12 key things I’ve learnt over 12 years in business
In February 2008, I started working for myself as a digital marketing consultant. I didn’t know exactly what digital marketing was, but I had three year’s experience with digital communications, as a Public Relations consultant working closely with a multinational...
read more
Getting your business into magazines: 5 ways
This is a guest post by Rachel Smith of Rachel's List. You’ve got an amazing small business. A beautiful website. Glowing testimonials from a handful of raving fans (not just your mum). And a belief that you could make more money, find more customers … if you could...
read more
Hope and despair
The Australian bushfires have affected everyone, consumed our attention, and ignited despair, anger, hopelessness, alongside outrageous political missteps. These fires have attracted the world's attention and led to a massive outpouring of charitable action and...
read more
What two years of personal training has done for my business
Personal training has rocked my world and had an irrefutable effect on my business – which is why I think it should be a business expense. Once you get up off the floor from laughing, hear me out! Any type of one-to-one coaching or training is a privilege – it...
read more
Subtle marketing and quiet influence
It’s a work hazard of mine that I see the worst of marketing. Private messages through Facebook and Instagram thanking me for liking their posts (ummm, you’re welcome?), asking me to join their dubiously-named Facebook groups that make me feel all kinds of cheap, and...
read more
How to ask favours of strangers
Follow me down a dark alley for I’ve something to show you… I was queuing to pay for a yoga class when I recognised the teacher from his missing eye. I knew – from articles he’d featured in – that he’d lost his eye in a surfing accident. A keen surfer and...
read more
Marketing without social media: your ‘how to’ guide
As much as I love social media, not everybody does. For reasons varied and complex, some business owners just don’t want to play. Oftentimes, this is because they’re cautious about the possibility of attracting trolls and escalating fights about nothing. Other times,...
read more
How to make time in your business for more important things
“I have no time!” is the lament of workers the world over. This is especially so for self-employed folk. Over and over again, people tell me all the things that take up their time, leaving them with none. My clients sometimes go into great depth and detail listing out...
read more
Why knowing your ideal client really is genius
Ever had a horror client? Someone who cost you money, time, or worse, your sanity? Someone who haggles your price, questions you constantly, and undermines your confidence? If you’ve ever lost sleep worrying about a client who appears to misunderstand everything you...
read more
Confidence is a verb: how to flex your confidence muscle
Confidence in business and life isn’t something you either have or don’t have. It’s something you practice. Confidence is a verb. As children, our self-confidence is either nurtured or harmed. As we accrue experiences, we become confident in some areas while being...
read more
The three money dysfunctions – and what to do about them
Self-employment is the most accelerated form of self-development that I know of and money is a major piece of this. It’s imperative for you to take responsibility for the money coming into and out of your business if it’s to be profitable and sustainable, rather than...
read more
What you should outsource and what you must do yourself
Vying for first place in entrepreneurial propaganda is the old “outsource everything” adage. Championed by the entrepreneurial bible, Tim Ferriss’s 4-Hour Work Week, what’s not to love? The story goes that everything which is outside of your “zone of genius” (I’m so...
read more