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Make the Internet Like You: From Blogging to Digital Marketing Founder | Vivienne Wagner, Founder + CEO, Houndstooth Media Group, Ep. 28

You’ve built a solid business, but the old way of getting found on Google is quietly disappearing — and if your website isn’t speaking a language AI can find, your competitors are already winning customers you never knew existed. Most business owners have no idea this shift has already happened.

Vivienne Wagner, founder and CEO of Houndstooth Media Group, bootstrapped her digital marketing agency from a divorce-era blogging hobby into a 16-person team, and now specializes in helping business owners get found by AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude, not just Google. In this episode, she breaks down exactly what’s changed and the zero-technical-skill steps any business owner can take today.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

  • [00:03] Vivienne’s career pivot story before Houndstooth Media — from a divorce-era pottery business to a public administration and PR degree, and how those “unrelated” chapters quietly built her foundation as a digital marketing entrepreneur
  • [00:06] How saying yes to one ghostwriting favor for a friend accidentally launched a marketing agency — and the mindset shift from “one-time project” to “this is a business”
  • [00:07] The marketing lesson from her pre-agency PR and public affairs career that still drives every strategy she builds: “nobody is searching for the cure, they’re searching for the symptom”
  • [00:13] AI search basics: why the shift from Google SEO to AI search matters right now for entrepreneurs, business owners, and side hustlers — and what’s at risk for your revenue if you don’t adapt
  • [00:16] Entrepreneurship lessons on building a business around your personal core values — why she hires and fires on integrity, loyalty, kindness, thankfulness, and humor, and how “the freedom to say no” became her most profitable business decision
  • [00:29] AI search vs. Google search, explained through her librarian-vs.-detective analogy — why understanding how your customers use AI is becoming essential for any business or side hustle, and the real difference between ranking on Google and getting recommended by ChatGPT or Claude
  • [00:38] The zero-technical-skill steps you can take today to audit whether your own website clearly communicates who you are, what you do, and who you serve
  • [00:44] Financial considerations for entrepreneurs — her approach to paying yourself first, pricing your services without racing to the bottom, and planning for retirement and long-term financial goals as a business owner

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS PODCAST

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About the Show:

Her Intentional Reset is a midlife podcast for women navigating career change — honest, deep-dive conversations about career pivots, second acts, and reinvention with women who’ve actually lived it. This women’s empowerment podcast speaks to women in 30’s, 40, women over 50, Gen X women, working moms, empty nesters, and corporate women dealing with burnout — women redefining success and finding their why after a layoff, a career wall, or the moment work just stopped feeling right. Each episode traces a real transition story: the catalyst for change behind it, whether that’s a layoff story, career burnout, or hitting a wall; the steps and timeline behind how she actually made the change — quitting a corporate job, leaving corporate America, starting over professionally, and/or going from employee to entrepreneur; and an inside look at her industry along the way.

The conversations also get into the practical side most career-change content skips: transferable skills, upskilling and reskilling in midlife, starting a business with no experience, and career change without a degree. And because money is always part of the story, guests talk financial planning for a career change — paying yourself first, building a financial runway and safety net, income gaps, self-employed health insurance, saving for retirement while self-employed, and the money mindset it takes to trade a paycheck for financial freedom in midlife.

Guests share the career pivot lessons learned, the advice for career changers, and what they wish they’d known before quitting — then close out with a Rapid Round covering the real-life stuff: family recipes, book and show recommendations, a life motto, and a wellness or self-care tip for midlife women, because women are often each other’s best guides and teachers. It’s never too late to make a change, follow your intuition, and listen to that quiet voice — every episode leaves listeners feeling inspired and empowered to explore their own career pivot, second act, or next chapter, on their own terms. New episodes of this career change podcast and midlife podcast for women release biweekly on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and YouTube.

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