Click Tease: Weekly Digest of Branding, Marketing & Content that Converts

Best Holiday Gifts for Business Owners in 2025

• Michelle Pualani & Joanna Newton

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If you’ve ever tried shopping for a business owner or creator, you know we’re impossible—because we “don’t need anything”... until we do. This episode gives you the actually useful gift ideas that make creators’ lives easier, content better, and brains less fried.

Timestamps

00:00 - Introduction

03:00 – Why holiday episodes are hitting on Thanksgiving, Christmas & New Year’s
 05:45 – The best low-cost tech upgrades for creators (lights, mics, tripods & more)
 13:00 – Practical lifestyle gifts that reduce decision fatigue
 20:30 – Personal care gifting for service-based business owners
 29:45 – Education gifts: books, apps, subscriptions creators genuinely appreciate


References & Resources

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📱 Social: @themichellepualani | @joanna_atwork
📩 Michelle: hello@michellepualani.com
🌐 Joanna: millennialmktr.com

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Michelle Pualani (2): [00:00:00] Hello and welcome back to the Click Tease podcast, where every single week we give you the most recent marketing updates, what's going on with personal branding, as well as talking content that converts. Today we are talking about what you can get for your favorite business owner, whether that's a best friend, a family member, someone that you're supporting, someone in the content creation space who is working on their digital journey.

We're gonna talk about some tech. Some personal care items, some education tools, anything that maybe fits the fancy of your friend and business. I'm Michelle Ani Houston, the creator and founder of To Be Honest Beverage Company. It's a non-alcoholic, functional spirit brand as well as business and marketing coach and consultant.

Joanna Newton: And I'm Joanna Newton, co-founder of Millennial Marketer and Agency that helps creators build their own digital products. Let's dive in.

Michelle Pualani (2): So today I am drinking am back to making a drink at home. I've got some steamed soy milk with maple syrup and my [00:01:00] mushroom blend and mix. It's got a little Turkey tail, a little lion's made a little reishi, kind of a whole host of mushrooms. Got that earthy. Dirt vibe going on

Joanna Newton: Yeah. Uh, Michelle, you have to know this, Megan, our podcast editor, who will be watching this, um, while she edits. We had a call yesterday. She was drinking. Her sweetened Starbucks milk beverage. I had a Diet Coke and she said to me, oh, Michelle would die if she saw us right now.

Michelle Pualani (2): That's hilarious. Yeah. I tend to shy away from those

Joanna Newton: She.

Michelle Pualani (2): sweet, sugary drinks. That's a crack of it. She would say that. Oh, Megan.

Joanna Newton: She was like, this is the opposite of a Michelle meeting beverage. And I was like, I know we, we gotta get our, our caffeine and our sugar in. But today I have a, um, like a long [00:02:00] shot of espresso, my tinies tiniest coffee cup. I love this coffee cup. Um, it's just a long shot of espresso with a little bit of brown sugar oat milk.

And I put some like spices in it for the festive vibes for

Michelle Pualani (2): Yum. Feeling very festive indeed. We had a little bit of rain here on the central coast recently, but then it's back up to like the seventies, so it's a little warm on my side of the country.

Joanna Newton: Yeah. Yeah, so I'm really excited for this episode today because we realized that it will come out on Thanksgiving Day. We also realized that we have several episodes since we release on Thursdays. We've got Thanksgiving. Day and New Year's Day. Are all on holidays. Um, so instead of switching up our schedule, Michelle and I have decided to give you each of those days a very special, more festive themed episode that fits the vibe of that [00:03:00] day.

So today is all about holiday gift giving and what you can give business owners if you have friends who are business owners, if you have friends who are content creators, things that we think they would love to have as gifts.

Michelle Pualani (2): Absolutely. And heading into this time, it's different for everyone, right? Like some people are pushing right now for the close of the year. Seeing how much they can capitalize on for Q4. Some people are like, Nope. Checking out mentally, heading into the holiday season. And I wanna kind of like push back.

So instead of doing, you know, our regular consistent marketing updates, which will still sprinkle in over the next couple of months. But having these kind of specialized episodes that can help and support you through this process. So whether you want to choose one of these things to gift yourself because it's something that you have maybe put off purchasing, but you know that you want and need as a little.

You know, solo gift to, to you, you, and you from yours truly, or whether you have that person in your life, a [00:04:00] friend, a family member, um, someone that you support, whatever that looks like. Maybe it's a partner or a spouse and they're just getting into their content creation journey, or they've been on it for a little while and.

Want to excel in this world and in this field, technically there's nothing that you absolutely need. I will preface and say that you can grab your phone, which is already in your pocket and start, and that's the coolest thing I think about this industry, is that it is such a low barrier to entry that you really don't need a ton of equipment, a ton of staff, in order to be successful.

But I think we should start with tech in terms of things that you can gift in gadgets or items that are kind of I what we would consider. We're not gonna go into like, this is the extensive like lighting, film equipment that, that you need for like a professional YouTube setup. We're not gonna do that.

This is more like general low cost items that you can gift someone. That's kind of a good starting place for your content creator.

Joanna Newton: [00:05:00] Yeah, and having some tech gifts if you have, a business owner friend, or if you're looking for that, there's always tech and things that can really help. Increase your journey. One of the things that I love that I have, that I would gift a fellow business owner is a really specific light that I use. Um, it is called, and I, I have my notebook 'cause it's like a notebook kind of day for our podcast.

It's called the Edge Light 2.0, and it's by a company called Loom Cube. Now Loom Cube makes fantastic lights. They have. Tons of options. They're a small company. I love to find ways and, and you'll see this throughout this episode, I love to find ways to forego the Amazon, Walmart route for gift giving and go to smaller businesses.

And Loom Cube is a smaller lighting company, so rather than going off to purchase things on Amazon, which [00:06:00] there's nothing wrong. Technically wrong with that. You can go ahead and do that. I do like trying to support smaller businesses. Loom Cube is a fantastic company. They have so many great lights. This Edge Light 2.0. I love specifically for meetings, so I do discovery calls, client calls all of the time. And want to look my best, and I know the way that I show up on camera helps me to close more deals. So if you have a business owner friend who takes discovery calls or has client calls and wants to uplevel their experience, this light is a really small light.

It clips to my desk and shines light on my face. So my face is really visible. If you do Zoom calls, you know, sometimes you get on a call with someone and you can like barely see them or their back lit, or they just. Don't look so great. This light just really ups the professionalism of how I can show up on camera in my meetings every day. I also [00:07:00] really like it because having that light shine on your face can be like pretty forgiving. So if you didn't have time to do makeup, or not that you have to wear makeup, but like if you didn't have time to do makeup, if you're a little tired and you have dark circles under your eyes. Just that little bit of light, just kind of like wakes you up and gives you that professionalism that you need.

It's also a confidence boost for myself, right? So if I'm in a Zoom meeting talking to people and I feel like I look good, I'm going to deliver better, I'm going to chat better, I'm gonna be more confident as well in

Michelle Pualani (2): Yeah, and I think a lot of us can feel a sense of like self-esteem affecting our content creation and our willingness to be present and to show up. And so when you can have tools that help enhance the experience without you having. To stress out, like I used to almost invest. I know it sounds silly because two hours is a long time.

I'm not the type of person who like spends all that much time on my makeup. I know certain people like they've got that down and they, it's just beautiful and how they do it. [00:08:00] For me, it's like a hair thing because I have to do my hair. If I'm gonna like do my hair, I have to get it with curly hair like this, like I have to get it wet and conditioned a certain amount of time before I actually film.

So it used to be this like super long process for me and anything that would kind of get in the way and deter me from getting in front of the camera. Then I'd just make excuses about whether that was, oh, I don't have the right lighting, or I don't have the right setup, or I don't have the right thing, or My makeup's not done right, or I don't look great or anything else.

And so I know that we internalize a lot of those things. And so just having those tools that help you get rid of all of those excuses can be really helpful. So a light is really great. I also think that great audio is one of the most important things to content creation, and so having the right mic set up is very important.

Now there are some really great, easy to use, like handheld tiny mics now that people use for their content creation. That I think would be a great gift. [00:09:00] I use a Yeti mic for the podcasts, and I use this for any interviews that I do. Podcasts. If I'm doing, um, like a Zoom workshop for somebody's group or hosted thing, it just makes my audio come in so much more clear and.

Just professional, right? Like you're setting a professional tone, you're an expert, you're a coach, you're an authority in your area of expertise, and you wanna be able to. Not have people question your authority just based on the way that you're showing up. Because I do that if someone shows up with a poor video setup or a poor audio setup, I'm already questioning their legitimacy without even hearing anything that they say.

So you wanna like take that out of people's minds. So those little tiny mics, we'll find a link for them in terms of like a good option, uh, but being when you're out and about and you can use that tiny mic, or if you're doing content creation at home and you're just. Using it, you know, to hold. I think that's a really, really [00:10:00] great gift that will uplevel someone's content so easily.

Joanna Newton: Yeah, and those little things really make a difference. There are times where I didn't buy those things for myself and. I was always frustrated, just like having a good tripod, having a good stand for things. All of these little things that get in the way of you saying, well, I can't film that because I don't have such and such thing.

I don't have this or that, or the other thing. If you're looking for gifts for yourself, um, as you're listening to this too, just keep in mind these are all things you can put on your business, so. You don't have to use your personal money for it. Um, can save you on taxes and all of those things, which is a good thing to do at the end of the year.

Like, assess the things you need and say like, Hey, what can I buy to offset some of the profit of my business? So if you are looking for yourself, take the time, take two, $300 and buy yourself some of these things or ask for them on [00:11:00] your, on your list. 'cause they make a big difference. I really like the, um, roads,

Michelle Pualani (2): Hmm. Road. Yeah, that's a great brand.

Joanna Newton: Yeah, it's a great brand. They're, they're really affordable. Um, and you can have, uh, it's basically two pieces. One you attach to your mic and one you can wear or hold. I like to hold it, and that can be really great for on the go, like mobile if you're gonna be shooting content where you're walking or talking, or out and about.

It's a great way to get that done.

Michelle Pualani (2): Yeah, absolutely. And then the other things, you know, in terms of tech that I like to point out now, I think tripods are great. Little bit harder as a gift because I do think that people have different ways that they like to use their tripods. Like I have, um, three probably different tripods and I use them for different things and different reasons because of how they swivel, how they move their weight, like their stability level, that kind of thing.

So if you wanna do the research and find a tripod that works for [00:12:00] you, awesome. One of the things that I think is a really great gift, if you're gonna get it for someone else, you don't have to worry so much about. What it is that they're gonna like in terms of interpretation, but getting some really great noise canceling headphones.

That for me is like a clutch tool that I use on a daily basis, whether I'm at home and there is construction outside and I have to like zone in or try to cancel that noise out. Just for working and focusing in my home environment, or I'm in a cafe and I'm like, you know, just wanna focus in and zone in at work.

So I use, it's the bows, it's Bose, right? BOSE. So I use the bows, noise canceling headphones, the black, the big ones that go up and around. There are a lot of different brands now, of course, that. Again, preference style, that sort of thing. But for me, those have been such a great tool for my working environment.

And then of course, if I am having a [00:13:00] phone call or doing a Zoom and I'm in an environment that's a little bit noisier, just being able to have that to center in on what you're doing is incredibly helpful. 

Joanna Newton: And, and that can be a good like gift that's, um, maybe less. Picky for someone, right? People might be really picky about their light or their, their tripod or their mic, um, but they're probably less likely as picky as something like a noise canceling headphone or something like that. Another really good tech gift I have both of these things and I love them, is a walking pad and or a standing desk when you are. who, if you work from home, if you are your own boss, you can be at the computer a lot. You can be, feel kind of stuck to your desk when you have a deadline or something that you're working on. walking pad and the standing desk really helps me Get my steps in, be active while also getting work done at the same time, which can be really, really nice. Sometimes if someone like calls me on the phone, [00:14:00] I'll just hop on my walking pad and like walk while I talk to them. Now, I don't use it as much in the nice weather summer months because then I'll just like go outside and do that to get some fresh air. But where I live, it gets really cold and. You know, I'm not gonna be going out in 18 degree weather to go walk and chat with someone. I can hop on my walking pad and get some

Michelle Pualani (2): I love that one again as a gift for someone. Because it doesn't have to be like a particular style or a particular, like a size, right? Like having a gift where it's just helpful and supportive on that front. That's mostly all of my tech stuff. Personally, I like to keep all of my tech pretty simple, right?

So I can travel with everything that I have. My mic, my laptop. I mean, obviously if you wanna go big with gif, like laptop, phone, new, you know, the most updated iPhone or things like that, which would be. Hey, if you wanna send those gifts our way, like that would be cool too,

Joanna Newton: Yeah, [00:15:00] I would love a new

Michelle Pualani (2): right?

Joanna Newton: Mines like

Michelle Pualani (2): Yeah. Or like an apple, you know, the most updated Apple watch. Okay, now we're talking, but ultimately. I'm pretty simple in that I've got my phone as my camera. I will be getting A-D-S-L-R camera. Um, again, same thing. If you wanna go big, there are definitely great, uh, video content creator, D-S-L-D-S-L-R cameras.

Those are in the like 2000 ish dollars range when you're looking at really nice ones. And so obviously if you want to give a really great gift and you're looking for something that's like a. Hit it out of the park kind of thing, or trying to impress someone, then A-D-S-L-R would be amazing. Um, and, but otherwise I try to keep it simple, light mic, whatever you're filming on, and just then editing within, you know, whatever apps and tools you're using.

But ultimately you can go super simple and get really great gifts that make a big difference in someone's content creation journey.

Joanna Newton: [00:16:00] 100%. The next topic kind of category of gifts we're gonna talk about is personal care stuff. One of the things if you are a business owner or you have a business owner, friend, you know that we tend to put our. Business first, everything above our business. And I think it's really important to think through things that could really help them take care of themselves or check things off their list for them.

Let something not be a decision they have to make. So something like gifting, a subscribe, like a few months subscription to a meal delivery service or something like that, that takes like meal prep off their list is such a huge gift. I used to do HelloFresh. I really liked HelloFresh. We stopped doing HelloFresh.

This is a total ran aside. We stopped HelloFresh because it wasn't like the protein portion weren't enough for, but. Average. My husband has very high protein goals and that's very good for him, but for [00:17:00] the average person, the protein portion is plenty. Um, so we stopped doing it 'cause of that. But HelloFresh is like so convenient because you get the recipe card, you get.

The exact amount of ingredients you need. Some of this stuff is even like pre-chopped to make it super easy and simple to make. And I know there's other plenty of like even prepared meal delivery services like Factor or things like that that can make such a huge difference. Figuring out how, what to eat every day as a business owner can feel like a lot. So something like that, that's gonna make your life easier. The other thing I was thinking of. Maybe like a local cleaning service or a laundry service or something that just takes a life item off their list. Like if someone were to be like, oh, I will schedule your car inspection and take your car in for you, I'd be like, that would be the best gift ever.

Something I just don't even have to worry about. Those are the kinds of things I think can go a long way for a

Michelle Pualani (2): Absolutely. And if your love [00:18:00] language is acts of service or the person that you are gifting to. To their love language is access service. This would be huge to be able to give them something. There's one on our side, I don't know how far they reach because I think they're based outta la, so they ship to us here in slo, but there's a brand called Go Methodology, and they're all pre-made.

Uh, blue zone oriented, sugar-free, dairy-free, gluten-free, like high-end meals. And I don't do it regularly right now, but it's like, it's my goal to have that as my consistent thing because you're absolutely right as a business owner, someone who's working, I just like sometimes forget to eat. I don't think about it.

I don't plan it out. It's just such a like. Tiring thing to even consider, especially I think, I think it's a decision making thing. Like ultimately, I think because we make decisions all day every day, that when it comes to food, like I just want it taken care of. And that's typically why I eat mostly leftovers throughout the day.

We're not super gr good. We've done different phases of like meal [00:19:00] prep and meal planning, uh, but ultimately, like if I make chicken and squash. For dinner, then I'm gonna eat that for lunch the next day. And it's just, it just is what it is. But to not have to think of it would be super helpful. I think that,

Joanna Newton: yeah. And decision

Michelle Pualani (2): go ahead.

Joanna Newton: Oh,

Michelle Pualani (2): No decision.

Joanna Newton: I was gonna say decision fatigue. Decision fatigue is

Michelle Pualani (2): Mm-hmm.

Joanna Newton: And so any sort of gifts that take that away, and these are things that if you don't, you don't have a big budget to spend, you can do something for someone or an act of service. That makes a big, big difference.

This morning I had like a couple of things I had to do for my daughter. And my daughter's homeschooled. So we we're about to like kind of move into that phase of the day and I was like, I said to my husband, I was like, I am overwhelmed. I made, it's nine o'clock in the morning. I made too many decisions already. You have two minutes to ask me the rest of your questions you have for this morning. And then I'm going downstairs and working and. Two minutes, [00:20:00] give them all to me, right? And because sometimes that decision fatigue can take up so much space in your brain, so ways that you can remove that for your business owner friends

Michelle Pualani (2): Yeah, absolutely. Very helpful. We actually just hired, um, someone for cleaning and we'd wanted to do it for, I'd say like six months. But we just didn't take the time to like book the first initial session, like compare quotes, do the whole thing. So when. When you can just like make that decision for someone and have it happen.

That person shows up on this day at this time and we did the initial cleaning last week and it was just like, and she did a lot of blinds and it was just like such a huge relief to just have it off and now she's gonna come every couple of weeks. We don't need it that much, but just, and it just like to finally get it done is also now that's out of my mind.

Like it's not just a pending thing on my to-do list. So super helpful. One of the things that I think is a. Great, great gift for personal care is any either local gym option or more so like fitness [00:21:00] classes, like something that they wanna do and explore. Anything from Pilates to dance, to functional fitness, to bar to yoga, to whatever kind of suits their fancy.

Even if it's like hop around, you get to try all of these different places. We're heading into the time, you know. Beginning of the year is oriented around fitness and health and new goals, and so giving them something around the holidays that opens up the opportunity for the new year and the goals that they likely have on their.

New Year's resolutions anyway is super helpful. And a lot of people feel like they can't indulge in those, especially I think as business owners. 'cause typically we tend to lead with service and we put other people's needs before our own and feel like we don't have the time we, the energy, the space, the it, the, um.

Money to spend on ourselves in this way because it's quote unquote superfluous. So being able to [00:22:00] gift it to someone, then they see it as like, oh, I got this as a gift, now I can actually do it. And then the time doesn't become an issue and then the thing doesn't become an issue. And then once they start, they like it and the money's not an issue.

So like all of the things that we use as excuses really aren't issues, but I think that's a really great one.

Joanna Newton: Like yoga classes, gym memberships, things like that, that are just gonna be, again, one, it's a decision we don't have to make. Right? Okay. I have 10 yoga classes. I'm just gonna book them and go. I don't have to think about should I spend the money? Should I not spend the money? Is this a good use of my time?

You're just gonna do it. Those can be really important. I think when it comes to when, when you're gifting things to people, a lot of times you think of some like. Like home care, personal care items like candles or bath stuff or just like sort of those things that are kind of like an indulgent kind of personal care item. I think when doing that for a business owner, it's really fun to [00:23:00] find like a local or small business with like a good story and. Good roots to gift from that. I think as a business owner, we care about other business owner stories, so if there's a connection point, it's gonna feel so much more personal than a candle from Bath and Bodyworks, right?

You go, uh, bath and Bodyworks are everywhere. It's a big company versus a candle from. A small creator that's like handmade and local will will mean a lot more. We have a store, um, in my downtown that's called Cord and Iron and they, they sell all kinds of stuff, but they started as a homemade candle brand and they make all of their candle candles right here in my hometown of Beaver.

This is actually where I bought this sign, um, is was at their store, but they. all of their candles, they're like soy and vegan and like, you know, much better for your body to breathe than a lot of the other [00:24:00] candles out there. And they're local. You can actually buy their candles, um, and they ship nationwide as well. But it's just like a fun, local handmade option that will mean a lot more to your business owner friends, to kind of discover a, a fun new company versus just something that you. at a big box store.

Michelle Pualani (2): Yeah, and this is kind of a sneaky thing that you could try to do, is if they are right on social media, likely as a content creator or anything else. Now be mindful because the people that they're following might be for a particular reason. But if you go into their, you can see who they follow right on their account.

So go to their account, go to who they follow, and then see if there are any consistencies in like jewelry people that they follow, or art people that they follow, or, um, you know, again, like physical care items. Bathing suits, whatever, go into their following and see if they have anything that seems consistent with the [00:25:00] style of what they're looking for.

You know? 'cause I think that's a lot of people's concern is are they gonna like this and do they like this brand or anything else? And I do think as small business owners, we typically tend to follow, engage with and pay attention to. One things that we like, but other businesses and brands that we support.

So I think that is a really powerful way to approach the gift giving process in a sneaky kind of way.

Joanna Newton: I love that. Like go stalk who

Michelle Pualani (2): Yeah, a little light stocking.

Joanna Newton: something from one of those companies. Yeah, I think another big way, now this one. Is completely free. A free way you can help and support your business owner friends to support them on social media. So one of the things that I think is a problem for small business owners is when they start their small business and they get on social media, they get all of their friends to follow them, and all of their friends wanna follow them.

They wanna support so they follow and they follow them on Instagram. But here's something about the. algorithm where this can be a [00:26:00] problem. So when you post something, especially when it's a video, say a Instagram rem. That video will get shown to a subset of your followers and a subset of non followers. And where the video goes from there completely on the initial engagement of that video. So if you follow one of your friends on social media, you get their video as soon as they post it and you do not watch it like it or comment, you are hurting its distribution. Forever. That's a big, that's a big uh, uh, ask of you, right? So if you're not actually interested in engaging their comment, this sounds mean it's okay to unfollow them. Actually following them and not engaging them is hurting them more than you following them at all. So it's okay if you say, you know what? I don't engage with people on social. I'm just not gonna follow them, because if I don't comment don't like it, or I don't watch it all the way through, I'm [00:27:00] actually gonna hurt.

It's long term. Way. The other thing that you could do is just watch the video. Leave a comment hard it. You can even just save it, like save their posts. You don't even have to say anything. When you do that, if you're getting it early in the distribution, it helps more than you know, getting three people, four people, five people, to interact with it within its first hour of distribution makes a huge difference to how many people see that

Michelle Pualani (2): Yeah, that's actually a big PSA. I think that a lot of new people struggle with that because it's exposed to people that who know them, their family and friends, and then they're not getting that engagement. I also think it limits the mentality of the person who's creating, because they're consi conscious of the judgment that they may receive from those people.

So anyway, that's a whole different discussion about. Starting a new channel and not telling anyone, or not allowing anyone to see it.

Joanna Newton: hiding it.

Michelle Pualani (2): Yeah, that's all I have for personal [00:28:00] care. I'm not big on shopping, so I don't have a ton of things I've been getting. I've been trying to get some, like revamp my wardrobe and I don't know.

I'm in a place where I'm just like getting everything that I need for myself, so I'm not a big gift giver. Gift giving is not my love language.

Joanna Newton: What is your love language?

Michelle Pualani (2): of service and quality time. Are my top two for sure. So acts of service. So when people do things for me or for me, it's also goes both ways, um, of showing, you know, me doing things for them. Right. Quality time, actually spending time together, going to stuff that they do like, that's big. Um, I think physical touch words of affirmation.

And then the lowest on the list would be gift giving. Mm-hmm.

Joanna Newton: Okay. Interesting. Yeah. I'm not the hugest gift giver, but I am a practical gift giver, I think because like, I like when people do things for me. Um, so [00:29:00] like normally if I would give a gift, there's like, like a

Michelle Pualani (2): Yeah, the functionality of it. I will say I'm, I tend to be much more functional, but like, so for last Christmas, and again for this Christmas. My husband and I, Jeremy and I were going to Tahoe and so we are snowboarding and like doing our thing and I won't get gifts for anyone. Eventually, I'd like to be in the place where I can, I have a PA and that person tracks my people and they can get gifts.

I know some people are like, well, then what's the point? I'm like, no, I don't. I like, I'd like for people to receive gifts. I just don't want to be the one who has to look for it, purchase it. It's just not up my, I've just, I'm 35. I know for a fact, like I'm not a shopper. I don't like looking for things. I just, I, I'm the kind of person who, I need this one thing.

I'm gonna find it and I'm gonna buy it, and that's it. Like, I don't like And move on. Yeah.

Joanna Newton: Browse in search and, and all of that. Well, the last [00:30:00] category for our gift guide that we're gonna talk through is education. And I think books can be a great gift for a business owner and especially if it's something that meant, means something to you, something you got a lot out of, learned a lot out of. And finding those books that really would. get them to the next level can be huge. One of our subscribers gave some recommendations. Um, this person's an artist, so it's specifically related to growing that type of business. Um, but two books she mentioned were Steal Like an Artist and a book called Show Your Work.

And so they're about. How to be a better artist, how to get your name out there, things like that. So if you know someone's goals, finding something that would help them achieve that goal would be a great thing for them to receive again. 'cause we kind of go back to that business owner mentality. A lot of times we think. Serve first, [00:31:00] business first, not like, how do I actually educate myself and, and get myself better? And even something like a $15 book sometimes for me feels like, oh, I can't spend $15 on a book. I have all of these other things that are, that are higher priorities. So gift giving that bit of education can be a really sweet thing to receive.

Michelle Pualani (2): Love gift giving books and finding ones that you love and share, you know, that have been helpful. I think sometimes it's easy to think as a, if you or yourself, you know, you're a business owner, you're a content creator, you're someone who's in this space similar to us. You can kind of feel like you're on your own.

You're isolated in this, but you forget that there are other people who are. Doing similar things or you know, or that they could use the help and support. I think we just get in our heads about like, oh, they already know this, or, oh, they won't think this is important, or I think this is cool, but is it really cool?

And so kind of getting rid of some of that. And if you like something, you enjoy, something you think it's helpful, beneficial is like sharing that with [00:32:00] people and just. Allowing them to decide, you know, you don't have to control how they react or respond to something. I use this app and have done this this year, which I've found to be helpful, is this app called Blinkist, and it's uh, basically taking books and turning them into blinks, quote unquote.

So they take the main takeaways, the key points, and distill, you know, hours long books into. 5, 10, 15, 20 minute blinks so that you're just getting like the core and the crux of what that book is. And I think it's super helpful. 'cause again, time is of value to a business owner, to someone who is. Figuring out where they're putting their time, their attention, their energy, and sometimes getting invested in an entire book without really realizing like, okay, what am I really gonna get out of this?

Can be challenging. And so if you get on Blinkist and you, and you read through a book, or you listen to a book in [00:33:00] terms of blanks, you can decide from there, ah, that's kind of everything I already know. Oh, I don't really need to pursue this, or, God, I really, really loved this, this, these concepts, these takeaways, and so now I actually wanna get the full book because I wanna dive into this deeper.

And I've done that already with a bunch of books. I'm like, oh, okay. That's kind of a bunch of. Information, whatever. I've, I'm, I'm familiar with that. I don't need to read the entire book of things that have been either referred to me or shared. And then there are other ones that I'm like, dang, okay, that was like all new information or that was super cool, or, I love the way that they approach that.

So now I wanna dive further into it. And you get obviously, key information and information just by listening or reading. 

Joanna Newton: I'll have to check that out because I never have time to read.

Michelle Pualani (2): Yeah, like, wait, it's, it's hard to, so many people tell me it's so hard to read personally. That's like all I do with my time. I either listen or I read. So I, I don't see the issue with like time, but I don't have a child [00:34:00] and I don't have. An agency, like I don't have all the things that you have. So most people struggle with the time to invest in reading or, uh, again, I have to commit to this.

400 page book or however long the book is, you know what I mean? So Blinkist is a great way and it's, it's like, you know, you're driving somewhere for five or 10 minutes. You can literally get all the blanks from a book and get the core concept, the message to take away, which is helpful, and then say, oh, okay, cool.

Move on. Or not, you know, dive deeper.

Joanna Newton: Yeah. Or not. Awesome. Well, I think I hit of my gift ideas looking at my notebook on my list. Michelle, did you have any other final gifts you

Michelle Pualani (2): The only other one in the,

Joanna Newton: 2025?

Michelle Pualani (2): yeah, the only other one in the education category is I recently got Kindle Unlimited. And I will say that's another great tool again for reading and access that gives you, because you [00:35:00] know for someone, I have a ton of books on my shelf, physical books on my shelf of marketing, business, personal development, spirituality, all of those categories.

And one, it can get physically bulky and two, you know, it can be a cost and ex and an expense. But Kindle Unlimited, with a monthly access, you can, you only can like get up to a certain amount, but then you just return them when you're done with them and you can continue to get and get and get, and to be able to access things, you know, hundreds if not thousands of books at your fingertips.

Um. Is really neat and really helpful. And I always felt like Kindle was like, oh, I don't even know why I thought it was like too expensive or not accessible. It's, I don't know, it's like 12 bucks a month or something like that. I just never looked into it. So I wanna introduce it as an option because it was just something that I was like, oh, it's not a thing.

Or I don't have a Kindle, you know, so I can't access it. But you can get it on your phone, you can get it on your iPad, you can get it on your computer. Um, so you can really [00:36:00] ultimately, like read from anywhere at any time. Kindle Unlimited gives you access to certain audio books as well. So instead of on Audible where you're paying like per credit or per book, it's just unlimited access.

So I was blown away by that. Great gift. 

Joanna Newton: Those are great things too. 'cause a lot of times you can give someone like a year's subscription and then they can keep it or not after that. Um, and then if they choose to keep it, it's something that maybe they didn't know existed, that they're happy exists. Right. And, and then use and get a lot out of it.

Michelle Pualani (2): Love it. Yeah. So those are your, your gifts that you can get for your creators, your business owner, friends, or for yourself during this 2025 holiday season.

Joanna Newton: Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Click Tease. We'll be bringing you some more special holiday episodes over the next couple of weeks, so we can't wait to see you in the next one. 


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Joanna Newton

Co-host
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Michelle Pualani

Co-host