Staying Solo | Business Strategy for Service Providers, Creatives and Consultants

If you're a fan of the BS-Free Service Business Show, check out Duped. Duped is a limited series podcast hosted by myself and Dr. Michelle Mazur, where we talk about the dark side of online business that you need to know about, and more importantly, how to protect yourself from falling prey to these tactics and tricks.

_____

Have you noticed that "ethical" has become the buzzword-du-jour in the 2021 online business world?Listen. Running an ethical business is important, but doing that can seem pretty challenging when so much of what we've been taught about sales and marketing is contrary to ethical practices.

There's also now a whole cohort of biz owners hopping on the bandwagon and *saying* they're ethical when they are changing a thing about how they do business. So it's pretty clear that label themselves as such are ethical in name only.

This is the newest way celebrity entrepreneurs are duping their customers, and that's what we are breaking down on this episode of Duped.

Learn more about Duped at duped.online

Hands up if you've ever been told you need to "hustle harder".

Keep your hands up if reading makes you want to have a nap, because the idea of hustling is downright exhausting.

The relentless message around needing to hustle is contrary to why we ever started a business.

What we really need and want is more *freedom* with our time.

That's why I invited my guest Becca Rich, a holistic time management strategist and coach, to discuss the idea of time freedom and so much more.

Get the inside scoop here: smallbusinessboss.co/time-freedom

"I make 7 figures and you can too! All you need is my proven system!"

Bet you've seen this sort of claim so many times you've lost count and it's totally eye roll worthy. The online business world is full of people making BIG income claims. And as the years pass, these claims seem to continuously escalate. First it was 5 figures, then it was 6, and now we're at 7 or 8 figures.

But you know what? The reality of the online business world is that most people are NOT making this kind of money. They're simply not. Even worse, these claims generally have little to no evidence to back them up. But people see these numbers and feel like they're failing.

In this episode we're diving into what you, as a consumer, need to know about income claim marketing.

Get the inside scoop: https://smallbusinessboss.co/income-claim-marketing/

Have you ever had a question and thought "hmmm, I wish there was another biz owner I could ask about this"?

Over the past year I've had a great time interacting and answering. questions over on Instagram. And that's exactly why I decided to bring those questions to the podcast and share them all with you.

In this episode, I'm answering listener questions from how to deal with procrastination to what to do about pricing to if wanting to burn down your business is normal.

Get the inside scoop:

smallbusinessboss.co/frequently-asked-questions

Have you ever been given the advice that you need to work on your visibility as a business owner?

While on the surface this is true, one of the things that holds many people back is feeling that visibility = an extroverted, loud, in-your-face approach.

Totally not my style, and probably not yours either. And that's okay! Because we do, in fact, have alternatives.

In this episode, guest Mai-kee Tsang joins me to talk about her approach to visibility, and pitching yourself as a guest on podcasts.

Get the inside scoop:

smallbusinessboss.co/sustainable-visibility

One of the most common questions I get asked is about how much people should be paying their employees or contractors.

While the actual amount will always vary depending on the role, having a strategy for determining what rates to offer is critical.An important part of running an ethical online business is about NOT trying to get the largest amount of work for the least amount of money. It's time to put people before profits and not listen to the exploitative hiring BS celebrity entrepreneurs teach.

In this episode, we're diving into what you need to know about paying your team.

Get the inside scoop:

smallbusinessboss.co/paying-your-team

When you're trying to figure out who to trust online, you can't just look for something sleazy or sketchy as a sign that you should skip doing business with someone. It's much more complex and nuanced than looking at the FB ad with a guy on a yacht and thinking, next.

It's much more complicated, and sometimes a scammer looks and acts like your BFF or your fave academic researcher. And their marketing is designed to lure you with that image and act.

In this episode, we're diving into the world of celebrity entrepreneurship with fresh updates for 2021.

Get the inside scoop:

smallbusinessboss.co/2021-celebrity-entrepreneur

Have you ever felt so overwhelmed in your biz that you're ready to light a match and burn the whole thing to the ground? 🔥

Been there, done that.

The reality of being of a biz owner is that even when things seem to be going great, the tide can turn quickly. Even something awesome like bringing a client onboard can start to make you feel like you're falling apart at the seams if you don't actually have enough support to get all the work done.

So how do we turn it around so we don't end up in that position in the first place?

It starts with capacity planning, where you get a better handle on the supply and demand of your business. In this episode of the BS-Free Service Business podcast, I'm giving you a crash course on the basics of capacity planning.

Get the inside scoop:

smallbusinessboss.co/capacity-planning

Language is always evolving, and with that, so should our marketing and copywriting.

Why? Because the words we choose matter.If we want to convey the message that our business is inclusive, diverse and equitable, then the language we use needs to reflect that.

That's exactly why in this episode, Nailah King joins me to talk about inclusive copywriting including what it is, and how to get started on being more inclusive with your copy.

Get the inside scoop:

smallbusinessboss.co/inclusive-copywriting

How many times have you heard the advice that you need to focus on scaling your service business?

While on the surface telling someone to work on growing their business doesn't seem like bad advice, the reality is that it's not always time for growth. Being profitable doesn't automatically mean you have to double or triple in size.

In this episode, we're going to dig into how to really build a small, simple and sustainable service business. One that's profitable and that doesn't drive you into the ground.

Get the inside scoop: smallbusinessboss.co/profitable-service-business