Business planning for non-planning types
Would you rather re-file old tax returns than write a business plan? Or would you prefer to clean your windows (outside, not just in) than write a quarterly plan? Or perhaps you’d prefer to engage with door-to-door Jehovah’s Witnesses, inviting them in to discuss the...
read more
What to do when business is slow
Is your business less-than-jiving? Have you started talking to inanimate objects? Does the local barista look wary or annoyed when you approach him? If you can’t remember the last time you sent a quote, the only emails or calls you receive are from family and friends,...
read more
How to know if business coaching works
One of my biggest regrets in business is not asking for help earlier on. When I first started my business nine years ago, I spent a lot of time Googling. I did reach out to a few people (one of whom was Glenn Murray, a legendary SEO copywriter, who was very generous...
read more
How to start business blogging
This website has some affiliate links which means that, at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission if you click on a link and make a purchase. In this way, you’re helping to support Hustle & Heart’s bigger mission and keeping a blogger in coffee....
read more
Too many ideas: how to know if your business idea will work
Self-employed people that I know and work with have no shortage of ideas. Our creativity is what makes us good at business and potentially awesome at marketing. The problem with having too many ideas for your business is that it keeps you spinning on the spot, with...
read more
The importance of rants in business blogging
Yet again, you’re standing on your soapbox at a party, ranting on your favourite topic. What do you rant on? This is a question that I regularly ask my blogging for business course participants and clients. Not because I want to encourage complaining. Nor do I suggest...
read more
Making email human again
Are you stuck, going through the motions of sending out the same-old-same-old email newsletter every month? Or worse, have you not emailed your list for some time because you just can’t think of anything interesting to say, or why anyone would be interested to hear...
read more
Self-care for the self-employed: don’t buy the bath salts
Some years ago, my colleague Rebekah Lambert and I put on a short course called ‘Self-care for the Self-Employed’ because of an aching, overwhelming need that we saw. We had a hugely enthusiastic response and, perhaps predictably, many last minute drop-outs by people...
read more
Live video explodes reach and visibility online
One of the most exciting developments in digital marketing in recent times is also one of the most accessible for small business owners – I’m talking about live video. Last year, we covered live video as a marketing tool for the first time in my Social Media Savvy...
read more
How to improve your website’s Google ranking
One of the reasons why businesses have blogs is to be found on Google. Writing strategic, informative and memorable business blogs can do wonders for improving your website’s Google ranking. Indeed, it’s one of the biggest reasons why participants come to my...
read more
Bare minimum marketing
I had my ear chewed off by a man at a party recently. For 2.5 hours to be exact – that’s how long it took for him to acknowledge that there might be some value in digital marketing. Most of those 2.5 hours were spent listening to him lament the “good old days” of...
read more
Why I don’t teach how to monetise your blog
It’s all the rage to ‘monetise your blog’. The Problogger conference last year hosted many workshops, panels and discussions about how to work with brands and how to monetise your blog. But in the last three and a half years that I’ve been running Blogging for...
read more