The Kate Toon Podcast

Staying healthy when the world is falling apart around you can be difficult. Getting your yoga kit out, or making a green smoothie feels like the least of your priorities when you’re struggling to home school, save money and make sense of this crazy world we are living in.
So in this episode, I want to share some of the ways I’ve been trying to stay healthy, laughable though they are, and talk to two of the healthiest, merriest people I know, and get their tips on staying healthy when everything is a little bit crazy.

These days if we’re not being told to pivot, we’re being told to scale.
A thousand brush script font memes bleat at us that bigger is better, dream big, don’t think small.

But what’s wrong with small?
Is the disease of more really just creating an ‘all stick no carrot’ approach to business?
GIving us summit after summit to reach.

And a mountain of achievements that we’ll never ever scale.

In this episode I’m talking about how I’ve scaled my business without really scaling it at all, and talking to my special guest entrepreneur Tina Tower, about her approach to scaling.0

I try to be a positive person. But it doesn’t come naturally to me.
Firstly I’m British and we tend to have a dark sense of humour.
I was raised on a diet of The Smiths,  bleak winters, and sarcasm.

Snide is my natural state, and I’ve spent a lot of this crisis period expressing myself in the form of snarky memes.
But today I feel an overwhelming blurt of positivity.
Of seeing the good in all this badness.
And I wanted to share that with you today dear listeners.

I’ll be honest, I’ve never been particularly good at self-care.
I’m a burned chop kind of person - even though I’m a veggo.
Everyone else comes first.

Many a well-intentioned plan to head to the pool has been hindered by a sad-eyed dog wanting a walk.
That meditation time is often swapped to help one of my Facebook group members.
And my green smoothie is brown and full of caffeine.
And now it’s even worse. The few self-care options I loved, pool, massage, cinema, have all gone out the window, so today we’re chatting about how to look after yourself in a crisis.

My episodes so far have mostly been about businesses.
But the truth is many of us are now juggling business with a whole lot more parenting than we’re used to.

With school shut, we have to not only plan our busy day but plan stuff for the kid or kids too.

And it’s hard.
Managing your emotions, dealing with their disappointments, finding endless activities, grappling Google Classroom, possible partner pissedoffidness and just generally trying to stay positive when you feel like sticking your head in a bucket of wine.

Today I’ll be sharing some of my experiences and the ways I’m coping, and talking to my expert Jodie Thornton to get her expert tips on parenting during tough times.

I still consider myself a freelancer.

But maybe I’m not.
I looked it up.
First definition: a person who works freelance.

Essentially, a freelance job is one where a person works for themselves, rather than for a company. 

So even though I have a company, I’m the only employee, and I’m therefore self-employed?
Confused? Yep me too.

But I identify as a freelancer.
I spent the hard years working to promote my business and getting tumbleweeds. Riding the rollercoaster of feast and famine.
The sheer joy of winning the job, the sheer horror of having to do it.

The PITA clients, the late payers, the panic at tax time. The loneliness, the comparison, the endless need to motivate yourself.

Add all that to Covid19 and well it must be a bit shit.
So today we’re talking about overcoming freelancer fears. And I have a special Guest Bek Lambert, the founder of the Freelance Jungle to help us find our mojo and maintain a vaguely positive mindset.

Some of us have a little extra time on our hands right now.

(In truth, some of us have eff all time but let’s not focus on that.)

While you’re waiting for the world to reboot, perhaps you could spend some time focusing on your biggest business asset:

Your website.

I’ve reviewed nearly a thousand websites in my time as a digital producer, copywriter and now as head Google Licker at The Recipe for SEO Success.

And I see the same issues coming up again and again.

In this episode, with special guest Australia’s favourite WordPress Developer (Tony Cosentino), I’ll share my top tips.

Whether times are good or bad, there’s one thing that always comes first in business.
Your customers.

And the ones that matter most are the loyal ones.
When times get tough it’s more likely that the long term customers will stick with you, the ones you’ve nurtured and built a relationship with.
In this tricky time, winning new customers isn’t going to be easy (although of course it is possible).
So our attention should focus on our existing customers.
In this episode I’m going to ask, how can we give back to our customers, support them, reward them and encourage them to stick with us.
And how can we do this without bankrupting ourselves, or burning out.

I’ll be talking to my business hero Rand Fishkin in the USA to find out how he’s coping with the crisis and get his thoughts on great customer love.

DO ONE THING WELL?
ERM, NOPE.
​For so long, we’ve been sold the mantra of doing one thing well.
We need to specialise.
To niche.
To stay in our lane.
And avoid Shiny Object Syndrome at all costs.
But what if there was a different way?
I’ve spent the last few years diversifying my income, and actively following Shiny objects.
But I’m judicious, there is method to my madness. In this episode I’ll tell you how I choose them, and when I lose them.

My special guest is the fabulous Robert Gerrish of Flying Solo fame. His voice is like butter melting on wholewheat toast. Love his work.