It’s no secret that business owners wear many hats - customer service, marketer, bookkeeper, salesperson, random stuff that just needs to get done doer! It’s up to you to do it all, especially in the first few years of business when most people aren’t ready to bring on team members or outsource. Out of all the multi-tasking we have to do, I’ve found the hardest is finding time to work ON the business while keeping up with working IN the business. 

How do you balance looking after customers and ...

I’m going to tell you a secret. I don’t enjoy social media. I just don’t want to deal with it. I don’t want to write about my business again and again, multiple times a week. As a small business owner, admitting this feels like committing treason!

On the other hand, if you see me networking (like at a Small Business Vibes event *wink wink*), I’ll be raving about my clients and the progress they’re making. I love talking to people about what I do during networking. People often tell me how I lig...

A business can’t be successful without sales. It doesn’t matter who you are, what you offer, what you charge or how desperately you want to bury your head in the sand at the sound of the word sales, all businesses need new customers. But that doesn’t make selling feel any less icky, pushy or stomach-churning. We started our businesses to do what we love on our own terms, not to convince people our products are worth buying. 

You can read all the sales strategies you want (Google found about 1,8...

The immediate response is “No! Of course, not. I would give anything for my business to be successful.” I don’t doubt that! Building a business from scratch is no joke. If you’ve made it this far, you have to want it. But there might be things going on in your subconscious making building a business harder than it needs to be. 

Subconscious fear stole the show!

I say this as someone who has been there, done that and got the t-shirt. For example, there was the time I was preparing to launch a n...

The term imposter syndrome has never sat right with me. That’s not because I’ve gone through life with full confidence that I can do anything I set my mind to. I wish! I’ve had my doubts and fears. I’ve had times when I stopped myself from being successful. But it wasn’t because I felt that I was an imposter - undeserving and about to be caught out. I know I’m a good coach. I feel confident in my qualifications and experience and the progress I see my clients make. 

But because imposter syndrom...

I don’t know if this is a hot take but I don’t think you can build a successful business without failing a couple of times (at least!) There’s no one-size-fits-all way to build a business. It’s not as simple as following a map from A to B because you and your business are unique. What makes me tick is not the same as what makes you tick. What works for me isn’t necessarily going to work for you. 

That’s why I’m all about figuring out your own path to success. The figuring-out part is where peop...

How’s your self-care going? If your response is “Huh? Self-care? Where am I supposed to fit that into my schedule?” Let’s talk. 

Self-care, filling your cup, looking after your health and wellbeing, whatever you want to call it is vital for everyone. We’re human beings with human needs like nutrients, movement and fresh air. While a lot of us put self-care on the back burner, cos we're business owners doing it all, we can’t afford to not look after ourselves properly. 

Why is self-care so impo...

As a business owner, especially when there's just you, the best intentions for your day can be torn apart by a single email. Suddenly there’s something you need to sort out pronto. It’s not necessarily an incoming disaster. You could be side-lined by an unexpected enquiry you want to put a proposal together for ASAP. Nevertheless, how you intended to spend the day is no longer how you will spend the day because that’s the nature of business. 

The problem is often that means we spend so much tim...

When we improve our financial situations, we unlock new choices. Choices about how we grow our businesses. Choices about how we spend our time, look after our loved ones and prepare for the future. Of course you want to make enough money in your business to reach your goals and live out your ambitions, creating financial security so you can enjoy the highs and have a backup for the lows. 

But how do you make more money? Bump up your prices? Discount your products like crazy to get an influx of ...

How does it feel to say the phrase “I love money”? Even in an empty room, it can trigger feelings of shame and guilt. Or it might ring true for you. It depends on your money mindset which is essentially your perception of and beliefs around money that influence how you think about, make and spend money. So it’s pretty important for business owners as we determine how much money we make and how we allocate money to grow the business. 

What has been underrepresented in the discourse around money ...