plan customized for your business and life.
If only we knew someone here who could help…
Testimonial
“Vanessa skillfully explained the rebranding process and witnessing it in action convinced me that this was the right path for my artistic journey as a singer-songwriter.
Despite my research, I lacked clarity on how to bring my plans to fruition. Discovering Vanessa was a source of immense gratitude for me! The interaction and collaboration with Vanessa were enjoyable for me. I sensed mentorship in our exchange and felt comfortable asking questions openly.
I’m thrilled with the final outcomes. I now feel more confident and excited to showcase my new website.”
-Ang Minton, Nashville
Why not just pay a social media manager?
Paying someone to create and implement a marketing plan for you is a perfectly acceptable short-term solution. They have the knowledge, and you don’t have the time, so why not do that forever?
Because the only expert on your story is you, and your story is the secret sauce for your marketing success.
You can explain to an SSM what you want them to do online, the personality you’re trying to present, and the tone of voice to use in captions and comments, but it will always be an inferior version of the real thing - and customers can always tell.
Learning how to turn your story into a marketing plan yourself allows you to create a killer plan now, again next year, and the next year as you and your business continue to grow and change.
At the end of my coaching program, you’ll understand design, SEO, analytics, and social media algorithms, allowing you to refine your strategy continually. If you get too busy to do the daily posting, you can teach an intern or assistant to implement it.
Instead of renting knowledge from a social media manager, you will own the knowledge, and knowledge is power.
If you ask me, it’s time to get powerful,
How does it work?
There are four stages: Story, Style, Share, SEO & Ads
Stage One - Story
Your story is the central core of your digital marketing plan.
Where you’ve come from, where you are now, and where you want to be in the future impact every area of your business plan and marketing.
By focusing first on your story, we create a business plan that attracts customers who are a perfect fit, aligns with your values and personality, and marketing goals that feel easy to stick with because they’re based on a story that deeply resonates with you: yours.
In stage one, I will interview you, learn all about your business and history, and provide you with:
A full biography, ideal for use on your website and as background for press interviews
A boilerplate, perfect for business listings and ads
Single-line bio, great for sub-headings and social media profiles
We will then use your story to determine your ideal target audience, including demographic information, personality, how they’ll interact with your business and wants, needs, pain points, and goals.
Using your story and business goals, we’ll define your brand values, the filter through which all future marketing decisions will be made.
Stage Two - Style
The style of your website, social media posts, and advertising is how you tell the story of your business visually.
Branding
Every color choice, font style, and graphic selection tells prospective customers something about you and subconsciously impacts their decision to buy from you or not. These decisions are incredibly important to get right but straightforward to make with some guidance.
I’ll coach you through defining your business's design style, choosing a color palette and fonts, and establishing the visual style that best suits your business.
Whether starting from scratch or wanting to freshen things up, I will guide you through a straightforward process to create the brand kit that best suits your unique personality and business.
Website
Using your new brand kit and style guide, I’ll work on my own to completely overhaul your website’s style, text, links, headers, photos, background images and textures, dynamic page features, and footer.
I will optimize your website for UX (user experience) and ready the backend to easily track traffic and ads to ensure the best ROI.
I’ll edit your photos to create a cohesive feel, create background images and graphics, set up your email list and capture points, and optimize every page for desktop and mobile.
I’ll create personalized video lessons using your website backend to show you how to update text, change images, and adjust page layouts. This is a key stage in the process because it will allow you to rework your website as needed, without any help.
Testimonial
“Vanessa McGowan took my limited knowledge of Squarespace to the next level. The photos she chose and the colors she recommended for my website were all cohesive to building my brand.
One of my favorite aspects of working with Vanessa is that she listened to my suggestions which she transformed into a user friendly website producing organic growth.”
- Laura Sawosko, Nashville
Stage Three - Share
Once we’ve defined your brand voice, created a comprehensive style kit, and nailed down exactly who you’re talking to, why you’re talking to them, and the message you want to share, it’s time to get that message out there!
Social Media
Based on your schedule, target audience, and growth potential, we'll decide which social media platforms to focus on. We’ll use your bio and brand kit to create visual unity between all the profiles.
We will use your story and style kit to create Repeatable Content Frameworks for your chosen social media platforms. Each framework will have an assigned platform, goal, asset description, and templates for captions, hashtags, and links (if applicable).
I’ll teach you simple editing tricks and best practices for reels, posts, and videos.
Customer Connection
A sales funnel shows you the journey someone takes from complete strangers to repeat customers. We will use the five stages of the funnel - awareness, interest, desire, action, and loyalty - to map your overall marketing strategy and how each element aligns with the customer journey.
The tone and style of communication you use online and in marketing materials must align with your brand values, sound authentic, and stay consistent. I’ll guide you through deciding the tone of voice you will use as a business to best reflect your values and connect with your audience.
We’ll define four ways to tell your story to appeal to the four distinct customer personality types so your message attracts all iterations of your target audience.
Stage Four - SEO & Ads
My goal is that you don’t have to hire a social media marketing manager or digital marketing consultant for many years to come.
Social Media Ads
I’ll teach you about geotargeting and A/B testing using Meta Business Suite so you can ensure you’re getting the best return on your Instagram and Facebook ad spend.
I’ll show you how to track social media analytics, dissect the data, and refine your posting plan accordingly.
Google Ads
We’ll build Google Ads, set up conversion tracking, and optimize around keywords and demographic targeting.
We’ll learn how to use unique QR codes in advertising to track individual traffic sources and determine which ads perform best.
Search Engine Optimization
We will determine the short- and long-tail keywords to optimize your business and create a metadata and blog post plan specifically for website search engine optimization.
We’ll use website analytics and Facebook pixels to track user behavior and learn how to adjust SEO accordingly.
I will optimize your Google My Business profile and create a simple cross-posting plan for your continued growth.
Learning how to analyze the data, understand the patterns, optimize your process, and refine your marketing plan as needed will ensure continued growth - long after this program has ended.
I can help you because I’m you too.
I’ve been a small business owner since I was 17 years old
Born and raised in Auckland, New Zealand, I played my first gig as a professional bass player in my senior year of high school. It was the after-party for a rally car event, and I negotiated the deal, created the contract, booked the musicians, and my life as a small business owner began.
My music career has taken me all over the world. From Auckland to Nashville, and from rally car after-parties all the way to playing arenas, iconic venues, and even for President Biden at The White House.
I’ve had success in music because I’ve always run my career as a small business.
My first band, Auckland New Zealand (me on far left)
I love being a small business owner.
I love the independence, autonomy, creativity, and satisfaction of building something from scratch.
I love it so much, this year we opened another store.
But I also know how stressful it can feel and how easy it is to become completely overwhelmed.
I know what it’s like to be taking care of customer service, bookkeeping, managing staff, long-term planning, and at the end of the day - when you’re down to your last shred of energy - to think, I have to post something but have no idea where to start.
I also know how lonely it can be to run a small business. That’s why this program isn’t just about learning skills, it’s about building community.
With POTUS and FLOTUS after performing at The White House, Washington D.C., 2021
In March 2020, I landed in Door County, Wisconsin, to visit my long-distance boyfriend for two weeks before an extended music tour. Four months later, I was still there; the music industry was shut down for the foreseeable future, and I found myself helping my now live-in boyfriend run his retail business.
My unexpected involvement in his business showed me that running a small business is fundamentally the same whether you’re selling songs or sweatshirts.
Performing with Brandy Clark at The Ryman, Nashville, TN, 2023
I created this program for you
Ten thousand followers on TikTok or 1000 random people seeing your latest Facebook ad doesn’t help your business.
You need to understand how to tell the story that will hook those random people and make them loyal customers.
Learn how to track the data so you can confidently adjust your marketing and be certain about where you’re spending your ad dollars.
You need to build an online community now so they’re already in love with what you’re doing the next time you have a big announcement or if you need to pivot your business quickly in the future (hello, Covid).
Spending money sucks.
You shouldn’t have to pay a website designer hundreds every time you need an update.
You shouldn’t have to pay someone every month to make your social media content.
If you have a website customized for your business and learn how to update it, you can do it yourself, quickly and for free, forever.
When you have a simple, effective, and user-friendly content plan, you can delegate posting to an intern, virtual assistant, or staff member when you get busy.
You’re the expert already.
Your story is all you need to make marketing work for you. And, conveniently, that’s something you’re already an expert in.
When you have an uncomplicated, practical content marketing plan customized for your lifestyle that makes running your business easier, you are empowered.
That’s why I created this program.
For you.
A comprehensive digital marketing plan empowering creative women with business skills for life.
Ready to start?
Complete the form below to express your interest in the program.
This isn’t a firm commitment from either of us.
It’s a chance to get to know each other better and see if we’re a good fit for working together.