Business Growth Lab

People are winding down as the year comes to a close. It’s chock-full of holidays. People are shifting their focus on personal things rather than work. So, it’s no wonder why many entrepreneurs also step back and slow down their businesses during this season.

However, for most business owners, the months from November until January are the busy season.

In this episode, Samantha and Tim discuss why slowing down may not be the right move for your business. Rather, the busy season can be the perfect period to sign more clients. 

They also share some do’s and don’ts during the busy season so you can have a profitable three months and prepare your business for 2021.

WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER IN THIS EPISODE:

• The busy season: slow down vs step on the gas (02:28)
• COVID’s effect on the internationalisation and expansion of certain businesses (04:11)
• This is not the time to change your organisational structure (07:19)
• Don’t start developing new programs (09:35)
• Make sure you have your marketing plans in place (12:33)
• People are spending money so grab this opportunity to offer your service to your target clients (14:25)
• Don’t offer discounts; but do offer value adds (17:40)
• Map your business and lifestyle plans for 2021 (19:22)

For full show notes and links visit: https://samanthariley.global/podcast/227

Whether you’re running a million-dollar company or a small mom-and-pop shop, it’s a given that you will make mistakes. It’s what you do when you go through the challenges of being a business owner that will determine the future of your journey. 

But when these challenges crop up, do you keep going or do you stop?

In this episode, serial entrepreneur Joel Primus opens up about his personal and professional highs and lows, from the moment that ended his career as a professional runner to his first business mistake. 

His vulnerability and honesty about his journey may resonate with what you’re going through, so join Samantha and Joel in the Business Lab and take a listen.

WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER IN THIS EPISODE:

• Who is Joel Primus? (01:39)
• Entrepreneurship is a journey (04:01)
• The moments that challenged Joel’s journey (06:27)
• First steps you can take when something goes wrong (09:12)
• Challenges affect people physically, mentally and viscerally (11:33)
• Can you get to self-awareness without going through challenges? (12:56)
• Experiences don’t matter if you don’t listen to the lesson (14:31)
• We are born into traditions and belief systems that affect our behaviours (15:48)
• The entrepreneurship journey gives you the chance to unlock your true self (18:42)
• There is a duality in experiences (21:23)
• Your body will whisper signals for change until it screams (22:15)
• You need somebody to help you get back on track and fight your villains (24:28)
• Business doesn’t stop while you’re going through challenges on your journey (26:22)
• “It’s not freedom from, it’s freedom as” (28:21)
• Thank life for giving you chances to do better and level up (30:35)
• Learning from mistakes and constant review can make you overcome challenges easier (32:19)
• Is getting the finer things in life and fulfilment an and/or situation? (36:00) 
• Life is something to be enjoyed (40:08)
• Ask yourself, “Am I lying to myself?” (42:35)
• Ask yourself, “How am I complicit in creating the conditions I don’t like or don’t want?” (43:57)
• Final words of wisdom from Joel (48:46)

For full show notes and links visit: https://samanthariley.global/podcast/226/

Social media can have a heavy influence on our daily life. Did you know that an algorithm within social media platforms tracks your behaviour and curates the content that will show up in your feed based on what you do, what you see and what you follow? 

This means that you create what you see on social media, so you don’t have to be just a passive receiver of content. 

In this episode, Sam and Tim talk about how social media can alter your reality and how you can get back some control over what content you receive. If you are overwhelmed by social media’s effects on your life and business, then enter the Business Lab and take a listen to today’s episode.

WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER IN THIS EPISODE:

• How social media influences our daily lives (02:27)
• What kind of world are you creating with your social media? (05:30)
• Your thoughts will be amplified and influenced by what you read (07:55)
• Conversations need to be authentic and aligned with your values (11:43)
• What are your values? (13:11)
• Do the people around you and you connect with and share similar values? (14:30)
• Include social media in your 2020 review and 2021 plans (17:36)
• Social media is just a tool for engagement (19:05)

For full show notes and links visit: https://samanthariley.global/podcast/225/ ‎

Connecting, building and nurturing authentic and genuine relationships is key to growing your business. 

Being part of an alchemy network means having a community of people who you trust and opens up many opportunities for your business. 

But where do you begin?

In this episode, Dov Gordon, the Alchemist Entrepreneur, shares how you can build authentic relationships for your business growth and become an "Under-the-Radar" leader in your industry - and enjoy a consistent flow of ideal clients.

The best clients usually come from referrals and relationships. But building relationships takes time and effort. You can’t put a price on a relationship and you never know where they may lead.

Focusing on relationships is one of the best investments you can make towards your long term business growth.

WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER IN THIS EPISODE:

• Becoming an under-the-radar leader (1:40)
• Referrals are unpredictable (2:30)
• We all have different personality types (3:10)
• Operate in your zone of genius (3:39)
• The 3 questions you must ask (9:45)
• Creating a compelling message (12:35)
• Being a savvy student as an entrepreneur (13:50)
• Authenticity is who you are when you get rid of everything else (14:05)
• Why we struggle to communicate what we do (19:03)
• Your unique voice (19:23)
• An Alchemy Network (21:30)
• Willingness to lose everything (3:30)
• Separate your colleagues and your prospects (31:08)
• Having a community with trust (36:26)
• Building a community (36:30)
• Curating and conversation (39:39)

For full show notes and links visit: https://samanthariley.global/podcast/224/

Did you know that the average Australian business owner makes less in a year than an employee earning minimum wage? 

As a business owner, you should know that your business revolves around people paying for your product or service. You need money to come in so your business can continue to trade. Despite being an essential component of any business, however, some entrepreneurs rarely discuss or even avoid the subject of pricing. 

In this episode, Samantha and Tim tackle this highly important topic. They discuss why you need to increase your prices, how to analyse your finances, and what exercises you can do to arrive at your ideal pricing. 

WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER IN THIS EPISODE:

• Your business revolves around charging out your product or service (02:13)
• Why increase your prices? (02:50)
• A reverse engineering exercise to arrive at your ideal pricing (03:20)
• The average business owner in Australia withdraws just $44,000/year (04:18)
• A spreadsheet of expenses and fees vs. pricing (06:09)
• Add in your ideal life and plans (08:20)
• Do the exercise regularly (10:07)
• Hidden costs of services (10:57)
• Would you double your prices today even if you lose half of your clients? (12:25)
• Look at the supply and demand (13:33)
• If you could 10X your price tomorrow, what would you need to change? (16:13)
• It’s normal to be nervous when increasing your prices (16:54)
• Know the value you bring to the table (17:05)
• There are different perspectives about the value of a product or service (18:28)
• Things to put in place to work around pricing (20:37)
• Address your mindset about pricing (22:24)
• “Expensive” is relative (23:13)
• A tip for fixed-price projects (23:58)
• You may have money blocks (25:26)
• A challenge to you regarding your pricing (26:30)

For full show notes and links visit: https://samanthariley.global/podcast/223

What could your business look like if you stopped letting doubts, fears and worries influence your business growth decisions? 

Most entrepreneurs and business owners want to create an impact. But many don’t reach their full potential because they don’t know what their unique superpower is and don’t lean into it. 

In this episode, we speak with Melanie Benson, a Revenue Strategist and Business Performance Optimizer, and discuss how entrepreneurs can accelerate their impact and income by making their business perform 10 times better. 

The pandemic has opened up so many opportunities for you to show up online and make your business more visible to your ideal clients. We delve in to the mistakes that business owners are making by not taking advantage of these opportunities.

By understanding your superpower, and leaning in to it, you have more opportunity to amplify the results of your business and the impact you make with your expertise. 

WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER IN THIS EPISODE:

• Leaning in to your superpower (1:35)
• Getting out of the invisibility cloak (1:50)
• Struggling to stand out and be seen (3:08)
• Creating messaging that your ideal audience will connect with (4:00)
• The result of not being clear on your message  (4:25)
• Focussing on solutions rather than process (5:50)
• People hire you to get an outcome (6:10)
• What do you do for your clients? (7:59)
• Who is your ideal client and what are their problems? (9:40)
• What is your most inspiring superpower? (11:36)
• Most people can’t see their own superpower (11:59)
• Learn to ask the right questions to get the best answers (13:30)
• How do we keep people engaged through our communication? (16:51)
• Creating a golden thread to create engaging communication (16:59)
• Getting lost in your own stories (19:43)
• Understand the value of the offer you will make (20:48)
• Knowing the difference between a good opportunity and a great one (21:30)
• Transferring your credibility in an authentic way (21:50)
• We see in other people what we can’t see in ourselves (23:45)
• What makes you unique? (26:45)
• Understand who you are and who you’re not (29:46)
• The power of podcasting (31:40)

For full show notes and links visit: https://samanthariley.global/podcast/222/

Growing and scaling your business entails a lot of hard work and dedication and with all the moving parts in your business, this can often bring up a lot of questions.

In this episode, we answer your questions regarding growing your business, and the systems and processes within your business. 

From personal branding, to niching down to the importance of a sales pipeline, we delve into all of these topics in today’s episode. 

Have more questions for us? Leave it in the comments below!

WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER IN THIS EPISODE:

• Personal branding and making connections (2:34)
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• Having a clear definition of who you serve (3:20)
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• Niching down (4:48)
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• Being authentic (7:15)
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• Acknowledging your personal values (7:30)
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• Knowing what you don’t align with (7:45)
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• Being consistent (8:12)
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• Using a content calendar for consistency (10:38)
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• Managing your pipeline of opportunities (12:47)
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• Deciding when you need a system (13:26)
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• Sales pipeline (14:12)
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• Sales are the lifeline of your business (17:30)

For full show notes and links visit: https://samanthariley.global/podcast/221/

Growing and scaling your business entails a lot of hard work and dedication and with all the moving parts in your business, this can often bring up a lot of questions.

In this episode, we answer your questions regarding growing your business, and the systems and processes within your business. 

From personal branding, to niching down to the importance of a sales pipeline, we delve into all of these topics in today’s episode. 

Have more questions for us? Leave it in the comments below!

WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER IN THIS EPISODE:

• Personal branding and making connections (2:34)
• Having a clear definition of who you serve (3:20)
• Niching down (4:48)
• Being authentic (7:15)
• Acknowledging your personal values (7:30)
• Knowing what you don’t align with (7:45)
• Being consistent (8:12)
• Using a content calendar for consistency (10:38)
• Managing your pipeline of opportunities (12:47)
• Deciding when you need a system (13:26)
• Sales pipeline (14:12)
• Sales are the lifeline of your business (17:30)

For full show notes and links visit: https://samanthariley.global/podcast/221/

Did you know that over 60 billion messages are sent out every single day? This includes ads, personal posts, newsletters, memes, and much more. 

In this overcrowded world, how do you make sure that your message stands out? 

How do you capture the attention of a reader who’s got a short attention span and is accustomed to scrolling through hundreds of messages every hour?

In this episode, Brendan Kane answers these questions and more. He shares how he helps brands, whether personal, corporate or celebrity, to go beyond the dream of getting a million followers and achieve the ultimate goal of getting and retaining their audience’s attention through great hooks.

He emphasises that you don’t have to change who you are or what you offer to do this. It’s all about how you contextually shape your message and pull out the most genius parts of it so you can get people to stop and check out more of your content. 

Brendan’s expert tips and strategies are based on years of experience creating and analysing successful hooks.

WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER IN THIS EPISODE:

• Get to know Brendan’s work (01:41)
• “How do I get more followers?” is not the right question to ask (03:04)
• A million followers will not matter if you don’t grab their attention (03:28)
• Once you master gaining attention, the followers will come (04:44)
• First pillar of a great hook: grab the attention within 2-5 seconds (06:04)
• Second pillar: retain the attention (06:14)
• Third pillar: deliver the message authentically (06:29)
• Tips to make your message authentic (08:06)
• Design content that will resonate with another person’s view of the world (09:15)
• Communicate in a way that the widest audience receives it (11:04)
• You don’t have to change who you are or your product or service (13:13)
• Brendan’s journey (14:24)
• Strategy for people who are struggling to find out who they are or what makes them unique (21:52)
• Start to keep tabs on books or ads that grab your attention (23:53)
• There’s a big difference between what people want vs. what they need (26:14)
• What happens when you don’t go to the right people (28:06)
• Don’t rely on one hook (29:48)
• Commercial companies that are masters in creating hooks (30:32)
• Service-based businesses that have created great hooks (32:24)
• Over 60 billion messages are sent out every day (36:20)
• “Hook Point” (38:23)
• If we don’t have attention, we’re not working in our zone of genius or creating an impact (39:51)

For full show notes and links visit: https://samanthariley.global/podcast/220/

Running a business is a huge undertaking and requires shouldering major responsibility and managing resources efficiently. 

Investing in productivity for your business can be a tricky balance. There are tools and professionals out there that can give you a helping hand in order to improve the productivity in your business and move the needle forward. 

In this episode, we delve into the non-essentials that you should invest in for your business productivity and growth. 

Remember that your business is your livelihood and you need to take it seriously. If you treat it like a hobby, your results will mirror your actions. 

WHAT YOU’LL DISCOVER IN THIS EPISODE:

• Fear of spending (5:07) 
• Who are you surrounding yourself with to move forward? (7:00)
• What is it that you don’t know because you don’t know where to look for it? (7:51)
• The cost of doing business (8:57)
• Investment vs a cost (9:30)
• Accounting platform (12:30)
• We can’t create more time (13:00)
• Investing in CRM (14:49)
• Outsourcing (17:09)
• Hiring the best for your business (18:52)
• Outsource other tasks in order to focus on your zone of genius (22:00)

For full show notes and links visit:  https://samanthariley.global/podcast/219/