You may have had someone steal your business or creative ideas. You may have stolen - or been accused of stealing - other people’s. In this episode, Annie Ridout talks through the concept of sharing ideas, and copying what others are doing. She shares her own experience of being accused of copying, and of people ‘borrowing’ ideas from her - both with and without permission. 

Annie Ridout launched her first business - The Early Hour - while looking after her one-year-old daughter full-time. As in: no weekday help with childcare. She has since had two more children and now runs The Robora around her three kids (aged six, three and 11-months). Fortunately, her husband Rich shares both the business workload and the childcare/domestic duties. But the baby still keeps Annie up at night so in this episode, she shares some truths about being a sleep-deprived mother and running a business. Along with tips for coping. And a few anecdotes about being a former thief. 

You might have a fantastic online course but unless you also have a marketing and sales strategy, it just won’t sell. In this episode, Annie Ridout and Richard Ridout discuss why some courses sell and others don’t, and offer a whole load of ideas for getting people to buy your online course. Including: testing the market, NOT being original, Facebook ads, brief 'funnels' chat, pricing and more. Plus, there's a rather endearing childhood anecdote from Richard, relayed in a West Country accent. Here's the online course we reference: Sell more spaces on your online course. 

We all know about IQ as a measure of intelligence. Some will have heard of EQ (emotional quotient). But the new intelligence metric is SQ: spiritual intelligence. This is a measure of how spiritually connected you are. And it’s what some of the world’s most successful business leaders use to up their game: Oprah Winfrey, Arianna Huffington, Richard Branson, Sheryl Sandberg. 

In this episode, Annie Ridout explains what it means to be spiritually intelligent and offers tools for incorporating spiritual practices into your work-life. 

By raising her own SQ, Annie has managed to secure two book deals, commissions from the Guardian, Grazia, Telegraph, Stylist and more. She’s spoken on Woman’s Hour and sat alongside celebrities on live panels. She’s also grown a six-figure online business from scratch, in a year, while raising three young children. She leads a fulfilling, exciting life - and this is down to the spiritual practices she incorporates into her every working day. Now, she’s ready to share them with you…

Growing a mailing list may be important. But not as important as the emails you send out. In this episode, Annie Ridout talks subject lines that will make people open the email, then content that will be exciting, not annoying, for people to receive.

Once you've nailed your email content, this is such a good way to convert customers. So it's worth getting it right.

Recommended email lists to sign up to: Sophia Matveeva, Otegha Uwagba and Harriet Minter. Plus any others you come across that cover your areas of interest. 

In the first ever episode of The Robora podcast, host Annie Ridout discusses going from being a 10-year-old window cleaner to freelance mum (not, initially, her choice) and on to running a six-figure online business with her husband, Rich.