Mary-Clare Switz explains why getting the financial foundations of an expert business right from day one can determine whether it succeeds or fails.

A registered BAS Agent with more than 40 years of experience, Mary-Clare has been running her own bookkeeping practice for over a decade, helping around 70 clients across industries from hospitality to trades.

The conversation covers why Xero gives small business owners real-time financial visibility, common mistakes including miscoding expenses and inappropriate home office deductions, and how the right software stack — including document capture apps that get tradies snapping receipts — prevents payroll and cash flow problems.

She also explains why she tells every new client to set up their business as if they are ready to sell it tomorrow.

Mentions: Xero accounting software.

Connect with Mary-Clare LinkedIn: Mary-Clare Switz

Wisepreneurs explores how independent professionals turn accumulated expertise into sustainable practice.

Support the show

Connect with Nigel Rawlins
Website: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelrawlins/

Free assessments for independent professionals: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/field-guides/

The Wisepreneur newsletter, practical thinking for experienced independent professionals, every Tuesday: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/newsletter

Support the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2311675/supporters/new

Lisa-Marie Cabrelli turned corporate expertise into a location-independent eCommerce company in 2006, starting with $500 and a book on building a Yahoo Store, then retiring young when she sold the multi-million dollar business.

Lisa-Marie built her eCommerce business through early Google SEO, identifying an underserved niche in American Girl doll accessories. Her background as a corporate business systems analyst directly informs her process engineering approach for solopreneurs.

Lisa-Marie also covers her seven published novels, her PhD in Literature, and her Magical Academic Note Taking course for Roam Research, alongside her coaching work helping women start location-independent businesses and her Ultimate Life Planning framework based on choice agency.

Mentions and references: Roam Research. Evernote. Magical Academic Note Taking course. Ultimate Life Planning course.

Connect with Lisa-Marie: Amazon author page: Lisa-Marie Cabrelli | Instagram: @laptoplifelisa

Wisepreneurs explores how women over 50 monetise expertise and build sustainable solopreneur practice.

Support the show

Connect with Nigel Rawlins
Website: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelrawlins/

Free assessments for independent professionals: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/field-guides/

The Wisepreneur newsletter, practical thinking for experienced independent professionals, every Tuesday: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/newsletter

Support the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2311675/supporters/new

Mark Goulston turned 25 years of expertise with suicidal patients into surgical empathy, a listening method deeper than clinical protocol that became his book Just Listen, translated into 28 languages.

Mark explains why most people listen to respond rather than to understand, and what changes when you listen for what someone is actually searching for beneath the words. He covers the difference between clinical empathy and surgical empathy, why building genuine trust is rare in professional settings, and how the same listening discipline he used with suicidal patients applies directly to coaching executives, entrepreneurs, and independent professionals. 

The episode includes his framework for turning a business conversation into a relationship of service, and why seeing the potential in someone, the Michelangelo Mindset, is as relevant to business practice as it is to psychiatry.

Wisepreneurs explores how women over 50 monetize expertise and build sustainable solopreneur practice. 

Mark Goulston died on 30 December 2023. This conversation, originally released July 2022, was recorded twice. The first session I forgot to press record. Without hesitation, Mark agreed to do it again the following week. That is exactly who he was. If you have not heard this episode, now is the time. 

May his memory be a blessing.

Mark's books are available on Amazon

Support the show

Connect with Nigel Rawlins
Website: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelrawlins/

Free assessments for independent professionals: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/field-guides/

The Wisepreneur newsletter, practical thinking for experienced independent professionals, every Tuesday: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/newsletter

Support the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2311675/supporters/new

Karen Wickre worked at Google and Twitter before writing Taking the Work out of Networking, her guide to building genuine connections without transactional pressure.

Karen explains why networking does not have to feel like work. Drawing from her Silicon Valley career and her current life as a self-employed corporate editor and writer in her 70s, she shares practical approaches to maintaining loose-touch relationships that serve personal and professional needs alike.

Her framework treats networking as connecting for a whole range of human needs, not just career advancement.

Wisepreneurs explores how women over 50 monetize expertise and build sustainable solopreneur practice.

Book: Taking the Work out of Networking (karenwickre.com/book)
Books mentioned: Wisdom at Work by Chip Conley, Life is in the Transitions by Bruce Feiler

Connect with Karen Wickre

website: www.karenwickre.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karenwickre/

Support the show

Connect with Nigel Rawlins
Website: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelrawlins/

Free assessments for independent professionals: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/field-guides/

The Wisepreneur newsletter, practical thinking for experienced independent professionals, every Tuesday: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/newsletter

Support the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2311675/supporters/new

Laetitia Vitaud, French writer, speaker and Future of Work commentator, brings a feminist perspective to professional reinvention and the changing nature of careers. In this conversation, she explains how the old Fordist job contract has unbundled, leaving workers to rebuild security, identity and purpose on their own terms.

Laetitia explores the motherhood penalty across countries, from Denmark's 20 per cent gap to Germany's staggering 62 per cent, and how COVID's "shecession" exposed the unequal distribution of paid and unpaid work. 

She discusses why women over 50 often find the labour market unwelcoming and turn to self-employment, working with former employers as suppliers rather than subordinates.

Her advice for navigating a multi-stage career centres on four capabilities: financial literacy and long-term thinking, building diverse professional networks, managing identity transitions through what she calls the "immigrant mindset", and developing your own narrative across career changes.

Wisepreneurs explores how women over 50 monetise expertise and build sustainable solopreneur practice.

website https://laetitiavitaud.com

Newsletter on Substack https://laetitiaatwork.substack.com/

Support the show

Connect with Nigel Rawlins
Website: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelrawlins/

Free assessments for independent professionals: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/field-guides/

The Wisepreneur newsletter, practical thinking for experienced independent professionals, every Tuesday: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/newsletter

Support the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2311675/supporters/new

Jane Hudson turned a career in Australian Broadway productions into expertise in learning and development, building an independent L&D practice from regional Victoria specialising in regulatory training.

Jane shares how the discipline and communication skills from a performing arts career translated into corporate training work, and what prompted her move from organisational employment to running her own practice. 

She discusses how she sees the L&D field evolving, what self-employment looks like for an L&D specialist without a large consultancy behind them, and the practical realities of finding clients and delivering training independently. 

This first appearance on Wisepreneurs captures the early stage of Jane's independent journey, before she returns 50 episodes later to share what building the practice actually taught her.

Wisepreneurs explores how women over 50 monetize expertise and build sustainable solopreneur practice.

You can find Jane's website here https://www.jbasslearning.com.au/

Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-hudson/

Twitter https://twitter.com/jbasslearning

Support the show

Connect with Nigel Rawlins
Website: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelrawlins/

Free assessments for independent professionals: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/field-guides/

The Wisepreneur newsletter, practical thinking for experienced independent professionals, every Tuesday: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/newsletter

Support the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2311675/supporters/new

In this 4th Wisepreneurs Podcast episode, I talk with Meredith Fuller, now retired psychologist, author, playwright and career counsellor with over 30 years of experience. We talk about work in light of COVID, careers, and why you might like to explore self-employment or stay where you are.

You can learn more about Meredith at https://meredithfuller.com.au/

Support the show

Connect with Nigel Rawlins
Website: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelrawlins/

Free assessments for independent professionals: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/field-guides/

The Wisepreneur newsletter, practical thinking for experienced independent professionals, every Tuesday: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/newsletter

Support the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2311675/supporters/new

Anthea Green navigated a career spanning Canberra public service, health sector CEO roles, hospital and aged care governance, and board leadership before founding Women Who Stand Up to help other women reach positions of responsibility.

Her path started with studying Buddhism at ANU, fell into student politics, and accelerated when Vice Chancellor Sir John Crawford told her: do not tell me what is wrong, tell me how to fix it. That lesson shaped decades of career independence across health planning, executive directorships, and board chairmanships in Sydney and Melbourne.

Anthea discusses self-doubt as a constant companion even at senior levels, why experienced women professionals still find themselves the only woman in the room, and how her work with Women Who Stand Up shares the stories and strategies that help women claim leadership roles they have already earned the capability to hold. F

or women entrepreneurs over 50 considering board positions or advisory roles as part of an independent professional practice, Anthea's path from institutional leadership to founding her own initiative demonstrates how accumulated expertise translates into new forms of authority.

Connect with Anthea: LinkedIn: Anthea Green 

Wisepreneurs explores how women over 50 monetise expertise and build sustainable solopreneur practice.

Support the show

Connect with Nigel Rawlins
Website: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelrawlins/

Free assessments for independent professionals: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/field-guides/

The Wisepreneur newsletter, practical thinking for experienced independent professionals, every Tuesday: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/newsletter

Support the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2311675/supporters/new

Meredith Fuller practised as a career counselling psychologist for over 30 years and explains why understanding yourself is the first step toward career independence after 50.

Meredith covers the traits that predict whether someone can successfully work for themselves, why past behaviour is the best predictor of future career behaviour, and how to assess your health, stickability, and delayed gratification capacity before making the leap.

The conversation includes practical questions for anyone considering self-employment: what would you get out of bed for, how many hours of satisfaction you need, and whether volunteer work builds the credibility to start over. Meredith also explains why women's homemaking and family management skills transfer directly to consulting and self-employment.

Connect with Meredith: meredithfuller.com.au

Wisepreneurs explores how independent professionals turn accumulated expertise into sustainable practice

Support the show

Connect with Nigel Rawlins
Website: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelrawlins/

Free assessments for independent professionals: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/field-guides/

The Wisepreneur newsletter, practical thinking for experienced independent professionals, every Tuesday: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/newsletter

Support the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2311675/supporters/new

Gail Greatorex spent 35 years in the federal public service, including 25 years leading product safety at the ACCC, before launching Product Safety Solutions as an independent consultant in 2012. 

In this episode, she shares how she turned deep regulatory expertise into a solo consulting practice covering training, expert witness work, and safety advocacy.

Gail explains how she built authority through content — writing over 80 blog articles, ebooks, and white papers in her first five years — and why she chose value-based pricing over hourly rates. 

She discusses the practical challenges of starting out, from insurance and intellectual property to finding her first clients through professional associations and volunteer committee work.

Her content strategy included a world-first white paper on 3D printer safety and sustained advocacy on button battery risks, establishing her as a go-to voice in product safety circles.

Wisepreneurs explores how independent professionals turn accumulated expertise into sustainable practice.

web https://productsafetysolutions.com.au/

Linkedin https://www.linkedin.com/in/gailgreatorex/

Support the show

Connect with Nigel Rawlins
Website: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigelrawlins/

Free assessments for independent professionals: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/field-guides/

The Wisepreneur newsletter, practical thinking for experienced independent professionals, every Tuesday: https://wisepreneurs.com.au/newsletter

Support the show: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2311675/supporters/new