Are you doing these five “A” things in your business?

• Being super clear about who your Avatar is
• Automating repeatable processes
• Analysing your data
• Honing your Appetite for learning
• Taking Action

If not, it’s going to be extremely difficult to get your business to grow to the size you want.

In this episode I talk about:

• Each of the 5 “A”s, why you need them and how they support the growing process
• How easy it is for us to get one of those “A”s, Avatar Clarity, wrong and why it took a naughtly little boy messing with his mum’s work laptop to help me understand that
• How a quiz can make it easier to do all the 5 “A”s well, without spending any extra time or energy.

If that sounds like it would be helpful, have a listen.

And if you’re interested in getting started on a quiz for your business, head over to my 30-minute free training on how to choose which type of quiz to use.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Saying “no” to things or to people can create intense dissonance, especially for people who like to help others.

In this episode, Counselling and Clinical Psychologist, Katrina Streatfeild, takes us through a number of ways to deal with the guilt and the dissonance.  And she explains how to say no in a way that leaves the other person feeling heard, understood and valued.

We talked about:

• Why sometimes saying no is the best thing for the other person
• Three questions to set the stage for saying no
• Why your priorities matter
• Dealing with stretch moments and associated guilt
• Engaging our "wise" minds
• Making "choice moments" count
• What to do when you really need a crystal ball
• Why a growth mindset is vital
• When beating yourself up is like burning money
• Techniques for dealing with people pleaser dissonance
• How to say no, without sounding horrible about it

There is so much that is helpful in this episode.

If you’d like some help with learning how to say no nicely and with style, be sure to have a listen.

And please share the podcast with anyone else you think it would help.

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Russell Pearson, host of The Marketing Report and Your Consulting Business podcasts has years of experience with business branding.

In my experience, working with startups, branding is something that the business owners initially  obsess over.  But once they’ve picked their logo, font and brand colours, tend to ignore some of the more important aspects of branding.

In this episode Russell talks about:

• Networking and why there needs to be a better way of doing it
• His “Barrel” concept for finding new clients
• How business branding is far more than just a logo. 
• What true marketing is, who does it and what it means
• Intentionality versus manipulation
• Why you need to niche down and how to do it successfully
• 3 key questions to ask when niching down
• Changing and adapting in order to take our businesses global
• Mindset, branding and change
• What “brand” is
• Business owner versus practice owner - what’s the difference?

Whether you agree with Russell or disagree, there is plenty of food for thought in this episode about living your brand, niching down, and networking more smartly.

If those topics interest you, have a listen.

Resources Mentioned:

• The Marketing Report Podcast - https://russellpearson.com/marketing-podcast/ 
• Your Consulting Business Podcast (iTunes) - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/your-consulting-business-podcast/id1643441325   
• More Info About The “Barrel” Free Download - “Clients On Tap” - https://russellpearsonprograms.com/
• Website - https://russellpearson.com 

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Not that long ago, virtual reality was just another emerging technology that most businesses didn’t see a need for.

Well, that might be changing.

In this episode I speak with Zerafina Zara who is an expert in the virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (XR) spaces.

And we talk about:

• How Zerafina's interest in dance set her on a path towards working with virtual reality
• What a Holographic Stage is and how it might be used in a business
• Whether small businesses might be able to use some of the amazing capabilities that these technologies bring to create new opportunities to better serve customers and grow
• Why augmented reality might be better for business meetings than Zoom
• The benefits of VR meetings for introverts
• Why making rollercoasters the first thing you try on VR is a bad, bad, very bad idea
• Whether the Metaverse actually exists
• Your online avatar, relationship building and communities
• Evoking emotional states with VR and promoting a sense of self-agency and control
• According to the gurus, how long you'll be spending in a VR headset per day for work (the answer might surprise you)
• Whether VR could be used to help people with disabilities and some of the ethical considerations around that
• An example of using VR to enhance the coaching experience

It’s a fascinating interview about a subject that has the potential to really change how we interact in the business world.  And it’s something that you, as a small business owner, should be starting to think about now.

If that sounds interesting to you, have a listen.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Have you ever seen a billboard or advertisement that just stuck in your head?  One that you remembered months, if not years later?

What is it that makes those marketing messages stick?

In this podcast episode, I talk about some marketing messages that I saw in my recent travels and why those messages stuck like velcro to my brain.

RESOURCES

“How To Choose Which Quiz To Use” Free Training:  https://onlinebusinessliftoff.com/how-to-choose-which-quiz-to-use-training/ 

Podcast Rescue:  https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/podcast-rescue/id1644925604 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If thinking about using SEO to increase traffic to your website makes you feel seriously overwhelmed, then this episode may help.

It’s a case study where podcast host, Trudy Rankin sits down with SEO expert, Graeme Knight from New Route Digital to talk through the results of an SEO audit he ran on a neglected website.

The goal? 

To show you the process from start to finish of starting to use SEO in a serious way to grow website traffic numbers.

In this, and subsequent episodes we’ll be walking you through the process, the data and the outcomes, warts and all.

We talk about:

• How we're widening out an existing case study to include a more in-depth SEO approach
• The sadly neglected website I want to revive
• What Graeme’s SEO audit process involved
• Getting a sense of what to do first and how to deal with all the “things” that need doing
• What “relevance scores” are and why they matter
• Picking which keywords to start with
• Why search intent matters when looking at keywords
• Art versus science when it comes to picking the right keywords
• My lightbulb moment for future content creation
• Is it possible to shortcut the whole process?
• Keyword cannibalisation
• Getting started with a Backlinks gathering strategy

If you’re interested in following along on this experimental (for me) process, have a listen.

We hope you find it useful.

Here's the link to the website page we've been working on.

https://themenopauseeffect.com/7-top-natural-indian-home-remedies-for-menopause-relief/ 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The risk and impact of burning out is something that most people want to avoid. 

And when a recent podcast episode on burnout rapidly became my most listened to episode ever, I knew we’d hit a nerve.  

So I’ve asked Counselling and Clincial Psychologist, Katrina Streatfeild to come back on the podcast and talk about what we can do to move beyond burnout.

We talked about:

• Beyond normal - all the things happening in the world right now
• How old coping mechanisms might not be enough anymore
• Long term stressors, stress hormones and our ability to cope
• How do we get off the hamster wheel?
• The impact on others when we are compassionate for ourselves
• The necessity of acknowledging that the world has changed
• A process for reimagining our future
• Defining what's realistic in terms of goals now
• How do we figure out what's meaningful now?
• Setting new baselines
• What to do if you don't know what success looks like any longer

So if the thought of facing an unknown future has you feeling a bit exhausted, you are not alone.  Have a listen and try the process Katrina is suggesting.  It may help. 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Have you ever secretly (or not so secretly) dreamed about starting a live event?  Maybe a conference or a series of live workshops?  Something longer than just one day?

But the thought of doing it was so daunting, you’ve never had the courage to do it?

In this episode I talk with Dr Eibhlin Fletcher, the founder of the Get A Grip Of The Grind Festival, which is now in it’s 5th year.

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing.  And Eibhlin has some advice for anyone thinking about starting up and running that event.

We also talked about:

• The origins of the Get A Grip Of The Grind Festival
• The impact of going tech-less for short periods of time
• What was involved in starting the festival
• Winging it, the things that can go wrong and the things that will always go wrong
• Working with local businesses and getting them to help out
• Eibhlin's biggest fear in running the festival and what actually ended up being the hardest part
• Other key challenges, like keeping everything fresh
• Rogaines (no it’s not medicine)
• Feeling free to do stuff that makes you feel young again
• The difference having help can make
• How documentation and delegation, in that order, can help spread the load, but can slow down decision making
• When customer service is not your strongest point …
• Being the visionary / ideas person ...
• One piece of advice for someone thinking about running a festival or event
• The philosophy of having no regrets

If you’re interested in what Eibhlin has to share about the ups and downs of starting a big event, have a listen.  You’ll be glad you did.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The first few podcasts that Cliff Duvernois started went into pod fade within a few short months.  It wasn’t for lack of trying.  He truly believed that podcasts were important for business growth.  But he couldn’t get past the sense that unless he was doing everything perfectly and getting thousands of downloads, then his podcast was a failure.

It wasn’t until Cliff had a breakthrough “aha” moment where he realised that there’s a difference between podcasters who get thousands of listens and entrepreneurs who use their podcasts to serve their business, that he was able to make podcasts that really work for his business.

In this episode we talk about:

• Whether you have to be an extrovert to successfully start a podcast
• Overcoming perfectionism
• What pod fade is and what’s it’s biggest cause
• Cliff’s first rule of podcasting
• Building relationships through podcasting
• The wrong way to build those relationships
• A better way of introducing what you do in your business
• Monetising a podcast, even if it’s very new with low listener numbers
• Opening up about who you are as a person
• How sharing parts of the process you use to help people can help with the “know, like and trust” development process
• Whether the numbers of podcast downloads matter
• Insights into Cliff’s success results/metrics
• How you can speed up the time it takes to start a podcast
• How Cliff helps entrepreneurs start their own podcast
• Shownotes and stories
• Podcasts and YouTube

If you’re nervous about starting a podcast for your business, especially if you’re an introvert, this episode will help you develop your own effective approach.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Lisa was struggling to juggle both her career and her role as a carer for a family member with ongoing health issues.

Because of the demands of her carer role, she finally had to give up on her career and was looking around for something she could do that was just for her.

When she discovered Online Business Liftoff where we teach carers and people over 50 how to start their own online business, she realised she’d found exactly what she was looking for.

As Lisa went through the program, she struggled to decide exactly what her business should be about.

In this podcast episode, Lisa shares how the Online Business Liftoff team helped her discover her calling and what has now become the heart of her business. 

We talked about:

• The start of Lisa’s journey into entrepreneurship
• How she figured out what her business should be about and who she could help
• How she now helps her clients and what’s involved
• How everything starts with a quiz
• Community and what that means within the Online Business Liftoff Community
• Future goals for the next 5 years and how Imposter Syndrome can sometimes help us achieve those goals

Being a carer and finding time to focus on something that’s all your own can be a difficult balancing act.  Lisa’s story is proof that it is possible.

If you’re interested in hearing more about Lisa’s journey from struggling carer, to having a business of her own, have a listen.  You’ll be glad you did.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.