All Things Small Biz

Running a small business can be a constant, never ending job that can make you feel glued to one place. Your office.

Whether it’s a desk, your home, a rented place or something else entirely, the responsibility of keeping your small business going can make many owners feel stuck and unable to leave or even take a holiday, but there is at least one way.

In todays episode Sarah and Brian talk about the restrictions that come with having a business from home, and how Sarah manages to juggle that with her family.

They also reveal:

-      Sarah’s tips for keeping her business going while ensuring she plays a big role in their children’s lives.

-      What Brian does as a partner to help that balance.

-      And their plans for taking the family on a holiday while continuing Sarah’s business, West Of The Waves at the same time.

Sarah is then joined by Emily Griffiths of Ohemg Marketing. Em runs her marketing business from home, but when that feeling to take a holiday hit she didn’t ignore it. Instead she and her husband decked out a caravan, and took their whole family on the road for a months long trip.

Emily took her small business on the road with them and managed to continue things along the way.

Emily reveals:

-      How she structured her day on the holiday to include family time and business time

-      The mistakes she made on her first trip that you can learn from

-      Her tip for getting a small business started.

If you need marketing advice you can get in touch with Emily Griffiths on Instagram at

ohemg_marketing or via her website www.ohemgmarketing.com.au

For all the latest on All Things Small Biz you can follow us at @coax_australia or head to our website for tips and check out our business coaching page https://www.westofthewaves.com/pages/coax-australia-podcast

If you’re interested in some jewellery or clothing why not follow Sarah’s business @west_of_the_waves

While this isn’t the goal for everyone, many small business owners have started their business with the dream of one day taking things full time.

But what steps need to be taken and what goals must be met in order to successfully take that big step?

Sarah and Brian talk about how Sarah started up her side hustle along side everything else in her life and what goals and steps you can take to do the same.

Sarah is then joined by radio broadcaster and owner of The Podcast Butler, Sam Blacker.

Sam discusses how he almost felt forced into starting his side hustle and how the success of his business is the result of not just his own hard work but also the tireless support and work of those around him.

Sam also outlines the goals he has set for his audio editing business that will ensure he is ready to go full time but also why that step involves a big leap of faith.

As always we get all our guests to share one business hack and Sam shares the one thing he believes has ensured an almost 100% success rate when converting leads into clients for a services business.

To find out all the tips and info about starting a podcast, or utilise Sam’s services through The Podcast Butler, you can reach him on Instagram at @thepodcatsbutler or on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/thepodcastbutler

He can also be found at www.thepodcastbutler.com

For all the latest on All Things Small Biz you can follow us at @coax_australia or head to our website for tips and check out our business coaching https://www.westofthewaves.com/pages/coax-australia-podcast

If you’re interested in some jewellery or clothing why not follow Sarah’s business @west_of_the_waves

When starting a small business it is so important to know WHY you are doing it.

Knowing your why will help you keep going in the hard times and ensure you are working towards the right goals.

In todays episode Sarah reveals her own personal ‘why’ and how she decided what it was.

Sarah is also joined by Jaz Wallace of Buckaroo Boutique to share her own personal ‘why’ and how it has helped her small business.

Jaz is a wife, mother, property owner, mine worker and owner of her own boutique.

As someone who runs a specialised boutique in Biloela in regional Australia, Jaz has a very passionate and strong purpose driving her business that has definitely helped with growing her business.

Togetehr with Sarah Jaz shares how she settled on her ‘why’ and what has changed about it as her business as grown.

Jaz also reveals the thing she believes is most important to being successful in a specific small business.

For wonderful fashion follow Jaz on Instagram at @buckarooboutique_aus or head to her website at www.buckarooboutiqueaus.com

For all the latest on All Things Small Biz you can follow us at @coax_australia or head to our website for tips and check out our business coaching https://www.westofthewaves.com/pages/coax-australia-podcast

If you’re interested in some jewellery or clothing why not follow Sarah’s business @west_of_the_waves

While many of us are enjoying recent Freedom Days, from lockdowns we should remember that this sort of thing can always happen again.

Covid could change or outbreak and cause more lockdowns or a whole new disease could create a new pandemic.

If that happens lockdowns could occur again and so we need to lockdown proof our businesses as much as we can.

Sarah & Brian discuss how recent lockdowns in NSW and Victoria severely impacted Sarah’s business West Of The Waves and how the ways she found to work around that can be used for your own small business.

Sarah is also joined by Meg Kennedy from Marketing Directive to discuss how her businesses pre-existing model allowed her to thrive during lockdown.

Besides outlining business elements that she was already doing, Meg also explains other steps that can be taken to keep your business running in lockdown.

In addition Sarah and Meg discuss the importance of social media in lockdown and how it can set you up for when lockdown ends

Meg also shares her business hacks for automation and streamlining your business.

If you would like to get further marketing tips or even have someone to look over your marketing plan, contact Meg at @marketingdirective.co or marketingdirective.co 

For all the latest on All Things Small Biz you can follow us at @coax_australia or head to our website for tips and check out our business coaching https://www.westofthewaves.com/pages/coax-australia-podcast

If you’re interested in some jewellery or clothing why not follow Sarah’s business @west_of_the_waves

One of the strongest and most powerful ways to create support for your business is to grow a community around it.

In the last episode Sarah & Brian discussed how having a pre-existing community of people who engaged with her business was essential to helping Sarah rebuild her accounts when she got hacked.

But having a community around a business does so much more than just that. For remote businesses building that sense of community can create a stronger connection and greater likelihood of buying.

Sarah explains how she created her community and all the extra benefits she gained from.

Todays guest is Jenn Donovan. She is a wife, mother, lawyer, owner of a homewares store and creator of Buy From A Bush Business, an online community with hundreds of thousands of members. Buy From A Bush Business was created to help regional businesses struggling through drought and she has managed to do that and more.

Jenn explains how to build a community and why micro-influencers are so important for small businesses.

You can find more about Jenn on Instagram on her personal account @jenndonovan_ or follow her big online communities for small businesses on facebook or instagram @buy_from_a_bush_business https://www.facebook.com/groups/buyfromthebush

@spendwithusaustralia Or you can find Buy From a Bush Business Marketplace here www.spendwithus.com.au

For all the latest on All Things Small Biz you can follow us at @coax_australia or head to our website for tips and check out our business coaching https://www.westofthewaves.com/pages/coax-australia-podcast

If you’re interested in some jewellery or clothing why not follow Sarah’s business @west_of_the_waves

Sarah and Brian discuss what happened when all of the social media accounts for Sarah’s business got hacked. Hacking of small business social media accounts is a growing trend and it can be both financially and emotionally devastating. 

This is the dark side of social media and a warning lesson for any small business that relies entirely on social media to promote and distribute to their client base.

During this discussion Sarah covers:

1.    Just how badly a hack can get and why facebook is not very helpful.

2.    How to avoid a hack from happening to you.

3.    Why you should diversify your client contact sources and how to do so.

Sarah is also joined by Tori Packer, founder of The Small Business Community to further discuss how badly social media account hacking has gotten within her community and whether she thinks it is getting worse.

Tori also shares the benefits of being a part of The Small Business Community and reveals her pentagon method for Instagram growth.

You can follow Tori at @the_smallbusiness_community or head over to her website www.thesmallbusinesscommunity.com.au

For all the latest on All Things Small Biz you can follow us at @coax_australia or head to our website for tips and check out our business coaching https://www.westofthewaves.com/pages/coax-australia-podcast

If you’re interested in some jewellery or clothing why not follow Sarah’s business @west_of_the_waves

Sarah Hayles made the shift from engineering to running her own business from home, but while she had to figure out how to start and run her business on her own, she wants to help everyone else to avoid doing it the long way.

Join Sarah each week as she explains essential points you'll need to know to start a business, and is joined by business owners and experts in the small business world to provide their own knowledge and tricks.