How to Market Your Business in a Relevant Way in 2020 One of the questions I get asked a lot by clients and students, as well as one of the areas I see a lot of confusion around in the small business marketing place, is: “What is the difference between Marketing and Promotion?” and “Should […]
Wondering if Blogging is Worth it for Your Business? This will help you decide… So, you’ve heard that blogging could be a good thing for your business. But, that sounds like just another thing to clutter up your endless to-do list, am I right? I get it.This is a problem many small business owners face, […]
Wondering Why Your Website Isn’t Doing What You Want it To? Find out Using the Free Tool of The Week: Google Analytics A common frustration I hear from Business Owners and Entrepreneurs is that they’re unhappy with how their website is performing. But, when I question them in more detail, they don’t know their number […]
LEAD MAGNETS: Do you REALLY need one? This will help you decide… Note: This article is article 4 of our ‘Optimise Your Online Presence’ Month in the 12-Month Business Growth Challenge. You may want to go back and read the previous 3 articles first, or, you can read this as a stand-alone article to help […]
Why Your Business NEEDS SEO in 2020 This month in our 12-Month Business Growth Challenge, we’re looking at Optimising Your Online Presence as one of the foundations to your business success. Here’s a recap of why it’s important: Our online presence is the most easily accessible digital shop window we have – people can use […]
How to Improve Your Website so it Serves You in Your Business in 2020 In my work as a business consultant, I see a lot of people who are frustrated with their website. It’s a source of frustration for me to see so many entrepreneurs and business owners struggle with their website because a website […]
The 6 Online Channels You Should Optimise For Business Growth This month in the Free 12-Month Business Growth Challenge, we’re looking at the importance of optimising your online presence. I’m going to be bold here and say that I believe this process is hugely important to go through for your business AT MINIMUM once per […]
The 3 Fundamentals of Business Success Eager to have your best year in business ever in 2020? Awesome! Here are the 3 most essential ingredients for your business success this year: Business Fundamental 1: Mindset WTF is Mindset I hear you ask? Mindset is becoming one of those terms that everybody uses… There’s ‘Business Mindset, […]
Turn your website visitors into leads using Thrive Leads I’m often asked my favourite app for creating Lead Magnets, so this week’s #appoftheweek answers that question for you. If you’re a WordPress User, then my favourite lead app is Thrive Leads. I’ve used it on my own website for years, and used it with dozens […]
5 Things You Can Do To Save Money in Your Small Business Running your business on a shoestring budget? You’re not alone. It’s an age-old small business challenge. That’s why at least 30% of businesses go out of business because they run out of money. Some business expenses are unavoidable. But here are 5 quick […]
Make tracking your time, your team’s time, and invoicing a breeze using Harvest App This month we’ve been looking at apps and tools that can make working as a freelancer and small team more efficient. So far, we’ve explored the following tools: Managing time/projects efficiently using: Ora and/or TrelloManaging communication with clients and team members: […]
Keep your accounts secure using Lastpass Do you have the same password for just about everything? OR Do you have to share passwords with members of your team, and you want to ensure you do this in a secure way? If you answered yes to either of those questions, this week’s app of the […]
6 Easy Steps to Creating a Video Training Centre (FOR FREE!!!) One area that I know busy entrepreneurs and small business owners can really struggle with, is getting things out of their head to effectively delegate them to others. But, in order to grow, delegating tasks is not optional – it’s essential. So, today I […]
Streamline your communication using Slack One of the main reasons teams struggle is lack of communication. A few weeks back, I showed you my favourite team project management tool of choice: #trello . Today I wanted to show you my favourite team communication tool of choice: #slack Slack is golden! Here are some of the […]
Three Top Tips to Successful Outsourcing Prior to founding The Helpful Academy, I was the Head of Training and Projects at New Zealand’s largest Virtual Assistant Company. It was my job to manage the project clients, find out what they needed, and make sure that happened. I also had my own set of ongoing clients […]
Create a Branded Email Signature with New Old Stamp This week’s app of the week was actually prompted by a conversation inside my Free Facebook Community – The Helpful Systems Academy. A few of the members had downloaded my Free Brand Checklist and asked me how important one of the suggestions was – about having […]
Make Branded Videos for your Social Media with Lumen 5 Video is one of the BEST ways for your audience to get to know you and your brand.But, many business owners aren’t using video at all in their social media.Why?I suspect because video is often seen as expensive or time-consuming to create, or, they don’t […]
Create strong branded content in a flash using Canva Want to create awesome graphics and files with ease? Then this week’s app of the week is for you! This month I’m teaching all about systematically creating a strong brand, so, for this week’s app I’ve chosen to feature canva.com. Because it’s my favourite app for […]
How to use Trello to efficiently run your business | App of the Week Could you use a productivity power-up in your business? Then check out this week’s #appoftheweek video, because it could be just the tool you’re looking for… This week I’m showing you one of my all-time most used tools: TrelloI would not even be […]
Your brand is so much more than a logo… “Your Brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room” – Jeff Bezos So, what do you want your brand to be known for? Here are 5 ways: Decide what you want your brand to be known for The fastest way […]
Plan your customer journey or funnel with ease using Funnelytics If you are looking to improve or create a Marketing Funnel OR improve your Customer Pathway, then this week’s #appoftheweek is for you my friend.This is one of my very favourites. It’s such a versatile tool, and better yet, it’s FREE! Check out the video for […]
Save time taking notes or transcribing with Otter This week’s app is really helpful for helping you save time taking meeting notes, or transcribing audio and video.Best of all, it’s another freebie! Video Transcript: Welcome to this week’s App of the Week. This week’s app is a brand new favourite of mine. It’s helped me […]
Save time giving instructions with Loom Who can be bothered typing out long emails with instructions/explanations, only to (often) have them misinterpreted anyway?Not me! I’m both a lazy typer AND a lazy reader. So, I’ve chosen this week’s app because it’s a great time saver and communication improver! Check out the video for full details.Let […]
10 ways to promote your business without being a sleaze Last time I wrote about the importance of having a Promotion Plan so that you’re focused on promoting a specific product/service for a specific time period, to achieve your revenue goal. That is step 1 of promotion – make a plan. But, after […]
What the heck a Promotion Plan is and why your business needs one One of the things that has surprised me the most about the results that people are getting in their BOSS Health Reports, is the number of businesses that don’t have Sales or Marketing Plans. What’s NOT surprising, however, is that I […]
7 Things Every Useful Action Plan Needs Welcome back! This is the second post in my two-part series: ‘How to design a plan you’ll actually use’. Last time we looked at all of the different plans to help you decide what your business actually NEEDS in the way of a plan (and therefore one […]
How to design a business plan you’ll actually USE! If you’ve been in business long, chances are that you’ve had (or heard of) the experience of writing a Business Plan, only to have it filed in the bottom of a drawer never to see the light of day again. I know I have. […]
How to work out what to improve in your business first (when there are a 1000 signs pointing in different directions) Within your business, there are a TON of moving parts… You’ve got that invoice from Bob to chase up, that Facebook Ad to write about your next promo, booking that appointment with […]
6 Ways to Supercharge Your Productivity: There is nothing quite like becoming an Entrepreneur to really test your self-control and productivity. Especially in the early days of business and if you work from home. (Or, if you’re juggling running the business around your family!) All of a sudden you’re technically the BOSS of your […]
3 Leading Ways to Boost your Sales and Hear more Cha-ching! This week, I’ve noticed more than ever a trend in the questions being asked within the groups I’m in… They’ve varied in how they’ve been posed, but really, they’ve all boiled down to one question: “How can I get more people buying […]
7 ways to avoid getting ‘snowed in’* by your business AKA that overwhelmed feeling that won’t go away! Throughout my networks, I regularly meet entrepreneurs and small business owners who are feeling overwhelmed by their business. Often they’ve started their business from nothing because they’re really passionate about something, or really good at […]
Best FREE email marketing systems – Mailchimp vs MailerLite (Pssst… a version of this post originally appeared as a Guest Post on Get it Done Mum Biz School Blog, one of my favourite Biz Communities for Female Entrepreneurs.) *** I’ve been a user of MailChimp almost as long as I’ve been a blogger. Shortly after I started blogging in […]
My top 12 WordPress Plugins and why I wouldn’t be without them Last week I wrote all about which website platform to use for your website. Of the 3 I recommended, WordPress.org is the one I choose to use for my business and the majority of client website builds that we do as a company, […]
Which website platform should you use to build your website? This has to be one of the most common questions I get asked by clients and prospective clients. And here’s the thing – there is no one-size fits all answer. That’s because everyone has different needs and budgets for their website. Here is a list […]
Why Systems are the Secret Sauce Your Business Needs As a Systems Strategist, it’s not uncommon for me to get asked: “Why Systems?”I love this question. There are a whole lot of great reasons and I could talk about ways to help businesses operate efficiently all day. Here are my favourite reasons your biz needs […]
5 Steps to Working More Efficiently Battling to get everything done is the challenge that all business owners and entrepreneurs face. We all have the same amount of time as each other. The only difference is that some of us are more organised when it comes to using their time than others. WARNING: This article […]
It’s commonly quoted that people who have written goals are 50% more likely to achieve than people without goals. That’s a compelling statistic. I’ve found it true in both my personal life and the help I give my clients. It’s the reason that when I start to work with new business owners, my first question to them is […]
The 8 Fundamentals of Business – and why you should have them covered… Whether you’re just starting a business, or you’ve been in business for a long time, in can be easy to get overwhelmed by all the different areas of your business. Going back to basics, and reviewing all the different areas of your […]