Carter Business Coaching & Consulting

10/05/2026

Listen - everyone sucks at first.

But the people who succeed?

They keep going.

Growth isn’t instantaneous. It’s cultivated over time - through practice, mistakes, awkward first attempts, small improvements, and showing up again when it would be easier to quit.

You’re not supposed to be great at something the first time you do it.

So keep learning.
Keep trying.
Keep getting a little better.

Just don’t stop.



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10/02/2026

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09/02/2026

I’ve had a few conversations recently with local storefront business owners that sparked an interesting discussion.

And I kept hearing the same thing:

They’re exhausted by social media.

Trying to constantly create content. Keep up with Instagram. Make Reels. Figure out what the algorithm wants. Post consistently. Get engagement.

All while actually trying to run a business.

And for some, there’s another challenge.

The excitement and momentum that came with opening a new business has started to slow down—and they’re wondering:

How do we spark it again? How do we get more people through the door?

My answer might be a little surprising:

You may not need to post more.

Instead, start looking at what’s already around you.

Your existing customers.
Your email list.
Other businesses in your community.
Businesses in nearby towns.
And your physical space itself.

That’s what inspired my latest article: 3 Ways Your Storefront Business Can Get More Customers.

I explore how referrals, partnerships, and creating experiences can help generate new traffic without making social media your entire marketing strategy.

Because your business probably doesn’t need to go viral.

You need the right people to have a reason to walk through the door, come back, and tell someone else.

🔗 3 Ways Your Storefront Business Can Get More Customers
https://cartercoaching.ca/blog/f/3-ways-your-storefront-business-can-get-more-customers

Storefront owners, I’m curious: Are you feeling social media fatigue too? And what are you doing right now to keep people coming through the door?

By Salli Carter, host of The Educator Experience Podcast

08/29/2026

Somehow I missed National Dog Day which I believe should be a mandatory day off to snuggle with your pups 💜

08/27/2026

There’s a big difference between having an executive sponsor and having an executive who is actually sponsoring the change.

It’s relatively easy to support change when the project is being approved and the strategy looks good on paper.

The real test comes later.

When priorities compete.
When resistance emerges.
When departments disagree.
When resources become tight.
When difficult decisions need to be made.

That’s when people are watching leadership most closely.

And it’s also where executive sponsorship and trust intersect.

Effective sponsors remain visible, communicate why the change matters, build alignment across leadership, remove barriers, make difficult decisions, and continue reinforcing the change as it unfolds.

Those same behaviours help build trust.

Because people aren’t only evaluating the change itself. They’re evaluating the people leading them through it.

I’ve written about these two sides of change leadership in two related articles:

🔗 Why Executive Sponsorship Matters in Change — what effective sponsorship actually looks like and how change practitioners can help sponsors lead change well.
https://cartercoaching.ca/f/why-executive-sponsorship-matters-in-change

🔗 Building Faculty Trust During Organizational Change: 5 Strategies — while written specifically about faculty and higher education, the broader premise applies across organizations: trust is built through how we lead change.
https://theeducatorexperience.ca/f/building-faculty-trust-during-organizational-change-5-strategies

Together, they explore something I think we sometimes underestimate in change management:

The way leaders show up during change is part of the change strategy itself.

By Salli Carter, host of The Educator Experience Podcast

08/13/2026

The simplest way to live the life you want?

Decide what that life looks like.

Then start saying no to the things that don’t align with it.

I see this all the time when I work with entrepreneurs and executives.

They know what they want to build.
They know what matters to them.
They know where they want to go.

But then they keep saying yes.

Yes to the client who isn’t a good fit.
Yes to the opportunity that pulls them away from their goals.
Yes to the meeting they don’t need to attend.
Yes to work they don’t actually want to be doing.
Yes because they could do it - not because they should.

And eventually, their calendar looks nothing like the life or business they said they wanted.

Every yes is a decision about where your time, energy, and attention go.

So before you say yes, ask yourself:

Does this move me toward the life and business I’m trying to create - or away from it?

Sometimes the most strategic thing you can do is say no.

Not because the opportunity is bad.

Because it isn’t yours.

08/13/2026

Sometimes the best business lessons come from the things you never expected to build.

Over the past year, I've had the opportunity to grow The Educator Experience Podcast into one of Canada's top education podcasts. 🎙️

And somewhere between preparing for interviews, talking with incredible people from around the world, trying to strategically position the dog bed in the background 🐶, and occasionally crying after particularly powerful conversations... I've learned a lot.

Not just about podcasting.

About building something you believe in.

About showing up consistently before you know whether anyone is paying attention.

About being genuinely curious about other people.

About letting go of perfection.

And about how powerful real human connection can be when you create space for it.

I recently shared the 5 biggest things I've learned from building the podcast, and so many of those lessons apply to entrepreneurship, leadership, and building a brand too.

I'm incredibly proud of what this little idea has become - and even more excited about where it's going next. 💜

Here's to building the things you can't stop thinking about.

Spotify: https://zurl.co/LstRR
Apple Podcast: https://zurl.co/sYk3e
YouTube: https://zurl.co/fqeH6

https://www.millionpodcasts.com/teacher-podcasts-canada/
https://www.millionpodcasts.com/college-professors-podcasts/

08/11/2026

I originally wrote this article with large, complex organizations in mind - but the more I looked at the five strategies, the more I realized how relevant they are for entrepreneurs and small business owners leading change, too.

Change might look different in a small business.

You may be implementing a new CRM.
Introducing AI into your workflows.
Changing a long-standing process.
Restructuring roles as you grow.
Bringing in new technology.
Or asking a small team to work differently.

But the human side of change is still there.

A few of the biggest takeaways for small business owners:

• Explain the why before the what. Don’t assume your team understands why the change is necessary just because it makes sense to you.

• Listen before you build. The people doing the work often see barriers, risks, and opportunities you don’t.

• Don’t automatically label questions as resistance. Instead of asking, “How do I get them on board?” ask, “What is this resistance telling me?”

• Show people how their input influenced the decision. Asking for feedback builds very little trust if nothing appears to happen with it.

• Communicate throughout the change. One announcement isn’t a change strategy. Keep people informed about what’s happening, what has changed, and what comes next.

Small businesses may have fewer layers, fewer committees, and fewer people involved in a change - but that doesn’t make the people side of change any less important.

In fact, when your team is small, how you lead change can be felt very quickly.

I wrote Building Faculty Trust During Organizational Change: 5 Strategies for the higher education sector, but the principles of trust, awareness, communication, and listening translate far beyond it.

If you’re an entrepreneur or small business owner, I’d be interested to hear: what change are you currently trying to lead in your business?

What if building trust during change isn’t about getting everyone to agree?

Faculty can question the direction.
Challenge decisions.
Raise concerns.
And still trust the people leading the change.

In fact, those questions can make the change stronger.

When we’re leading major change in higher education, the goal shouldn’t be universal agreement. It should be creating enough trust for people to engage honestly in the process.

That means listening.
Being transparent.
Following through.
Making space for disagreement.
And showing people how their voices are shaping the change.

AI may be the disruption we’re navigating right now, but this applies to any major faculty-wide initiative.

I explore 5 ways to build faculty trust during organizational change in my latest article.

🔗 Read the full article at The Educator Experience https://theeducatorexperience.ca/blog/f/building-faculty-trust-during-organizational-change-5-strategies

What builds trust during change for you?

08/07/2026

One of the biggest mistakes leaders make during change?

Assuming everyone understands why it's happening.

Whether you're implementing AI, introducing a new CRM, restructuring a team, or shifting your business strategy, it's easy to jump straight to the solution:

"We're doing this."

"Here's the new process."

"Training starts next week."

But there's an important step that often gets skipped:

Awareness.

As leaders, we may have spent weeks or months thinking about a change before introducing it to our teams. We've discussed the problem, weighed the options, and understood why something needs to change.

Our employees haven't had that same journey.

So when people ask questions, hesitate, or seem skeptical, it isn't necessarily resistance.

They may simply need to understand:

• Why are we changing?
• Why now?
• What problem are we solving?
• How will this affect me?

This is especially important in entrepreneurship, where things move quickly and priorities can change just as fast.

Before asking people to embrace the what, make sure you've communicated the why.

The best leaders don't just announce change. They bring people along with it.

07/11/2026

AI isn't the biggest challenge facing organizations.

Helping people successfully navigate AI is.

That realization has completely reshaped how I think about AI adoption, leadership, and organizational change.

🎓 I recently completed my Prosci Change Management Certification, and it fundamentally shifted how I think about implementing AI in organizations.

As an entrepreneur, AI has transformed the way I do business. It has changed how I create content, solve problems, streamline workflows, and serve clients.

But that raises a much bigger question.

How do we thoughtfully integrate AI into our organizations?

How do we equip our employees not only to use AI, but to use it confidently, responsibly, ethically, and in ways that create real value?

The technology itself isn't the hard part.

The people side of change is.

We can invest in AI tools, implement new systems, and provide endless training opportunities. But if we don't intentionally support the people experiencing the change, adoption - and ultimately results - will always fall short.

Whether I'm working with organizations, entrepreneurs, educational institutions, or leadership teams, I've seen the same pattern emerge.

Successful AI adoption isn't about the technology.

It's about helping people develop the awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement needed to embrace change with confidence.

That's why I'm excited to add the Prosci methodology to my toolkit as I continue helping organizations and leaders navigate AI-enabled transformation.

Because the future of AI won't be defined by the technology itself.

It will be defined by how well we help people navigate change.