Make Calm your new KPI // Host, Beyond Margins Podcast // I help business owners build calmer businesses with comfortable margins // Speaker, CFO + COO, Consultant

Susan Boles

Everyone tells creators the same thing when safety or privacy comes up: just go private. 

Lock your accounts, stop sharing so much... pull back. 

That advice makes sense if your job doesn't 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥 on being visible. But for creators? Your platform IS your business. Going private isn't a safety strategy - it's a career ender. 

And "stay public and hope for the best" isn't' a strategy either. 

But there's a third option. 

𝗨𝗻𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰: Visible where it matters, invisible where it counts. 

It means showing up fully in your public work while choosing exactly what stays private - and making sure it actually is. 

Your content? Discoverable. 
Your home address? Gone. 
Your platform? Growing.
Your family? Unfindable. 

You don't have to choose between your career and your safety. You just have to stop thinking in terms of public vs. private. 

Go Unpublic.

Stay safe when you show up online// Founder at Unpublic & Beyond Margins // I help creators stay safe when they show up online // Make Calm Your New KPI

If you're interested in the behind-the-scenes of building Unpublic... check out this series from Jay Acunzo. 

Or... if you're not interested in the BTS... just check it out to see how many weird faces I make 😆

I help experts become stronger speakers & storytellers. Trusted by authors, coaches, creators, and brands like Salesforce, Mailchimp, & Wistia. Believer in resonance over reach.

If you’re ready to experience greater momentum & clarity as a speaker, coach, or consultant, this behind-the-scenes series is for you.

This year, two clients have given me permission to publish details from my 1:1 advisory engagements publicly with you, so you can see what it takes to refine a mountain of expertise into 1 signature idea, powerful IP, and signature speeches and stories.

In this series, you’ll learn to diagnose why you might feel scattered in your messaging, why your ideas or posts aren’t creating passionate fans, and what it really takes to earn bigger and better stages, both literally and figuratively.

These individuals arrive with plenty of competence. The goal is to help them achieve greater resonance. Like you, they are genuine experts in their industries. Also like you, they’re realizing it’s possible to be deeply respected in your field but still feel replaceable or constantly stuck reacting and chasing. There’s a big difference between being great at Your Thing and being a trusted voice who shapes how people think about the very same topic. 

These clients are...

Kevin Leahy, founder of the podcast strategy and production firm Podcast Pointman. He’s a former producer for Guy Raz (the famous ex-NPR host who created the shows How I Built This and The Great Creators). Kevin previously helped Guy build his production company before he started Podcast Pointman, and today he has achieved real revenue and built a small team. 

Susan Boles, a former COO and CFO who then spent several years running her first business, a consulting and education firm called Beyond Margins, helping entrepreneurs run calm companies through their finance & ops systems. In 2026 however, she moved beyond Beyond Margins (heh…) to start a new business, Unpublic, offering services and education to help creators stay safe online as they get more visible.

I wrote a primer going into more detail about this behind-the-scenes journey. You can read it here, and if you sign up for my newsletter, you'll get 1 edition of this series per month: https://lnkd.in/eFCDk6Ec

Not every parasocial relationship stays parasocial.
 
Sometimes someone in your audience becomes a mutual. A collaborator. An actual friend.

The one-way relationship becomes two-way. You know them back.
 
That's the healthy offramp on the Parasocial Spectrum.
 
The problem is when someone keeps moving down the spectrum 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 that reciprocity. They're not looking for a relationship. They're looking for access.
 
And they don't need your permission to keep going.

For those of you who love "Calm is the New KPI"... you should consider working with Natalia (because she's the one who actually came up with it 😁)

Humanity-first marketer helping you sound like yourself, sell like hell, and harm less.

I'm looking for 4 founders who have a proven offering that is not selling as easily as it should.

By "proven" I mean two things:
1) You've managed to sell it before
2) It's gotten results

I can help you sell more of it by upgrading your messaging, aka the strategy that informs what you say, why they should buy, what makes your offering the obvious choice, the narratives that build trust...etc.

Because if you've tried selling with no messaging, you're doing random acts of marketing.

If you've tried selling with weak messaging, you've got an ignorable offering.

Gimme one week and I'll give you a messaging makeover that brings in more buyers.

This is best for:
coaches
consultants
service providers
creatives
digital product/program entrepreneurs

...who have at least 1K followers or, better yet, a few hundred good-fit subscribers. 


Full details: https://lnkd.in/gENgCvUS
Feel free to DM me with your questions.

Modern Learners

Designing and executing events focused on learning.

We are a helping leaders build stronger communities by designing and executing meaningful events. At our agency, we provide full circle support for you events. We support everything before, during, and after the event, so you can keep working on your work in your zone of genius.

We believe the purpose of events is to grow, change, and learn!
Events facilitate connections.
Connections provide opportunities to learn more.
Learning more together builds community.
Building community leads to stronger, more sustainable impact.
Creating sustainable impact generates momentum.
Momentum becomes a movement, and
movements change the world.

Our mission is to help leaders build stronger communities by helping them design and execute meaningful events. Let us help you!

Owner

If you’re sincerely interested in pushing high-bar change in schools, the isolation can be brutal. A vibrant, respectful, challenging community changes all of that. We frequent the edges of the educational space, and we curate and bring a dynamic flow of information and conversation directly to our members. You’ll also get real-time support from your co-members in the trenches, those who are doing authentic change work in schools, just like you.

Community Manager

CESA 3

I'm serving at the statewide systems coach for Universal Design for Learning. I also serve school with planning for technology expenditures, integration and training needs, and safety and security.

Director Of Innovation

WiscNet

Serving on the board of an organization whose mission is to connect people is amazing. I've learned a lot about the infrastructure of the internet and the power it has in connecting people. When people connect, solutions are found.

Wiscnet Board Member

Superior Executive Services, Inc.

Director of Virtual Events and Community

University of Wisconsin-Platteville

Ed Admin Program Coordinator

Shullsburg School District

I strived to enhance student engagement through technology and a positive school culture.  I am an advocate for all students in PK-12 builiding, so there is never a dull moment.  In two years, I brought in just shy of $200,000 in grants for professional learning communities development, special education, AODA, and technology.

4k-12 Principal

Potosi Community Schools

Encouraged students to be independent by directly teaching self-advocacy skills and working to close achievements gaps.  I also acted as the MAP Coordinator and Curiculum leader.

Special Education Teacher

Southwestern Community Schools

Taught students to love the language and use it to communicate facts and feelings in a way that would enhance their lives.

English teacher

I’m the Chief Executive Officer at Modern Learners. I come to this role after having served K12 public education for 20 years. Being a relentless advocate for learning is at the center of every conversation I have.

In my work servicing people in their work to build a culture of learning, I noticed a pattern. 

Creating a culture of learning means embracing the need to embrace the interdependencies of community, content, and events. At Modern Learners, we have done this since 2016, and our experience has proven to be really helpful to our clients. 

Read about it here ➡️ https://modernlearners.com/future-of-learning.

I help people build strong learning organizations by designing and executing online and hybrid events and creating strong communities wrapped around the event. Modern Learners is a Certified Partner with Hopin, and a Mighty Networks evangelist. 

If you need help building your learning community or planning your next online event? Call me here 👉 608-482-1226.

My strategies have helped organizations hold highly successful events online that have resulted in increased revenue and satisfied attendees. Putting a focus on building community during an event means that the learning continues long after the event. In community and event design calls, I focus on asking you questions, so you can find clarity in the goals of the experience. Then, together we anticipate the barriers and predictable supports, and finally, we design the event that results in a whole lot of learning!

Want to work with me?
📌 Schedule a discovery call to discuss how you think I might be able to help. https://meetings.hubspot.com/melissa-emler/meet-with-missy
📌 Send me an email and ask me a question. Missy@modernlearners.com
📌 Join me in modernlearners.community.
📌 Click to our work with us page and build your own quote: https://modernlearners.com/work-with-us-2/

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Susan Boles

Melissa Emler

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taplio

The Battle

Susan Boles

Melissa Emler

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Susan Boles's LinkedIn Performance

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