Small Business Rising

In today’s episode, we’re hosting Paula, who established the Sanctuary House, a very special place, hosting events geared towards supporting the mental well being of foreigners here in Aarhus.

The special thing about The Sanctuary House is that you get the experience of entering a home and being treated with the kind of hospitality that you get in a home. It is a warm and supportive environment especially geared towards those who have a feeling of isolation and are looking for a community.

The Sanctuary House is dedicated to building friendships between their guests through sharing circles. You can stay back after the event and spend time talking to the others over cups of chai.

We have recorded this show on 11th of December morning from Denmark, which was back then under freshly announced partial lockdown (update - now we have almost a full lockdown).

Among other things, this means that all the restaurants, bars, cafes and entire cultural life are currently shut down in 69 out of 98 municipalities in the country.

How should business owners react when their livelihood is in danger?

Today we discuss a very peculiar case of a little restaurant in Palmyra, Pennsylvania "Taste of Sicily" and talk about a scenario of civil disobedience as a survival strategy.

Today we are solving a challenge sent to us by Koko, a Japanese illustrator, who is teaching how to draw manga. Koko is asking us about how to target and sell to parents and how to price her manga teaching services. Luckily we have our marketing and advertising specialist and an owner of DO SOMETHING consulting agency, Maria Voss, to support us in answering the questions.

Challenge from Koko:

Hi! My name is Koko - I am Japanese, illustrator, my business is. to teach how to draw manga /anime :D

I have 2 struggles. help meeeee

1) How do I target/sell parents?

so..... most of my students are kids, age 07-15. But it's parents, who pay.

I decided that I need to target both, Kids and Parents. I am doing ok for kids targeting, but how do I target/sell parents? Parents' don't care about to learn "how to draw anime hair" on TikTok or YouTube. so they don't really "look for me" - I have to go to them. (I think???). but .... How? Where are they?

 

My business is right now physical lessons but I want to expand outside of Denmark, by offering online lessons, online products....so I'm talking here about online marketing - reaching out parents in USA, UK, (anybody whose kids speak English.)

2) Struggle 2

Pricing!!

What's the method to price on my service, without me feeling undercharge or that people are feeling it's ripped off?

Find Koko

Koko's website

 

Free tutorials on YouTube

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About our Expert Maria Voss

Read the full article response here

Today in a studio we have yet another young entrepreneur, who wants to change the world for a better place!

Mihai, together with his colleagues Catalin, Norbert and Julian are about to launch 11HOUR a mobile platform for Home Services like Cleaning, Gardening and Repairs. Sounds very business-y, right?

And yet their main goal is to actually build a community that can be trusted by everyone in Denmark. So, how are they planning to achieve that?

Stay with us and listen to the story behind 11HOUR!

For more information and shownotes, please visit our website www.the5options.com

Today we are continuing our discussion about Productivity from Episode 13! Tune in to listen about our ideas and solutions regarding top 5 productivity problems that companies and small entrepreneurs encounter on their way to success!

Jacob (Engberg-Pedersen) asks us about our thoughts on the topic of productivity. He has, together with his team, conducted about 60 interviews with business owners and managed to identify top 5 productivity problems they are dealing with on a daily basis. 

What are those? And can we propose a “one-solution-fits-all”  type of advice to resolve them? Stay tuned to find out!

Question from Jacob:

First of all, I would like to thank you for agreeing to possibly use this on your podcast and have experts answer the questions for me.

We have done a lot of market research asking various business owners about what problems they experience regarding productivity. Based on about 60 conversations with business owners, we have identified 5 main problems that business owners tend to deal with. 

The Top 5 Problems are:

1.) Distractions and trouble with focusing like loud workspace or environment, interruptions, etc.

2.) Constant task switching that leads to unclarity / the feeling of being busy and lack of time

3.) Endless discussions in meetings with no decisions being made

4.) Trouble getting a comprehensive overview of activities in the company

5.) Lack of workforce or difficulty to find employees fit for the company

What I want to know is if you’re experiencing those or if you feel like it’s not an issue for you, I’m curious as to how you solve it. If you’re experiencing it then I would love to hear how it applies in your situation.

Today’s topic is: Overcoming fear. Our guest, Aiste, is only 21 years old, yet she managed to both write and publish a book "Life Notes" and to start her own business “Idiful” in a foreign country.

That’s a very impressive record for such a young woman, but did it all come easy to her?

In today episode we will explore her journey, including what was she afraid of the most and what helped her to overcome that fear?

Stay with us and find out!

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For detailed shownotes and more info about Aiste please visit https://the5options.com/y5o

Today is a big day - we have received our very first Question from the Listener - YAAAY!

Jacob (Engberg-Pedersen) asks us about our thoughts on the topic of productivity. He has, together with his team, conducted about 60 interviews with business owners and managed to identify top 5 productivity problems they are dealing with on a daily basis. 

What are those? And can we propose a “one-solution-fits-all”  type of advice to resolve them? Stay tuned to find out!

Question from Jacob:

First of all, I would like to thank you for agreeing to possibly use this on your podcast and have experts answer the questions for me.

We have done a lot of market research asking various business owners about what problems they experience regarding productivity. Based on about 60 conversations with business owners, we have identified 5 main problems that business owners tend to deal with. 

The Top 5 Problems are:

1.) Distractions and trouble with focusing like loud workspace or environment, interruptions, etc.

2.) Constant task switching that leads to unclarity / the feeling of being busy and lack of time

3.) Endless discussions in meetings with no decisions being made

4.) Trouble getting a comprehensive overview of activities in the company

5.) Lack of workforce or difficulty to find employees fit for the company

What I want to know is if you’re experiencing those or if you feel like it’s not an issue for you, I’m curious as to how you solve it. If you’re experiencing it then I would love to hear how it applies in your situation.

 

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To contact us or get more info, please visit https://the5options.com/sbr

One of the most difficult things for foreigners who decide to start a new life in Denmark is to find friends and build a social life. Interestingly, for Max and Bauti, this doesn't seem to be an issue at all. And that's probably because instead of waiting for "things to happen" they took the initiative and built an inclusive (and pretty exciting) community in Denmark themselves.

What is SIAMO STREET? On the surface, it may seem like just another sports club in Denmark, where guys meet to play football. Except, that it happens on the street. And you don't need a team to join. And you don't need to be a guy. Or a Dane. Or, as a matter of fact, you don't even need to know how to play football in the first place. 

So, what is SIAMO STREET?

Tune in and find out!

For show notes and more details about the episode, please visit https://the5options.com

Today we mix things up a little! As Anna is not in the studio, Stine Bjerre takes the co-host seat and interviews Marta on the topic of community building.

Can you create a thriving community without a leader?

Well, that question is up for discussion in today’s episode of Small Business Rising.

Since Anna is not present with us in the studio, we've decided to twist things a little and put Marta in the red seat. 

We are diving into the questions of the purpose and need of community. What does it look like in 2020? How important is common purpose and alignment of values in creating community? 

Marta shares from her own knowledge and experiences with starting and initiating communities. 

She shares her lessons and learnings, and why the ability to fail is important. 

Furthermore she tells us a bit about evolutionary organizations and what energy and intuition has to do with it all.

Here’s the book we referred to: “Reinventing Organizations” by Frederic Laloux

Curious? Then come join us in this conversation. Enjoy, and let us know what you think!

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 For show notes and more details about the episode, please visit https://the5options.com

This is one funky interview! We had so much fun in the studio with Irene Wong, as she turned out to be one of those guests who gives the most surprising and "out of the box" answers to rather standard questions.

Besides being hilarious and entertaining, Irene Wang is the founder and the owner of the internet shop handwritings.dk, that won this year Nordic Planner Society Award for the best online shop.  

Handwritings.dk offers - amongst others - everything you need to have in order to start journaling. And it’s interesting, because one may wonder: in the era of smartphones, tablets and digital communication, is writing things “by hand” even a thing anymore? 

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For show notes and more details about the episode, please visit https://the5options.com

Surprisingly, some research suggests that handwriting activates large regions of the brain responsible for thinking, language, healing and working memory, while others claim that once you write something down it will definitely come true.

If that’s so, why do schools and workplaces are becoming more and more digital with almost no opportunities to use our hands for writing anymore? Are we entering an era of reverse evolution? And how can we start handwriting again? Stay with us for the next hour and find out!