The Climb with Cherie Clonan

You dialled into episode 1 where Cherie talked about TDP's no-good-very-bad-year... but episode 2 is where we talk about how Cherie - quite literally - CLIMBED her way out of that no-good-very-bad-year.

This year [21/22FY] was that one point in TDP's x11 year history where even Cherie, wired for perpetual optimism, says this was the moment where she thought to herself: the only reason I'm not closing this business right now... is because I *actually* can't afford to.

And so she persisted, and TDP went on to hit its best EVER season thanks to that persistence... and we are breaking it *ALL* down in this episode.

From half a million dollars down, to
BEST YEAR IN BUSINESS > EVER

This episode was proudly sponsored by Mel Browne Money.

Key Takeaways: 

• Why a full business audit is the first step in a business turnaround 
•  How business clarity can help a founder rebuild confidence and fall back in love with their business 
•  Why cutting operational expenses can improve profitability faster than chasing more revenue 
•  The hard truth about people-pleasing leadership and the courage to be disliked in business recovery 
•  Why financial visibility and founder-friendly reporting matter when making tough business decisions 
•  Why systems, operations, and workplace culture matter more than revenue growth alone 
•  How hiring for kind genius, not just talent, can strengthen a service-based business 
•  Why business recovery happens one good decision at a time, not through hope alone 

Hosted by Cherie Clonan [@cherie_thedigitalpicnic] and co-hosted and produced by Steph Clifford [@stephssocials] 

Follow us on Instagram @theclimbpod_

Check out our agency @thedigitalpicnic > we teach digital marketing, and we can manage yours, too. 

76% of your clients vanish in a day. Your team is looking at you through a Zoom screen for reassurance. You can do the maths and you know the runway is short, but you still have to lead. That’s where we start Episode 1 of The Climb, as Cherie tells the raw story of The Digital Picnic’s darkest stretch through COVID and beyond, and why it became the “no good, very bad year” that actually lasted years.

We talk cashflow shocks, founder stress, and what it’s like to carry a pandemic in 30 different ways for a team that’s lonely, burnt out, and stretched thin. Cherie owns the leadership mistakes too: people pleasing, avoiding hard conversations, a feedback culture that turns explosive, and the slow erosion of accountability that quietly poisons company culture.

Then the numbers get real. We unpack delayed financial advice, the e-learning boom, the half-million-dollar course built from a walk-in wardrobe, and the money mindset decisions that stopped that win from becoming true stability. By 2022, Cherie is half a million dollars down, tries to close the business, realises she can’t even afford to shut it, and attempts a sale that falls apart. The turning point is brutal and empowering: nobody is coming to save you.

If you’re a founder, leader, or marketer building a business, this is a clear-eyed look at resilience, financial management, accountability, and the cost of delaying tough decisions.

This episode was proudly sponsored by Mel Browne Money.

Key Takeaways: 

• Founder honesty matters, but so does financial transparency
• People-pleasing leadership can damage business culture
• Poor financial visibility makes bad decisions worse
• Revenue growth does not fix broken operations
• Founder burnout is a business risk, not a personal weakness
• Delaying hard decisions usually makes the outcome worse
• Nobody is coming to save your business
• Values still matter, even in the worst seasons

Hosted by Cherie Clonan [@cherie_thedigitalpicnic] and co-hosted and produced by Steph Clifford [@stephssocials] 

Follow us on Instagram @theclimbpod_

Check out our agency @thedigitalpicnic > we teach digital marketing, and we can manage yours, too. 

Welcome to The Climb, a podcast about the messy, brilliant, relentless journey of building something meaningful.

For more than a decade at The Digital Picnic, Cherie has had the privilege of shaping other people’s climbs... helping brands, teams, and leaders grow in ways that actually last.

Now, after close to x2 decades working in marketing and leadership, she's turning the mic around to focus on the thing she's most obsessed with: real, honest stories about climb.

This podcast is where we talk honestly about the three things Cherie lives and breathes: marketing education, founderhood, and neurodivergent leadership.

As an introvert who believes in adding value, not noise, every 40-minute conversation is built to respect your time and actually teach you something useful. 

Hosted by Cherie Clonan [@cherie_thedigitalpicnic] and co-hosted and produced by Steph Clifford [@stephssocials] 

Follow us on Instagram @theclimbpod_

Check out our agency @thedigitalpicnic > we teach digital marketing, and we can manage yours, too.