Smashing Self-Employment - Marketing and productivity help if you're self-employed.

In this episode we interview Angela Couch who is a Career Coach in Auckland (www.careerinspiration.nz).

Angela shares her key lessons after 2 years in self-employment.

These include:

Angela works with professionals and managers and can be found here :

https://careerinspiration.nz/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-couch-career-coach/

LET'S CONNECT:

Web: smashingselfemployment.com

Insta: @smashingselfemployment

LinkedIn: @karlcraigwest

Get the Smashing Self-Employment book: https://amzn.to/2GiBBEL

This episode is sponsored by Social Media Me.

Social Media Me is an online community which is home to easy, online courses. Their course, Facebook Ads for Small

No more expensive marketing agencies, this course has been designed for small businesses, to grow their business

Find out more here:

We all get the same number of hours in a day.

But how is that some people manage to get more done than others?

Well, it's not about managing time.

It's all about managing you and what you do.

The key is to aim towards good working habits and your own personal productivity.

The main points are:

LET'S CONNECT:

Web: smashingselfemployment.com

Insta: @smashingselfemployment

LinkedIn :@karlcraigwest

Get

This episode is sponsored by Social

Social Media Me is an online community which is home to easy, online courses. Their course, Facebook Ads for Small Businesses will help teach you everything you need to know in order to set up, run and analyse your own Facebook Ads.

No more expensive marketing agencies, this course has been designed for small businesses, to grow their business

Find out more here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3uFjH8k⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Being self-employed isn't always easy. And the main reason it's not easy is because you have to be multi-skilled.

You have to get good at marketing, sales, book-keeping, personal organisation, cash-flow management and work-life balance.

As well as being able to deliver the products or services you're offering.

I've even heard it said that you need to be nearly as good at marketing as you do the thing you're selling.

But here's the key thing:

If you can't get the hang of all this then self-employment is going to be a struggle and your success will be limited.

However, the good news is that almost all of the above things are learnable.

You may not start with these skills but you have no excuse to not learn them.

And then do them until you can afford to outsource them.

So, if you're struggling in self-employment, have a think about what you need to learn or change to make things better.

This episode explains.

LET'S CONNECT:

Web: smashingselfemployment.com

Insta: @smashingselfemployment

LinkedIn: @karlcraigwest

Get the Smashing Self-Employment book : https://amzn.to/2GiBBEL

This episode is sponsored by Social Media Me.

Social Media Me is an online community which is home to easy, online courses. Their course, Facebook Ads for Small Businesses will help teach you everything you need to know in order to set up, run and analyse your own Facebook Ads.

No more expensive marketing agencies, this course has been designed for small businesses, to grow their business themselves. The course is 100% online, and you can watch and re-watch videos as many times as you like. It's a one-fee too, so once you've paid, there's nothing to worry about. Most members make that money back on their first campaign too!

Find out more here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3uFjH8k⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Consistent marketing leads to consistent results. So here's how to make your marketing more consistent and successful.

As it sits, fewer than 10% of self-employed people are consistent with their marketing and it's no small wonder that only a minority get meaningful results.

The key to fixing this is to develop a consistent marketing plan and implement it.

First you need to make time each day for marketing.

Without making time you'll struggle to get around to it.

Then you should plan your marketing so you know what you'll be doing on each day.

Finally, you need to monitor results so you know what's working and what's not.

LET'S CONNECT:

Web: ⁠⁠smashingselfemployment.com⁠⁠

Insta: ⁠⁠@smashingselfemployment⁠⁠

LinkedIn :⁠⁠@karlcraigwest⁠⁠

Get the Smashing Self-Employment book : ⁠⁠https://amzn.to/2GiBBEL⁠⁠

This episode is sponsored by Social Media Me.

Social Media Me is an online community which is home to easy, online courses. Their course, Facebook Ads for Small Businesses will help teach you everything you need to know in order to set up, run and analyse your own Facebook Ads.

No more expensive marketing agencies, this course has been designed for small businesses, to grow their business themselves. The course is 100% online, and you can watch and re-watch videos as many times as you like. It's a one-fee too, so once you've paid, there's nothing to worry about. Most members make that money back on their first campaign too!

Find out more here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3uFjH8k⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Outsourcing some aspects of your work is the only way you're going to be able to focus on the core aspects of your business.

As soon as you can, you should be handing your book-keeping over to a book-keeper (unless you're a book-keeper, of course).

You should also look to outsource admin work to a Virtual Assistant (VA) too.

After all, you didn't start your business to get bogged down by admin tasks.

Not only that, it's nearly impossible to grow a business on your own.

This means that if you want to grow your business you're going to have to get good at outsourcing or delegating as soon as possible.

So, this episode talks you through the key things to consider when looking to outsource or delegate some elements of your work.

LET'S CONNECT:

Web: ⁠smashingselfemployment.com⁠

Insta: ⁠@smashingselfemployment⁠

LinkedIn :⁠@karlcraigwest⁠

Get the Smashing Self-Employment book : ⁠https://amzn.to/2GiBBEL⁠

This episode is sponsored by Social Media Me.

Social Media Me is an online community which is home to easy, online courses. Their course, Facebook Ads for Small Businesses will help teach you everything you need to know in order to set up, run and analyse your own Facebook Ads.

No more expensive marketing agencies, this course has been designed for small businesses, to grow their business themselves. The course is 100% online, and you can watch and re-watch videos as many times as you like. It's a one-fee too, so once you've paid, there's nothing to worry about. Most members make that money back on their first campaign too!

Find out more here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3uFjH8k⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

You may have heard one (or more) of the following phrases:

However, none of these phrases have any impact until you start putting your learning into ACTION!

That's right, you need to do something with the knowledge you gain.

So, this episode gives you some ideas on how to make sure you're making the most of your knowledge and learnings.

LET'S CONNECT:

Web: smashingselfemployment.com

Insta: @smashingselfemployment

LinkedIn :@karlcraigwest

Get the Smashing Self-Employment book : https://amzn.to/2GiBBEL

This episode is sponsored by Social Media Me.

Social Media Me is an online community which is home to easy, online courses. Their course, Facebook Ads for Small Businesses will help teach you everything you need to know in order to set up, run and analyse your own Facebook Ads.

No more expensive marketing agencies, this course has been designed for small businesses, to grow their business themselves. The course is 100% online, and you can watch and re-watch videos as many times as you like. It's a one-fee too, so once you've paid, there's nothing to worry about. Most members make that money back on their first campaign too!

Find out more here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3uFjH8k⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

I'm often asked the question "Does email marketing still work?".

And my resounding answer is usually "YES!"

But...

There's always a 'but'.

You have to make it relevant to your target audience and not just keep bombarding them with 'buy my stuff' messages.

Even that last sentence comes with a 'but...'

You see, if you're in e-commerce then email marketing is an absolutely essential marketing tool. And you'd be a fool to ignore this.

However, if you sell services then email marketing is still a high-priority marketing activity.

And this is because it directly reaches your target audience in a way that few other channels can.

Even better still is that email marketing is dirt cheap and can have a huge return on investment when used well.

So, email marketing is not dead. It's very much alive.

Listen to this episode and find out more.

LET'S CONNECT:

Web: smashingselfemployment.com

Insta: @smashingselfemployment

LinkedIn :@karlcraigwest

Get the Smashing Self-Employment book : https://amzn.to/2GiBBEL

This episode is sponsored by Social Media Me.

Social Media Me is an online community which is home to easy, online courses. Their course, Facebook Ads for Small Businesses will help teach you everything you need to know in order to set up, run and analyse your own Facebook Ads.

No more expensive marketing agencies, this course has been designed for small businesses, to grow their business themselves. The course is 100% online, and you can watch and re-watch videos as many times as you like. It's a one-fee too, so once you've paid, there's nothing to worry about. Most members make that money back on their first campaign too!

Find out more here: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3uFjH8k⁠⁠⁠⁠

When you're self-employed (or running a small business) the mission is to make a profit.

If there's no profit then you have a hobby, not a business.

And the way to profit is to make sure you're not spending money on stuff you don't need and that, eventually, you bring in far more than you spend.

Key points:

LET'S CONNECT:

Web: ⁠⁠smashingselfemployment.com⁠⁠

Insta: ⁠⁠@smashingselfemployment⁠⁠

LinkedIn :⁠⁠@karlcraigwest⁠⁠

Get the Smashing Self-Employment book : ⁠⁠https://amzn.to/2GiBBEL⁠⁠

This episode is sponsored by Social Media Me.

Social Media Me is an online community which is home to easy, online courses. Their course, Facebook Ads for Small Businesses will help teach you everything you need to know in order to set up, run and analyse your own Facebook Ads.

No more expensive marketing agencies, this course has been designed for small businesses, to grow their business themselves. The course is 100% online, and you can watch and re-watch videos as many times as you like. It's a one-fee too, so once you've paid, there's nothing to worry about. Most members make that money back on their first campaign too!

Find out more here: ⁠⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3uFjH8k⁠⁠⁠

Even if you're working from your kitchen table, with a tiny business, it's still important to have a website, and here's why:

LET'S CONNECT:

Web: ⁠smashingselfemployment.com⁠

Insta: ⁠@smashingselfemployment⁠

LinkedIn :⁠@karlcraigwest⁠

Get the Smashing Self-Employment book : ⁠https://amzn.to/2GiBBEL⁠

This episode is sponsored by Social Media Me.

Social Media Me is an online community which is home to easy, online courses. Their course, Facebook Ads for Small Businesses will help teach you everything you need to know in order to set up, run and analyse your own Facebook Ads.

No more expensive marketing agencies, this course has been designed for small businesses, to grow their business themselves. The course is 100% online, and you can watch and re-watch videos as many times as you like. It's a one-fee too, so once you've paid, there's nothing to worry about. Most members make that money back on their first campaign too!

Find out more here: ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3uFjH8k⁠⁠

Have you ever contacted a company and they didn't respond?

Here in New Zealand this is very common, even if you're trying to spend some money.

I can only guess that those companies are making too much money or they simply don't give a damn.

But here's the thing:

Even if they're the best at what they do, I will never try to do business with them again.

As far as I'm concerned, their reputation is garbage.

Not only that but I've told quite a few people about their lack of response.

It's not even poor 'customer service' since the 'service' doesn't exist.

So, do you and your business a huge favour and make sure you follow-up with everyone who contacts you. Even if just to say 'no thanks'.

This episode talks you through how to make this work.

LET'S CONNECT:

Web: smashingselfemployment.com

Insta: @smashingselfemployment

LinkedIn :@karlcraigwest

Get the Smashing Self-Employment book : https://amzn.to/2GiBBEL

This episode is sponsored by Social Media Me where you can learn how to grow your small business with Facebook ads. Find out more here: https://bit.ly/3uFjH8k

Social Media Me is an online community home to easy, online courses. Their course, Facebook Ads for Small Businesses will help teach you everything you need to know in order to set up, run and analyse your own Facebook Ads.

No more expensive marketing agencies, this course has been designed for small businesses in mind, to grow their business themselvesThe course is 100% online, and you can watch and re-watch videos as many times as you like. It's a one-fee too, so once you've paid, there's nothing to worry about. Most members make that money back on their first campaign too!