When your values are weaponised against you
{The title of this article came from Carmen Hawker, who floored me when she poetrically expressed something that I'd been using far too many clunky words to describe. Thanks Carmen. It only took 2.5 years to get...
41 questions all new (and not so new) online course creators ask
Creating an online course, program or membership is a big task, with lots of moveable pieces. Incorporating technology, conversion copy writing, email funnels, online ads, partnerships and collaborations, design and...
Introductory offers for professional services businesses
If you’re selling yoghurt, you can give away samples in supermarket aisles. If you own a gym or yoga studio, you can sell introductory passes for new people to try you out. But what about if you’re a consultant who...
Case study: Website designer Simon Kelly
I first met Simon Kelly when he spoke at the Sydney WordCamp conference in 2017. Owner of Renegade Empire, Simon is a highly regarded website designer, funnel specialist and systems expert who’s coached other web...
Netiquette: pitching
I walked straight into a guy wearing an official-looking lanyard in a coworking office I was visiting. He appeared to be touring another woman around the place. Maybe I assumed I needed to speak with him, or maybe he...
Best tech tools for small business
In the olden days, circa 2008, I used to use a WYSIWYG editor to create client e-news. (WYSIWYG, pronounced "wizzy-wig", stands for 'what you see is what you get'.) After a while, I'd accumulated experience in every...
Business coaching only works under these two conditions
Business coaching isn’t magic though the results can make it feel so. One client had one session with me where we reviewed her offerings, sketched out a new approach to her strategy work, and priced it. She had an...
New online business models to sell services online
One of the perks of my job is lifting the lid on other people’s businesses. As a business coach and trainer, I have a front-row seat to the evolution of online business models as well as business services that are...
On getting the dance floor started
In the summer of 1969, tens of thousands of people swayed, jived, bopped and shimmied to the likes of Nina Simone, Mahalia Jackson, Stevie Wonder, BB King, The 5th Dimension, Marvis Staples, Sly and the Family Stone,...
Five effective, tech-free ways to grow your business
Like the seasons, I expand and contract. During social seasons, I’m reaching out to others, keen to talk, pitching myself, and saying ‘yes’ a lot. I’m good fun during these times.And then the contraction: my calendar...
Marketing versus growth
A silver lining in the madness of the Covid pandemic was colossal growth for certain businesses. From children's education to home repairs, business education to website design, some small businesses in some sectors...
Start a business, save the world
Circa 2005, I boxed up the leftovers from one of my client’s corporate lunch events and dropped it off at an industrial estate near Sydney Airport. Oz Harvest was in its nascency, having started in 2004 by Ronni Kahn,...
