For corporate escapees or small businesses, increasing sales and revenue and getting money into your business is something that we want to achieve. In this episode, I share with you the learnings I’ve had from training over 100 people on how to do sales and marketing as a solopreneur. I developed this and call it the E-ttraction Sales Model. I start off with defining sales and e-ttraction. I then give you a breakdown of the 4 steps of the E-ttraction Sales Process, explain what you need to do in these steps and give you examples you can learn from. You will also learn about the volume you need to be successful and some sales techniques that you can use throughout the process.

You can download the template and diagram here: https://www.socialstar.com.au/ettraction-templates

Colin Barr of Barr McIntosh Advisory joins us in this episode to talk about interviews, recruitment and how to find the right people for businesses. He takes the guesswork out of recruitment. He has over 30 years of experience and offers completely impartial, insider, expert advice to help you reach your greatest career goals.

Barr McIntosh is an Australian Search and Advisory Firm who has provided recruitment solutions to complex assignments to various business industries in Australia

What is covered in this episode:

• Colin’s background and business.
• The story on his first job, his stint in the Navy and the other jobs he took.
• Are the skills of people innate or honed?
• Standing out to get hired.
• How to handle job interviews.
• Picking the right people for the job.
• Andrew and Colin share their stories on their experiences interviewing potential team members.
• The inaccuracy of standardized tests.
• Andrew shares his process of finding candidates.
• Colin shares one interesting question he asks in interviews.
• Knowing more about candidates through interviews.
• Top 3 tips for writing your resume.
• Can you do what you love as an employee or is that only achieved when you have your own business?
• The advantages of and things to think about having your own business versus working from corporate.
• Colin's advice for listeners.

What's the best way to launch your own business? Well, to be honest, there are many different ways that will work.

For mature corporate escapees, we believe it's building a small but reliable network working group around you. People who are running their own small businesses and so can understand you. People who might be able to refer you to others. And importantly those who are fun to have a drink and hang out with too!

In the latest BYOB podcast, Andrew explores his ideas on how to build your own network and how we are working hard to build it in our Social Club.

Carl Rigoni, CEO & Founder of SixSix, joins us in Episode 35 of the Build Your Own Business Podcast to share the story behind how and why he set up his business and quit corporate. He shares his journey from university, his learnings, and his future plans.

SixSix is a consulting practice that Carl has recently founded. Carl has had extensive practical experience in driving innovation frameworks with large corporations. The company focuses on assisting companies and Government organisations with digital transformation agendas. It also includes how to leverage and develop a “start-up” mentality to achieve better business

outcomes at a lower cost and significantly greater speed.

What is covered in this episode:

• Carl’s business, SixSix, and the services they offer.
• The story of Carl’s first job, his university experience and how this has inspired him to have a personal project of teaching uni students the way of the corporations.
• His corporate history and how it has helped him with running his own business now.
• Carl’s secret success and the things he has learned from it.
• The importance of having business mentors.
• Future plans for Carl and SixSix.
• Ben’s shares an idea for education about training kids about business and finding their passion.
• The reason behind the rise in fintechs.
• The massive changes in how people are working and getting jobs.
• How to cultivate and foster innovation for businesses.

CEO of the Synergen Group, Julian Carle, joins us in Episode 34 of the Build Your Own Business Podcast to talk to us about timelines for starting a business from scratch, time allocation for sales, business development and more. He also shares his journey from university to quitting corporate and starting his own business. Be inspired and listen now.

What is covered in this episode:

• The services of the Synergen Group and how they help people.
• Julian’s educational background and his love for the arts.
• His interesting corporate journey.
• The turning point in his career and how he realized that he wasn’t for the corporate world.
• How long he’s been running his business now.
• Tips on how to run your business without you.
• Timelines for starting a business.
• Time allocation for sales.
• How Julian does business development.
• More about Julian’s book “Give Back Lead Forward: Why Every Leader Should Be a Mentor and Have a Mentor” and podcast “Synergen Leadership Podcast”
• Would he do this all over again?
• His top tips for individuals in this precipice.

Risk Management Expert, Lyndon Holland, joins us today in Episode 33 of the Build Your Own Business Podcast. Lyndon will share his knowledge and expertise on insurance and how to handle risks in your business and personal life. His 35-year experience and training in the insurance industry has allowed him to protect his clients’ business success with risk management programs and insurance advice over the years.

What is covered in this episode:

• A background of what Lyndon does.
• Lyndon’s job experiences and his transition to what he is doing today.
• How he offered his products to his clients when he was starting in the industry.
• Stories about how he helped his clients with their insurance coverages.
• Things that we need to know about insurance.
• Findings and implications for business owners.
• Getting a free consultation from Lyndon.
• His transition from working for someone in insurance to starting his own business.
• Highs and lows Lyndon has experienced in his career.
• How to know when you need to talk to a professional about insurance.
• Lyndon’s advice for people who want to leave corporate.

In this solo episode, Andrew talks about the 3 main ways to scale a consultancy business over time. Tips and advice to use your knowledge to make more income than time per hour. We discuss the 3 stages of growing a consultancy business which are personal branding, business branding, and product innovation. Andrew shares his personal experiences with his business and gives us tips on how to improve your consultancy business.

New personal brand coach of Social Star, Elva Li, joins us in Episode 31 of the Build Your Own Business Podcast. Elva shares her inspiring story from growing up in Shanghai, moving to Australia to pursue further studies, and then quitting her job and following her passion. Her work today involves helping female entrepreneurs, like her,  create a personal brand that makes them feel confident online so that they can stand out from the crowd and attract their dream clients.

In this solo episode of the Build Your Own Business Podcast, Andrew talks about his plans for the launch of the BYOB Social Club where aspiring business owners can get involved, catch up with peers and like-minded people to form a community to help each other build their own business. One of the goals of the club is to address issues and the challenges that new corporate escapees face when starting out and provide overall support from social events, advice, to serious business talks. He gives us an overview of how the group will be formed, how it will work and how you can be involved.

Elliott works on a different flavor of project management. He drives positive organisational change through the delivery of fit for purpose services & solutions for companies. He has worked with well-known companies to transform their finance, IT and design practices. In this episode, he joins us to share his journey from being a corporate employee to building his own consulting business.

What is covered in this episode:

• Elliott's business services and who he works with.
• The project outcome differences of construction and IT projects.
• Reasons why IT projects fail.
• Elliots work background and how he transitioned into what he is doing today.
• The best way to get jobs or clients and how this relates to the importance of building your network and brand.
• What’s next for Elliot.
• Tips for people who want to start a consulting business
• Elliott's advice for people who are still working full time and want to jump into business.