Online Business Launchpad | Start An Online Business | Online Business Growth

Six years of studying to be a speech pathologist hadn’t prepared Rose for the challenge of working with a young man who only knew how to communicate his needs and wants by behaving in negative ways.

She quickly developed a passion for helping people on the autism spectrum find their voice.

When Rose made the switch from career employee to business owner, she quickly realised that she could only help so many people at one time.  She knew that if she wanted to maximise the impact she could have she needed to find a different way.

In this episode, Rose explains the journey she went through starting her own business and then moving from expert provider to expert teacher. 

She changed from being the “doer” in her  business to being the leader.  And as she did she was able to amplify her impact exponentially and now teaches other speech pathologists who work with people on the autism spectrum, how to help their clients find their voice.

We talk about:

• How she is able to grant CEUs (continuing education units) to people who listen to specific episodes from her podcast, Autism Outreach
• How she developed her first product
• The experience of moving from being an employee to being a boss and realising she needed to do things differently if she wanted to help more people
• The one thing that helped Rose accelerate her business growth
• The ripple effect that using a “train the trainer” model can bring
• The number one challenge for speech therapists who work with autistic learners
• Advice for people thinking about changing from career employee to business owner

If you’re a professional who is thinking about moving away from a 1-to-1 service model, there’s a lot of wisdom here.

And if you’re thinking about leaving your corporate career to start your own business, but you’re not sure what you’d like to do or where to start, download my free step-by-step guide to finding a great business idea.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE PODCAST:

• Power Up Podcasting:   http://onlinebusinessliftoff.com/pat-flynn-power-up-podcasting (affiliate link)
• SPI Pro:   https://www.smartpassiveincome.com/pro-application?via=trudy (affiliate link)
• Podcast:  Autism Outreach
• Website:  https://abaspeech.org

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Do you feel like you’re still wearing 3000 hats when it comes to running and growing your business?  Doing all the things, even the ones you dislike or aren’t very good at?

In this podcast episode, time saver and productivity expert, Khadirah Muhammad shares how she helps clients get their business processes documented and under control so that they can then be automated or handed off to someone else.

We also talk about:

• Why Khadirah decided to start her own business after graduating from university, rather than going the usual route of working for someone else … you might be surprised at the reason
• What can happen when you don’t have your processes nailed down and the time that can waste
• The trouble with expecting people to be mindreaders ...
• How Zapier is like a translator and can help save time by getting different types of technology talking to each other, plus some examples of how it can be used
• Khadirah’s biggest tip for getting out from under those 3000 hats

There’s gold in what Khadirah has to share because her method can be applied to businesses of any size.

And there are some interesting insights into the world of work and how it is changing for young people.

Have a listen to the episode.  I’m confident that you’ll take away some useful insights into how you could start saving yourself some time.

P.S.  And did you know that using a quiz in your business can also help you save time?  Download my quiz creation checklist to see what’s involved

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There are many different kinds of courage and courageous acts.  But our whole concept of what courage is can change when we think of it in terms of starting and growing a business.

In this episode, Online Business Launchpad Podcast host, Trudy Rankin, shares stories and questions about courage and how it applies to small business owners, entrepreneurs and startup founders.

Stories about picante sauce.  Riding solo down the length of South America.  And more.

And she talks about how James Clear’s concepts (from his book Atomic Habits) can help develop habits that make it much more likely to act courageously when it comes to building a business.

So what does picante sauce have to do with courage?

You’ll have to listen and find out.

And if you're interested in starting your own online business, we can help.  Go to   https://onlinebusinessliftoff.com/coaching-and-community/

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Quizzes are a great way to help you grow your business.  And we’re not talking about the kind of quiz where you’re trying to figure out what kind of Disney princess you are.  

We’re talking about quizzes that help people understand more about themselves and their business so they can achieve their goals.

The brilliant thing about quizzes is that they are not one-size-fits-all.  You can use quizzes in so many, many different ways.  In fact, one of the best quiz creators I know often says, “you’re only limited by your imagination”.

In today’s episode, host Trudy Rankin shares 5 examples of fun ways that you can use a quiz in your business.  Trudy has lost count of the number of quizzes she has built over the years and has had fun experimenting with many different quiz types and approaches.

So if you’re interested in learning more about how quizzes could help you grow your business, have a listen.  And see if it sparks your imagination.

And if you’re interested in learning how to choose which type of quiz to use for your business, go to https://onlinebusinessliftoff.com/generate-leads-with-quizzes/ 

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If the past year has been a weird one for you, you’re not alone.  And if you’ve been struggling with trying to find the energy to do things that were once a breeze, then you’ll know that burning out or getting close to burnout can really knock you on your backside.

In this evergreen podcast episode, Trudy interviews Counselling and Clinical Psychologist Katrina Streatfeild about what to do AFTER you’ve hit burn out and are trying to pick up the pieces.

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
• 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. 

Check out our other episode on Burnout as well.

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As a small business owner, do you cringe at the thought of having to sell in your business? Are you just not into sales and don’t like to be pushy with people? 

In this evergreen podcast episode, Trudy interviews Nikki Rausch who has a strong background in sales, with many years of experience.  Nikki started out working in male dominated industries and didn’t feel comfortable using their traditional sales methods.  So she figured out her own way of selling … a way that didn’t include any of the typical characteristics of a pushy salesman.  

Nikki was very successful.  And when she realised that other women business owners just weren’t comfortable with sales, she wanted to use what she’d learned to help them.  Because if you don’t have sales, you don’t have a business.

Nikki now teaches women entrepreneurs how to sell effectively in ways that work AND that they are comfortable with. 

This episode originally came out a couple of years ago.  And it's one that's worth listening to again and again so I decided to reshare it with you.  So whether you're heard what Nikki has to say before or it's new to you, you're going to get good value from listening in our conversation.

In this podcast Trudy and Nikki talk about - 

1. The importance of building rapport with potential clients
2. The role of scripts and how to tailor those scripts so that they feel comfortable to each individual
3. The role the mindset plays in sales 
4. Tips to get going with sales when you’ve started to build confidence in your business
5. How the Sales Maven Society can help your business 

Have a listen and a think about how you can apply the principles that Nikki shares for your own business.

If you’d like regular notifications when podcast episodes go live, as well as tips and techniques for growing the online part of your business, you can sign up here.

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Do you care deeply about what’s happening to our planet?  

Probably you’re into doing what you can to minimise impact.  But sometimes it can feel like the difference that makes is just a drop in the ocean, because you’re just one person.

And the things we, as a society, are able to do at scale, might not always be the right things in the long run.  Sometimes there are unforeseen consequences.

But change is being forced on us, whether we like it or not, and we are going to have to adapt.  We have to do something….but what?

My guest for this episode is Grant Symons, from Transition HQ.  Grant has years of deep experience in leading and managing change at scale.  And he reckons that the old way of doing “change” just simply isn’t cutting it.  

We have to do things differently.  So he's set up a business that uses proven change management techniques in a new way, to help participants become more impactful and effective.

In this episode we talk about:

• Two completely different ways of managing change projects and which one works better
• How and why Grant become interested in large scale transition projects
• The difficulty of creating a new product for a new market and why that requires new ways of thinking and doing
• What it's like as a consultant to add an online component to your business
•  The importance of community and community input in developing a new program
• The two most difficult things about going from concept to new online offering
• Thought leadership and what it really is
• Advice for people leaving corporate to become consultants about getting part of their business online
• Why relationships really matter
• What Circle is like as a community management tool for a startup

Whether you agree with Grant or not, I think you’ll find what he has to say thought provoking.  Have a listen and then decide.

If you’d like regular notifications when podcast episodes go live, as well as tips and techniques for growing the online part of your business, you can sign up here.

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If you’ve ever worked in partnership with another entrepreneur, you’ll know that sometimes it isn’t easy.  Different visions, different values and different styles can often cause misunderstanding and conflict.

In this episode, Jo Raydan and Vicki Williams from Two Natural Ladies, share their secret for success in running their eCommerce business as partners..  They have been friends for over 30 years and have worked together as business partners for many of those years.

In the interview we talked about:

• How Jo and Vicki got started working together
• Their secret for being able to keep working together no matter what
• Their “Why” and what their business model looks like
• Why personal interest, passion and aligning with natural values matter in achieving business success  
• Their approach to marketing and how they use social media (hint, it’s not for selling)
• Why ongoing personal development really matters
• The logistics side of an e-commerce business
• What to do and what to avoid when starting an e-commerce business

If you’re interested in partnerships and/or eCommerce, have a listen.  There is a lot of lived wisdom here.

Click here to discover my other podcast episodes.

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Have you ever thought about buying an existing website as a business?  Or if you have a content-based website, selling it to someone else?

Michael Bereslavsky is the CEO of Domain Magnate LLC, a Private Equity firm specializing in acquiring and growing online businesses.

Michael has completed 300+ successful deals and has a wide-ranging industry knowledge and some unique insights when it comes to buying and selling content-based websites, particularly ones that are high-revenue sites. 

In this podcast episode we talk about:

• How Michael decides what kind of website to buy
• What’s happening with “Buy” prices (and the revenue profit multiplier) for content websites and other related trends
• Why you need to be careful and what to look for if you’re thinking about buying a website
• How to tell a low quality website from a high quality one
• Ways to generate future growth of a content-based website
• Best types of lead magnets for a content website
• Michael's favourite type of digital asset to go with a content website
• What can be done to enhance the "saleability" of a website
• Your unique "thing" that sets you apart from the competition
• Quizzes, calculators and tools as digital assets
• SaaS (Software as a Service) and apps which are trending as desirable digital assets
• Prepping your own site so you can sell it if you want
• Michael's most memorable deal when buying a website

So if you’re interested in either buying or selling a content-based website at some point in the future, have a listen to this episode.  There’s a lot of wisdom here.

And if you're interested in exploring what it takes to get a quiz on your website, download my free Quiz Creation Checklist at https://onlinebusinessliftoff.com/quiz-creation-checklist 

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Have you ever KNOWN that you have limiting beliefs that are stopping you from achieving your dreams?  But you don’t have a clue how to get rid of or change them?

In this podcast episode, Clinical and Counselling Psychologist, Katrina Streatfeild, talks about limiting beliefs and how to start discovering some of their causes.  More importantly, she talks about reshaping those beliefs so that you CAN be the success you want to be.

We talked about:

• Whether it's really a limiting belief or is it survivor's guilt?
• What “Choice Moments” are and how to use them 
• Why talking to yourself compassionately really matters
• The concept of “Transitional Discomfort”
• Why trusting the deprogramming process matters
• Change and new habit development
• When you might need professional help with your limiting beliefs
• Mental health lifestyle development
• Whether that critical voice in your head is really YOUR voice

We all have limiting beliefs of one sort or another.  Learning how to deprogram your limiting beliefs could make a big difference for you and your business.

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