Small Business Made Simple Podcast

Hey there, my gorgeous listener, welcome to episode 72 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, it's my job, via this podcast, social media and everywhere else actually, to make your business life simpler. Business can be lonely and hard and complicated and it's hardly ever easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler, so that's my commitment you to on the Small Business Made Simple podcast! One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven't joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/72 www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners Today I'm having a discussion with the lovely Jessica Osborn from Jessica Osborn about naming your business. I'm having a few discussions and seeing lots of comments online about people who have taken the Covid-19 change in work habits by the horns and are thinking they will start their own business. Either as a full time gig or just a side hustle – either way, there is definitely an air of change coming to the small business landscape brought on by the situation we find ourselves in in early 2020. Naming a business is probably one of the hardest tasks around creating a business – or at least we give it so much weight that we think we need to agonise over it for long periods of time. Truth is, as a small business owner, you, yep you the owner showing up consistently will do more for your branding, ever, than any logo or colour palette or name will ever. So, keep that in mind when and if you decide to start your own business – or if you're in business now. But today, to give you some insights, I have asked fellow marketer and LinkedIn friend to come and have a chat with me. Because Jessica's business is her name and my business isn't – mine is Social Media and Marketing Australia. I wanted to share some ideas, thoughts, wisdom around both business name ideas, so that you can hear the pros and cons and it might help you make a decision about your business. Even perhaps if you are thinking of a rebrand – if you're already in business. Jessica is a business coach and marketing consultant from sunny Queensland (where I would like to be right now – just saying) and has lots of experience in the corporate sector as well as in small business. She seemed like the perfect person to have this conversation with. And it is a conversation – it's like two marketers chatting away about marketing and sharing what we know. Even if you're not thinking about renaming or rebranding, I promise you any episode with two passionate marketers is going to be a good one – so take a listen! INTERVIEW WITH JESSICA OSBORN Links: https://jessicaosborn.com/5day-biz-startup-course/ 5 Day Biz Start-Up Online course for professionals who want to try working for themselves. https://jessicaosborn.com/ - general website https://jessicaosborn.com/brand-strategy-worksheet-free-download/ - Brand strategy worksheet freebie if you want to include, didn't mention it though! https://facebook.com/jessicaosborn.bxcoach https://instagram.com/jessica.osborn/ https://linkedin.com/in/jessicaaosborn/ I really enjoyed our chat – I hope you did too. I hope it's helped you get some clarity over your business name or any branding blockages you may have! So, that's all for episode 72, I'll be back next Thursday with another great episode to help you simplify your business in 2020. If you're enjoying this podcast, which if you have listened to here – you hopefully are, don't forget to subscribe, share this episode with another superstar business owner who's doing the daily grind and would appreciate someone making their business simpler, and leave a rating or review to show how much you are loving this free weekly content. Massive love coming your way if you do! See you next week on the podcast for episode 73. But in the meantime, let's hang out on social and get social on social – you'll find me on Instagram, Facebook and my fav LinkedIn. But whatever you do, ……..remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there's no point in dreaming small!

Hey there, my gorgeous listener, welcome to episode 71 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, it's my job, via this podcast, social media and everywhere else actually, to make your business life simpler. Business can be lonely and hard and complicated and it's hardly ever easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler, so that's my commitment you to on the Small Business Made Simple podcast! One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven't joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/71 www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners If you're in business, you could probably think of a few lessons you've learnt in the past couple of months – maybe during Covid-19 or perhaps just in 2020 as a collective year. I know it's a topic of conversation between my business besties, my clients and myself. A constant little conversation. Whether it's about learning about who's loyal, including staff, friends, customers or maybe it's around finances and from now on you'll make sure your finances are able to take a hit and still stay afloat, you'll do budget projections and cash flows – never to be caught with your financial pants down again – so to speak. For me, the biggest lesson I have learnt is MY NETWORK IS MY NETWORTH. All those relationships I have built over the past few years running a social media and marketing business, all those connections I've made online and offline, all those freebies I did for someone some time, all those quick chats to help you out of a jam I did – they all came home to roost in the last 8 weeks. It doesn't take a genius to work out that a person who runs a speaking business, that's me, had a pretty clear diary very quickly about 6 weeks ago. I had actually just won myself a 30K speaking gig – which was HUGE for me, I cannot tell you how huge that was, only to have it taken away from me less than a week later we social distancing came into play! I'm ok about that, heck it was like money I never had any way! But it was a little heartbreaking ☹ About 30% of my private clients rang, when Covid-19 hit, to say they wouldn't be continuing, which was totally understandable – I had cut back on a few things too – given the horrible exchange rate of US dollars. I'm happy to say most are back now in some capacity and new ones have appeared. And they have appeared because they were in my network – they had been following me, or listening to my podcast or engaging with me in my Like Minded Business Owners group or had a discovery call at some stage, and for them, when covid-19 hit, it was the wake up call they needed to get their business future proofed and that involved getting their marketing right (or start marketing as one of the cases was!) I'm pleased to say that I am almost as busy with speaking gigs as I was prior to Covid-19, but I get to do it from my home office – which Year 12 and Year 11 home schooling, of course, has its own challenges – but it's saving a lot of mileage on my car. This fortnight alone, I would have racked up over 1500 kilometres if my speaking gigs were face to face! My business has been saved by my network – hands down, absolutely. Now I know one my business besties, Kellie Briggs who has the Business Networking by Design podcast, and was actually a guest on episode 44 (www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/44) would be loving me talking about my network being my net worth, because networking is her absolute JAM – if you haven't listened to her podcast -go listen to it! As much as I wanted to chat to you about networking and networthing, I actually don't want the podcast to be all about me and my 2020 experience thus far, I want you to think about your network and what it represents as your net worth inside your business. So, let's take a dive into this little theory of mine of how your network can become such an integral part of your net worth. You can't just network in your bubble I'm the first to put my hand up and say networking makes me feel uncomfortable. I am such a "pick someone out in a room and they will be my bestie for the night" kind of person – of course, watch who you pick! Get out there – meet people who make you feel uncomfortable because you think they are "bigger" than you, further on the journey than you or from a completely different industry to you. Network online but do it differently! Online networking makes this so easy – so so easy. Start following, conn

Hey there, my gorgeous listener, welcome to episode 70 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, it's my job, via this podcast, social media and everywhere else actually, to make your business life simpler. Business can be lonely and hard and complicated and it's hardly ever easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler, so that's my commitment you to on the Small Business Made Simple podcast! One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven't joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/70 www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners This episode is all about PR – getting yourself into the media and how that's just the beginning of your marketing! But this week's a little different. You see I'm not the interviewer – I'm the interviewee! My gorgeous friend Jules Brooke who has a program and business called Handle Your Own PR interviewed me about social media and PR on Ticker TV. If you've not heard of either – then head the show notes for the links to both. https://www.tickertv.com.au/ www.handleyourownpr.com.au Jules has always taught me that getting into the media is easier than you think (and it is, I write for a couple of national magazines consistently) and I've always said to Jules, that getting published is just the beginning of your repurposing journey! So, to let you my podcast listener hear all the gold in this Ticker TV interview, I've taken the audio from the video and turned it into a podcast (repurposing my free PR – see what I did there!) I have to say that I am loving being the interviewee because I'm so often on the other side of the fence – so you'll probably hear more about my story than you might already now – it's hard to talk about yourself on your own podcast! So, enjoy. But more so than that, I encourage you to get yourself some free PR. Get in that women's day, national newspaper or the Entrepreneur Magazine – wherever it is that you want to share your expertise. And, of course, when you do, here's some tips to make sure that free PR keeps living on! Again, enjoy INTERVIEW FROM TICKER TV – JENN AND JULES I really hope you enjoyed that. I certainly did enjoy having a chat with Jules. For those of you who might be interested, Jules does have a business called Handle Your Own PR, and being the super awesome business women she is, she has adapted her business for Covid-19 and is offering some "at home" PR classes where she'll not only guide you through the process of getting in the media, but give you the contacts that you need and a journalist to help you write the articles. That is SO cool! If you're keen, go to https://www.handleyourownpr.com.au/onlinepraccelerator And once you're in – make sure you get in touch with me and we can work out a repurpose marketing plan, so the opportunity is milked for all it's got! That's all for episode 70. I'll be back next Thursday with another great episode to help you simplify your business in 2020. If you're enjoying this podcast, which if you have listened to here – you hopefully are, don't forget to subscribe, share this episode with another superstar business owner who's doing the daily grind and would appreciate someone making their business simpler, and leave a rating or review to show how much you are loving this free weekly content. Massive love coming your way if you do! See you next week on the podcast for episode 71. But in the meantime, let's hang out on social and get social on social – you'll find me on Instagram, Facebook and my fav LinkedIn. But whatever you do, ……..remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there's no point in dreaming small!

Hey there, my gorgeous listener, welcome to episode 69 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, it's my job, via this podcast, social media and everywhere else actually, to make your business life simpler. Business can be lonely and hard and complicated and it's hardly ever easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler, so that's my commitment you to on the Small Business Made Simple podcast! One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven't joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/69 www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners As much as this episode isn't about Covid-19 – there's no denying that some of us are thinking differently about our work, about our roles in this world and about the impact we could or would like to have. Perhaps you've been an employee all your life, maybe in leadership or management roles or whatever role you've been happy in, but this time we are in at the moment has you thinking different. Perhaps you already have a small business that you own and now thoughts of growing or pivoting are starting to happen inside your never ending entrepreneurial brain. Whatever your situation, there's a chance you've been online and looking for free or paid help to get you where you want to be. If there's one thing I 100% know in business, is that you need to surround yourself with people who have been travelled the path before you – whether they are 100 steps in front of you or just a couple – it's what you need to be successful in business. But there's lots and lots of coaches and mentors out there. I'm one of them. And I can tell you that we are not all created equal. And not every one of them is suitable to you now – they might be in the future, but not where you are now. Some of them WILL NEVER be suitable – they either just aren't your "people", or they just aren't good at what they do. Some coaches have certificates, because they took a course and read a book, and some are coaches because they know what you need to know because they've done what you need to do. Is one right or wrong for you? I can't answer that – but I will say that I'd rather be coached by someone who's done what I've trying to do, and not just read the theory – but that's just me and my circumstances. Which is why I am doing this episode? If you're thinking of starting a business or pivoting or growing your business, then I really really really want you to think about these suggestions on how to choose who's right for you. What are your challenges in your business? Why do you want a mentor or coach to start with? You could have many mentors during your business journey. Just like your customers or clients to you, you need to know what problem you want sorted – what the challenges in your business are. If your challenges are with marketing – no use going to a mentor or following a mentor on social media who specialises finance – they might be amazeballs at finance – but finance isn't your challenge – marketing is. And it's true, you will outgrow your mentors. Paid or unpaid. I have certainly outgrown many mentors in my business journey. "When the student is ready, the teacher appears" – an old proverb, but so very true. Some mentors I have had are still servicing clients where I was – which is 100% totally fine. But I'm not there anymore – I'm here, so I need to move on. So, work out your challenges now, seek out the person who can help you and don't be afraid to knowledge when and if that relationship has reached it's potential. You'll grow as your business grows, and your needs will grow with it. Who has the same core values as you? I think it was Simon Sinek who said "people do business with people who have the same values as them" – I had that very sign on my wall for many many years. It's a more formal way of saying, we do business with people we like – the majority of the time anyway! So, there's two steps with this, what are your core business values? If you don't know them, then that's definitely something to work on. And what's their core values? If you don't know what your mentor or coaches core values are, if they aren't out in the world for everyone to see, I'd say move on. Harsh, absolutely, but for me, it's a nonnegotiable. Morals and values are something I hold pretty high on my "be in my world list". Perhaps they are high for you too? You don't have to be best friends with your coach or mentor, in fact, I'd s

Hey there, my gorgeous listener, welcome to episode 68 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, it's my job, via this podcast, social media and everywhere else actually, to make your business life simpler. Business can be lonely and hard and complicated and it's hardly ever easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler, so that's my commitment you to on the Small Business Made Simple podcast! One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven't joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/68 www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners On this episode I have a special guest and amazing lady, in fact the queen of Customer Service in Australia – Cate Schreck from Lightbulb Training Solutions Cate is the Director of Lightbulb Training Solutions (LTS) and is known for designing and delivering workplace training programs that educate and motivate staff to work together in harmony and provide consistently excellent customer service. Cate is passionate about sharing the skills that create harmonious workplaces and delighted customers. Cate and I have spoke together at a few events and we had another planned before Covid hit – so hopefully we'll meet face to face again really soon. But I love her energy and her passion for customer service. I am so passionate about customer service and it was a priority when I had my retail business. My team were the dream team when it came to customer service, but I know it's not like that for everyone. So, I asked Cate to come on and have a chat about Customer service for the benefit of all! It's insightful, it's passionate and it's a bit of a laugh too. You'll know what I mean about halfway through – but on this episode I do something I've NEVER done before on a podcast – lucky she's so forgiving! So, listen in and get your customer service boots strapping! INTERVIEW WITH CATE SCHRECK https://lightbulbtraining.com.au/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/lightbulb-training-solutions https://www.linkedin.com/in/cate-schreck-1a369134/ I really hope you got a lot from this episode – I promise you didn't miss out on too much wisdom because I didn't press record! The outtake of this interview is almost hilarious – especially the video, when you can start to see my face turn green from sickness when I realised what I did. Something for the bloopers reel! But, that's all for episode 68. I'll be back next Thursday with another great episode to help you simplify your business in 2020. If you're enjoying this podcast, which if you have listened to here – you hopefully are, don't forget to subscribe, share this episode with another superstar business owner who's doing the daily grind and would appreciate someone making their business simpler, and leave a rating or review to show how much you are loving this free weekly content. Massive love coming your way if you do! See you next week on the podcast for episode 69. But in the meantime, let's hang out on social and get social on social – you'll find me on Instagram, Facebook and my fav LinkedIn. But whatever you do, ……..remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there's no point in dreaming small!

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 67 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, it's my job, via this podcast, social media and everywhere else actually, to make your business life simpler. Business can be lonely and hard and complicated and it's hardly ever easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler, so that's my commitment you to on the Small Business Made Simple podcast! One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven't joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/67 www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners This episode is being done on the fly a little. It wasn't planned but I've had this conversation a few times this week (a lot of few times!) and each person has gone "oh wow, hadn't thought about that (insert whatever they hadn't thought of)" So, firstly, it's a good lesson in life and business that just because you do something and the thought process comes a little easy – doesn't mean that others think like you, and Secondly, it's good to listen to your clients and get them the content that would help them. Now, after saying that, I feel like I've set the bar a little high, let me bring you down, my thoughts are ground breaking, just born out of frustration, and loads of distraction (you know, do what's easy, leave the hard). Because that's a little of mind set in the past few days. So, my tips for you today are not because I think you have lots of FREE time now we are almost in shut down – many of you are working harder than ever, my tips are to help with clarity and fresh starts or clean slates. My episode today is about spring cleaning or autumn cleaning or covid-19 cleaning your business life – and if you're anything like me, this sort of thing has driven you insane for a long time and it's been on the "to do list" for longer than you would like to admit. Ok, so here's a nudge to do some spring cleaning in your business. Canva If you have Canva (if you don't know what Canva is go to www.canva.com and send me a million thank you later – it's like a little pot of social gold on the internet). But if you do have Canva then there's a chance you have imported a gazillion photos into there to use – maybe just once or twice and now you scroll and scroll to find the photo you actually want to use. It's time for a photo cleanout! Get rid of all those photos you will never use again or only in a blue moon (perhaps make sure the blue moon ones are stored on your hard drive before deleting). To delete, just go to uploads and hover over the photo that you want to delete, 3 dots will appear in the top right hand corner of the photo, click them and click delete. Ta-da! Your life will feel less full already! Canva Yes, I'm staying here for a second or two. If you've been using for a LONG time like me, you are likely to have all sorts of creative resources created – Facebook posts, Instagram posts, Presentations and the list goes on and on. Did you know that you can create files in Canva? Yep, you can organise all these creative assets into folders – so when you are looking for something, you can just go to that folder and find it – no more scrolling for ½ a day looking for something! Also, a good time to be deleting all those posts you'll never use again. I had lots I had done for other people and from a previous business – all gone. It's so much easier to find things and I feel less stressed heading into Canva to look for something because I know where it is! Now I just pressed pause here and headed into Canva because I had this thought, hang on, can you do folders on the free version, and at the time of this recording, I am pretty sure folders (or the ability to create your own) is only on the paid version – so sorry if you're on the free version – but I would still recommend deleting all those creative assets you will never use again and tidy it up that way! Emails Arh, the infamous inbox. Today is the day you need to tackle it. It's time to firstly unsubscribe from all those emails that you really, seriously, never read. Perhaps once upon a time they were relevant to you, but now, you've moved on or they are no longer serving you content that you can relate to or learn from. (*Ahem, hopefully not mine!) So, here's what I suggest you do Instead of having your emails in your inbox in date order, put them into "from" order. Go through them person by person or business by business and ask yourself Keep o

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 66 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, it's my job, via this podcast, social media and everywhere else actually, to make your business life simpler. Business can be lonely and hard and complicated and it's hardly ever easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler, so that's my commitment you to on the Small Business Made Simple podcast! One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven't joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/66 www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners This episode has been inspired by some wonderful followers on Instagram including Louise from Floral Harvest – both a beautiful store online and off and a beautiful person running the business. I reached out to my audience on Instagram and asked, "what do you need to know right now?" – the answer from Louise and others including Sam from Cover drum and Mina from SMR – who answered, "I need more traffic to my website". And ta-da – that's exactly what I'm am going to be giving you some tips and tricks around today on ep 66. For those listening in real time, it's the end of March and we are in lock down – or almost. A lot of my clients have either closed their businesses altogether, pivoting their businesses or at the very least reduced their hours of operation. Website traffic has become the gold we are hunting. In this episode I am going to give you loads of tips and tricks to get traffic to your website, but there's a few things we need to clarify first – deal. Website traffic won't necessarily equal sales at this exact point in time. Many people simply don't have the spare cash or are too afraid to be spending it. But others will – so it's not all doom and gloom – and it WILL improve. So, get testing and measuring NOW to see what works, what doesn't and what you need to change. Secondly, getting traffic to your website is only half the equation. You really, really need to look at the customer experience the traffic is going to get when it gets there. Go through your website as a customer. Click all the buttons, put stuff in the shopping cart, buy it, sign up for your freebies and make sure it all works and it's seamless, that all your branding and messaging is consistent and it leaves you feeling like your brand is a brand you'd like to come back and do more transactions with. And maybe dob in a friend or two to do the same – get their feedback – tinker, fix, delight. Ok, so let's get into it How do you get more traffic to your website? Check your Google Analytics Did you just roll your eyes? I hope not – yes I am going to start here at google analytics. If you don't have them set up on your website – do it TODAY. There's a perfect strategic reason why I have asked you start here. Because when I look at mine, my traffic comes 43% direct, 40% social (which goes Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn – which I might add is absolutely reflected in where I put my energy into as far as marketing goes), and then organic search. So, when I am thinking how I get more traffic to my website, my strategy might go something like this Develop an email marketing campaign around x product/offering etc – why because most of my traffic is direct – so I would put a lot of energy into increasing both the size of my list and the use of my list Keep being consistent on social media and continue to point traffic from these platforms to my website – obviously developing some sort of strategy around what I am offering or what I am posting that people will want to click on a link to get or read or listen to etc So, back to analytics – you can see how this is the basis of any campaign to get more traffic. Why reinvent the wheel. If the people who know, like and trust you are already coming from these points, then that's a place to start being strategy on. Google My Business I know I have spoke about this a LOT on the podcast. Please if you haven't signed up for Google My Business as yet – please do it TODAY! If you have but you haven't put all your details in, or you aren't using it like a social media platform (as in posting to it often and consistently) then please do! This is one of your BEST ways of getting some google love – remembering the more you love google, the more she'll love you back! Heads up an optimized and well used Google My Business listing gets 7x more visits than an incomplete one or one that you set up and

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 65 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, it's my job, via this podcast, social media and everywhere else actually, to make your business life simpler. Today I have a guest, Jen Waterson, from Simply Smarter Numbers and we are talking about cashflow in a crisis. Now, perhaps numbers aren't your thing – but you do have to keep listening. Or maybe, you're not in a cash flow crisis when you're listening to this (clearly that's in the future from March 2020 when it was recorded) but I promise you there is so much wisdom in there – you should take the time to listen. I cannot start this podcast without sending you all virtual hugs. There is no doubt we are in crisis and so many business owners are having sleepless nights. For you, I have very little wisdom, except, pride has left the building – there is no room for pride anymore – if you are entitled to something in the stimulus packages available from state or federal governments – please ensure you take them. Don't be too proud to accept help. I know what I'm talking about here – there's not many people for walk this earth that are prouder than farmers – and I live with one of them – so from the bottom of my heart – don't be too proud to ask for help or accept help. My second piece of wisdom, as a marketer, coach, mentor, it would be remiss of me not to say, please don't stop marketing. Yes, absolutely, watch what you market and the language that you use, but your audience is (a) looking for normality – don't leave those who know, love and trust you, hanging and (b) this too shall pass – so please don't give up on your business right when you shouldn't. If you're not sure what to market or need someone to run something by, head into the Like Minded Business Owners group and ask away – that's a safe space. Or, of course, reach out to me – I'm happy to help in any way I can. Ok, pep talk over. I adore you my listener, so please take care of yourself and your loved ones. Ok, it's really over now – numbers – let's get into numbers. My guest today is Jenny Waterson from Simply Smarter Numbers. Jen is a fellow rural girl doing amazing things for her clients and her community. I love her passion (and envy her passion) for numbers. I used to be a number geek – until I found marketing! Apparently there was no room for both in my life! Jen has some amazing gold in here, and yes, it's all about numbers, but I promise you, you will learn so much about cash flow, how to handle it and what to do if you've never even created one before. So, let's just dive in with the two Jennie's (like the two Ronnie for anyone old enough to remember them – but it's two Jennies!) INTERVIEW WITH JENNY WATERSON Jenny's contact details: Website: https://www.simplysmarternumbers.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/simplysmarternumbers/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/simplysmarternumbers/ Cash flow tool: https://www.simplysmarternumbers.com/cashflowtools/ I hope you enjoyed that episode – and my chat with Jen who clearly loves numbers! But that's all episode 65. I'd love to tell you that next week I am talking about x – but honestly, I am not that organised at the moment and so I have no idea what next week will be! Wanna join me anyway? I promise whatever it will be great and will help you simplify your business in 2020. If you're enjoying this podcast, can I ask you to do me a favour or two Subscribe to this podcast – I have some exclusive content coming up for those who do! Could you share with this a friend? Another superstar business owner who's doing the daily grind and would appreciate someone making their business simpler, and A rating or a review would be the best gift you could give me this week. I would be very grateful. See you next week on the podcast for episode 66. But in the meantime, let's hang out on social and get social on social – you'll find me on Instagram, Facebook and my fav LinkedIn. But whatever you do, ……..remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there's no point in dreaming small!

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 64 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, it's my job, via this podcast, social media and everywhere else actually, to make your business life simpler. Business can be lonely and hard and complicated and it's hardly ever easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler, so that's my commitment you to on the Small Business Made Simple podcast! One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven't joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/64 www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners I am just a wee bit excited for this episode, but first, I just wondered, have you downloaded by ever so popular FREE eBook – 108 Social Media Content Creation Ideas? No? Well, if you're struggling with social media, and content creation and ideas, this is the eBook for you and hey it's free! Simply head to www.108social.com.au and download it from there. If you get it, read it, print it out and look at it all the time, it will change your life (or at least your social thinking challenges life!) So, it's at www.108social.com.au Today, I wanted to chat to you about the "one day" concept – not taking one day at a time but waiting for "one day". I'm not a one day kinda girl. Anyone who knows me, know this. I'm a do now and see where you land and fix it as you go along. Waiting until one day has never sat well with me. I dated my now husband of 23 years for 7 years before we got married. It became a running joke that we would get married "one day" – the joke got old quick – very quick. For me it was, we do it now or I'm off to discover the world. Luckily we are discovering the world together for the last 30 odd years. I think it was then that I was turned off waiting for "one day". So, what's on your "one day" list? What will you do when the timings right, everything is perfect, and your ducks are all in a neat, organised row? And I'll ask you, why are they on your "one day" list. You only have today – today is the one day you are guaranteed – so why wait? There's always a reason to wait until tomorrow – always – you'll always find a wait and see reason. I wasn't going to mention the "c" word – Coronavirus – because podcasts last forever and this too shall pass – but I kinda have to, to make my point a little more. If you're in Australia like me, we are on the brink of lock down, as I record this – if you're one of my amazing overseas listeners, you probably are already in lock down. So, it would appear that "one day" has come … That one day when you had time, had the space to do X – it's here. If we head into lock down, we are possibly going to have "free time". Our biggest internet and phone provider had a post on social media about giving everyone more data for free to, guess what – watch more TV and search google more – why – because "one day" has come. Or maybe we don't get put into lock down – maybe one day hasn't knocked on our door, but let's get serious about doing what you need or want to do. As small business owners we get caught working "in" our businesses and not "on" them. And even when we do work "on" them, it normally not growth strategies we concentrate on – it's bookwork and general office work. In order for your business to grow, to be resilient to whatever mother nature or the world throws at it – we need to have growth strategies and a growth mindset in place. So, your job, today (not tomorrow or the next day) is to take step one towards ridding yourself of "one day" jobs. Step 1 – make a list. If you had nothing to do today inside your business, but could work on it, work on growth strategies, what would that look like? What does growth look like in your business? Perhaps you've never got around to building a website or putting a shopping cart on that website. Perhaps you have always listened to podcasts like this one and dreamed of starting your own. Perhaps you know, because I tell you so a lot, that you should be doing email marketing, but you just can't get around to making a plan to become consistent with doing it. What is it – press pause here if you have to and grab a pen and paper or the notes section of your phone and start writing down that list? Step 2 – add 2 columns to that list. Column 1 – who's responsible for it and column 2 – the date it has to be done by – operative word "has to be" done by. Step 3 – photocopy it at least 4 times and stick the list around you

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 63 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, it's my job, via this podcast, social media and everywhere else actually, to make your business life simpler. Business can be lonely and hard and complicated and it's hardly ever easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler, so that's my commitment you to on the Small Business Made Simple podcast! One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven't joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/63 www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners I am just a wee bit excited for this episode, but first, I just wondered, have you downloaded by ever so popular FREE eBook – 108 Social Media Content Creation Ideas? No? Well, if you're struggling with social media, and content creation and ideas, this is the eBook for you and hey it's free! Simply head to www.108social.com.au and download it from there. If you get it, read it, print it out and look at it all the time, it will change your life (or at least your social thinking challenges life!) So, it's at www.108social.com.au In my Facebook group the other day, I was asked by Mychelle about a podcast on Instagram stories. As I went searching my library, because I knew there was some, or one – I realised that it was episode 7 – that long ago. I was comfortable to send her back there – because all the information is still relevant – but I thought perhaps I needed to do an updated take on Instagram stories and how to use them in 2020 for business. Because, let's face it, Instagram stories are were it's at, at the moment, on social media. Why Instagram Stories Are a Powerful Tool for Business With over 500 million daily users, Instagram Stories are a great way to reach potential new customers — and build a stronger connection with your existing ones. And since Instagram really took off – we are seeing a steady decline in the new feed of viewers and posters alike. Businesses are seeing the power of Instagram stories and are preferring to put their time into stories rather than the feed itself. If you're not using Instagram Stories for business, you could be missing out on a huge opportunity. Not only are Instagram Stories fun and creative, but they're one of the best ways to grow your engagement, build brand awareness, and even drive sales! We hear the word "authentic" thrown around a lot lately. And I agree wholeheartedly, those businesses who show up, more often, as themselves, less curated, less formal, but always on brand, they are the ones going to succeed in 2020 and beyond. If you listen to this podcast much, you'll know I'm all about the H2H – human to human marketing, interaction, being social on social media. How to Boost Engagement with Instagram Stories for Business Instagram has really made it easy for us to get engagement with stories. There are a ton of features that you can use to really get your audience engaging with you. Some are simple superstar – some perhaps need a little more work. Here's some of the simple ideas. Head to Instagram, click the button to do a story – either your profile pic with the + symbol or just above it the camera symbol Down the bottom – click swipe to create. Here you can do all sorts of marvellous things. Add a gif, next you'll come to a page with some dices up the top middle, keep clicking those – there's all sorts of options there – quote of the day, what you're listening too list, pizza toppings ranking, what you're watching, three accounts to follow list, quick draw challenge and more. Now just a little pro tip here – if you choose, say, the what you're listening to list – use it, fill it in and then post a blank one and invite your audience to tell you what they are listening too and tag you in it – you are you showing a little bit of your personality, and then asking for the engagement back. Works nearly every time – because hey, who doesn't like to have their opinion heard! Ok – so we are scrolling post that, still in create, next window invites us to ask a question, next, get your audience to ask you a question, a timer is next – great for anything going on in your business that's time sensitive, and then a poll option – again, see the dice in the top middle of almost everyone one of these, click and get more options – pre-made for you! Heading back to the beginning, still on stories though – but this time we are on "normal" – this is where you

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 62 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, it's my job, via this podcast, social media and everywhere else actually, to make your business life simpler. Business can be lonely and hard and complicated and it's hardly ever easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler, so that's my commitment you to on the Small Business Made Simple podcast! One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven't joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/62 www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners I am just a wee bit excited for this episode, but first, I just wondered, have you downloaded by ever so popular FREE eBook – 108 Social Media Content Creation Ideas? No? Well, if you're struggling with social media, and content creation and ideas, this is the eBook for you and hey it's free! Simply head to www.108social.com.au and download it from there. If you get it, read it, print it out and look at it all the time, it will change your life (or at least your social thinking challenges life!) So, it's at www.108social.com.au I've been talking copy a little lately, with friends, with colleagues, in posts, on my podcast with Brenna – go listen to ep 60 if you didn't catch that one. Social media is so busy. Our inboxes are so busy. We are so busy and so are our clients or customers. It does take a certain magic or certain power to stop someone in their tracks to stop, open, read, react, engage or take another action. Why do you need good copy, well that, what I just read, to get someone to stop, read and take action? Otherwise, we are just writing emails and captions and brochures to tick a box. If we don't want the reader to feel something, react somehow or take some action, it's a question of "for what purpose" are you doing it then? If you're a long time listener of the podcast- you'll know I have a love hate relationships with those 3 little words 3 of the most powerful words in my business. FOR WHAT PURPOSE. In life the 3 powerful words are I LOVE YOU, but in business they are FOR WHAT PURPOSE. Such a love hate relationship it has a podcast episode all of its own – episode 37 – worth a listen – www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/37 So, it's the power or the magic that I want to have a chat about today. There's really 3 steps to writing good copy, I believe. THE HOOK The hook, the first bit, and its only job is to get to get the email opened or to stop the scroll on social media or to get someone to read the brochure and so forth. Its only job is to engage the reader – grab their attention straight up. In an email it's the subject line. On Instagram, it's the start of the caption (so important here because we can only see the first few words), in an Instagram or Facebook story it's the words put over the video to capture those scrolling without sound on. On twitter – it's everything! On Facebook and LinkedIn, it's the start of the caption. But the hook can have helpers – like emojis or different fonts – other tools used for the same reason – to stop the scroll. You can use a program or app such as Lingo Jam's Fancy Text generator (link in the show notes) or https://yaytext.com/ - both generate fancy text but the formatting is kept when cut and pasted into social media. I once heard Marie Folio say on a podcast that she writes at least 30 hooks before she get to the one she wants. She writes down 30 iterations of a hook and says it's only then that the gold comes … I admire that and strive for that but haven't done that. If you are finding it hard to write good hooks or subject lines – perhaps consider writing more to find the gold! Ok, so some examples that I have seen that I liked It's either me or the meatballs? I need a new face … or I will soon A bird pooped in my hair The juggle is a load of shit I'm in town, can we grab a coffee I was standing doing a presentation the other day talking about "hooks" in the rural town of Deniliquin – and I suggested a hook of "Deni is DEAD" The room all took a breath at once in shock – but that a perfect example – if everyone in the room saw that headline – they'd read on in curiosity or in disgust! Either way, I have their attention. Experiment with hooks – read captions and emails differently now and see which ones got you to open or engage and note down the why and what was said – build yourself a library of hooks used on you! THE BODY Obviously, af

The tables have turned! This is a bonus episode - known as 61a! Jenn needed to share with you all this bonus ep, that's a recording of Jenn's interview with Kellie Briggs on Kellie's Business Networking By Design podcast. It's about how Jenn grew a Facebook group in lighting speed, how stepping out of your comfort zone allows you to grow your business in unexpected way and how you too can impact your own business with simple steps and small changes. Listen in, this one is a good one!

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 61 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, it's my job, via this podcast, social media and everywhere else actually, to make your business life simpler. Business can be lonely and hard and complicated and it's hardly ever easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler, so that's my commitment you to on the Small Business Made Simple podcast! One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven't joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/61 www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners I am just a wee bit excited for this episode, but first, I just wondered, have you downloaded by ever so popular FREE eBook – 108 Social Media Content Creation Ideas? No? Well, if you're struggling with social media, and content creation and ideas, this is the eBook for you and hey it's free! Simply head to www.108social.com.au and download it from there. If you get it, read it, print it out and look at it all the time, it will change your life (or at least your social thinking challenges life!) So, it's at www.108social.com.au I've had some really interesting conversations lately with small business owners. Some I've been the learner and some I've been the teacher – all every time there's that "look" on either my face or their face of "why hadn't I thought of that before" You know the look. To put it in emoji terms, it's the one where someone is either slapping their face or shrugging their shoulders! So, I wanted to share some of this wisdom with you! Some of you will listen to this episode and only take away that fact that you're already awesome and doing some great things … others will come away with that look of why didn't I think of that before! Either way, I hope you will enjoy the tips! I'm going to start with my first tip which I have been the learner in – so someone has taught me this. POP UP FACEBOOK GROUPS We tend to think of Facebook groups as something we need to be constantly nurturing – constantly adding value to and some people are either turned off the idea of a Facebook group because of this or simply because they can't think of what they would talk about .. Enter a pop up group! I'd heard Amy Porterfield talk about pop up groups for course launches and that got me thinking about all sorts of launches but it wasn't until I was organising my first ever networking event, and reached out to the Beyoncé of networking – Kellie Briggs (check out her podcast – Business Networking by Design) and Kellie suggested that I throw all the people coming along to my networking event into a pop up group – so they can get to know each other before coming – that I had the (insert slap face emoji) look of "Why didn't I think of that". Such great advice! So, turn your thinking about Facebook groups on its head. What do you do inside your business that a pop up group would be perfect for? A pop up group I would say, would last about 7-30 days – after that, you are going to have to put more thought into why the group exists and be nurturing on another level. But if you have a VIP sale coming up, have a collaboration with another business coming up, launching a new product or service or just about anything that you think "if I had a closed group of highly engaged people who want to buy or who have bought, I'd be able to … (insert whatever your desired outcome is) – then give it a go! Hey if it's a flop (which it isn't going to be) – then heck, it was just a pop up group anyway – so close it down. Of course, you should have somewhere else for these people to go – just don't slam the door on them! Let me know what you are doing and what to do next. How can you see a Facebook Pop up group working in your business? If you can't think of anything – put it in that safe space for ideas for another day – because believe me, it'll come to you! GET YOUR TECH QUESTIONS ANSWERED Another conversation I often have with people is around tech, especially around programs that people buy and implement in their business. I'm often asked if I know how to do this or that or if I use x program … My biggest piece of advice, If you purchase a program or use a piece of tech in your business, join the Facebook community for that tech! OMGoodness, it's like the members can't answer you quick enough with their expertise to look like the biggest expert! It's amazing. Don't wait in line with call centres or wait for emails – joi

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 60 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, it's my job, via this podcast, social media and everywhere else actually, to make your business life simpler. Business can be lonely and hard and complicated and it's hardly ever easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler, so that's my commitment you to on the Small Business Made Simple podcast! One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven't joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/60 www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners I am just a wee bit excited for this episode, but first, I just wondered, have you downloaded by ever so popular FREE eBook – 108 Social Media Content Creation Ideas? No? Well, if you're struggling with social media, and content creation and ideas, this is the eBook for you and hey it's free! Simply head to www.108social.com.au and download it from there. If you get it, read it, print it out and look at it all the time, it will change your life (or at least your social thinking challenges life!) So, it's at www.108social.com.au Ok, today we are talking email marketing and segues. What's a segue you might ask – well it's kind of like telling a story and then relating that story to what the email is about. If you are on my list and received my baby shark do do do do to, email last week, that's what a segue is! Anyway, I am going to let my guest tell you all about it today. I am very excited and maybe a little more excited than usual because, not only do I LOVE email marketing, but I have my FIRST international guest on! YAY! I'm going international (or at least for this ep!) I have stalked, kindly, in a marketing way, stalked Brenna for a couple of years now. I love what she does, and I think we started our businesses at a similar time, so that's always fun. I admitted stalking her in her group a few weeks ago and she reached out via Instagram DMs and said, hey I'd love to be a guest on your podcast – what do you think? Umm, me thinks yes! Side note, this or that is exactly why I love social media. Strangers become friends even from across a few oceans. Brenna has the Social Rescue and is all about the email copy! She is the co-creator of the Content Bar and her passion is making writing emails easy-peasy! The rest, well she can tell you that. So, here goes, my first international guest … YAY! INTERVIEW WITH BRENNA https://thesocialrescue.com/ https://www.instagram.com/brennamcgowanco/ https://thesocialrescue.com/segue-landing-page/ I so hope you enjoyed that and got so much from it. I loved it and have learnt so much from following Brenna. I am so thankful that we were able to coordinate time across the seas to chat. I think it was my morning and her afternoon (on the previous day). My hubby told me to tell her that Trump had not been impeached – because we were in the future and she was a day behind! As she laughed, I thought, mmm, I think my hubby maybe turning into a "dad joke" person! On that note, that's all for episode 60! I'll be back next Thursday with another great episode to help you simplify your business in 2020. If you're enjoying this podcast, can I ask you to do me a favour or two Subscribe to this podcast – I have some exclusive content coming up for those who do! Could you share with this a friend? Another superstar business owner who's doing the daily grind and would appreciate someone making their business simpler, and If you're looking to share some love in February, the love month, I'd love you to leave me a rating or even a review if possible. See you next week on the podcast for episode 61. But in the meantime, let's hang out on social and get social on social – you'll find me on Instagram, Facebook and my fav LinkedIn. But whatever you do, ……..remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there's no point in dreaming small!

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 59 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, it's my job, via this podcast, social media and everywhere else actually, to make your business life simpler. Business can be lonely and hard and complicated and it's hardly ever easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler, so that's my commitment you to on the Small Business Made Simple podcast! One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven't joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/59 www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners I recent ran a networking evening, I'll do a podcast episode all about that in coming weeks – because there was some amazing things that came out of that, but I had a question posed to me, from someone who was there (actually someone asked them) and I just can't get it out of my head – so now there's a podcast episode all about it. That's one way to answer I guess! The question was How do I let people know about my business, if they don't read my local paper and they aren't on social media? BOOM! What a spectacular question? Yes? What percentage of the population do you think we are dealing with here? I actually say, not much. After all is you believe the stats, around 95% of Australians are using social media, especially Facebook. So, the question might be more like, how do I get people to notice my business if they aren't that ACTIVE on social media (or haven't already found me on social media) and don't read the local newspaper. That's the question I am going to answer. Because I believe, actually I SEE, so many small business owners making these mistakes and rather than fixing mistakes, look for other ways to fix the problem. Which puts them on a constant search for something that they will probably never find. Most of my answers to this question will only require time, not money, not all of them, but most of them so don't think I'm going to say, "run ads". Although if you are interested in running Facebook ads, my Facebook Ads for Beginners course is a great start! You'll find that in my shop at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au Now if you have been in my world for any length of time, some of these answers or examples of how, are going to be SO familiar to you. It's like the drum that I beat – the stuff that I crow about ALL THE TIME. But other answers I hope will give you a tip or trick you perhaps hadn't thought about, or maybe you have and I'm just going to push you over the edge to actually do them. Ok, first up KNOW THE BASICS OF MARKETING who is your who, what is your niche, what do you want to be famous for? If you can't answer these questions, then you can't market effectively. If you can answer these questions – then yay you! Just remember to always be listening to the market. This has been a HUGE lesson for me in the last 12 months – listen to my market rather than trying to find the market I thought I was looking for or what I thought they were looking for. Hey, that's another good topic for a podcast! When I sat down, really sat down, and looked at who I was attracting and what they wanted, I shifted my business – not entirely because I still have awesome men as private clients, but the reality is that my monthly business hub is now a Women in Business HUB, and I've started a Women in Business quarterly networking night. And guess what? That's what people wanted and now it's full steam ahead. So, lesson, you might know who your who is, and what you want to be famous for, but it's a moving constant. The only constant thing is that it's moving. Be ready to listen. GO WHERE THE MARKET IS You've got to know the first bit I just spoke about, but when you know that, go where your market is – where do your ideal client/customers hang out. Figure that out. Don't do Instagram because you like it – do it because your prospects hang out there. Don't dismiss LinkedIn because you don't "get it" – if your people are on there, learn all you can and conquer it. If your people are in Facebook groups – then get in there, give enormous value and make them love the crap out of you! Again, learn to listen or in this case observe. Is this easy? Maybe not. Maybe it will take research – so grab a wine and research! Or a coffee if it's day time! SPEND TIME ON SOCIAL MEDIA If there's one thing I can guarantee, or at least 99% of the time, you cannot put up a post and expect the money to start rolling i

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 58 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, it's my job, via this podcast, social media and everywhere else actually, to make your business life simpler. Business can be lonely and hard and complicated and it's hardly ever easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler, so that's my commitment you to on the Small Business Made Simple podcast! One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven't joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/58 www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners My guest today, Clare Wood who actually has her own podcast – the Clare Wood Podcast – is coming to chat about money mindset. This is a BIG thing for so many small business owners. The stories from our past, the stories that will come in our future – lots of them, that involve money, will depend on our mindset when it comes to money. I was listening to Clare's podcast one day late last year and she was talking about just this subject – so I thought …. Mmm, if I find this interesting, so will my audience, I'm sure. So, in true me fashion, I sent her a DM on the gram and asked her to come on and she said, clearly, yes! Clare's a qualified accountant turn business coach and she's got some fabulous insights for you around money. So, let's welcome Clare to the podcast! INTERVIEW WITH CLARE WOOD www.clarewood.com.au I really hope you enjoyed that episode. I know I did making it and it's always nice to make new podcasting friends too! I'd love to continue the conversation in the Facebook group – Like Minded Business Owners. How's your money mindset? Ok, that's all for episode 58. I'll be back next Thursday with another great episode to help you simplify your business in 2020. If you're enjoying this podcast, can I ask you to do me a favour or two Subscribe to this podcast – I have some exclusive content coming up for those who do! Could you share with this a friend? Another superstar business owner who's doing the daily grind and would appreciate someone making their business simpler, and If you're looking to share some love in February, the love month, I'd love you to leave me a rating or even a review if possible. See you next week on the podcast for episode 58. But in the meantime, let's hang out on social and get social on social – you'll find me on Instagram, Facebook and my fav LinkedIn. But whatever you do, ……..remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there's no point in dreaming small!

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 57 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, it's my job, via this podcast, social media and everywhere else actually, to make your business life simpler. Business can be lonely and hard and complicated and it's hardly ever easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler, so that's my commitment you to on the Small Business Made Simple podcast! One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven't joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/57 www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners Today is all about that page on your website, that doesn't get as much love and attention as I think it should or rather, I definitely know it should. Your About page is one of the most important web pages on your blog. Why? Because, if you get your About page right, it will help you build a strong brand and position yourself as the go-to expert in your industry. It took me hours to write my About Page. Lots and lots of research. I looked at what other people in my industry, and outside my industry did, what the people who I crush on have in their About pages, and how I could come across as "me" in a page. I wanted a visitor to read my About Me page and feel like they found a friend, maybe even a soul mate! I wanted them to know me, know my expertise, know my business core values and yes, even a little about me personally. I have an eighties style questionnaire on there as well – just for fun. One of the questions is "what's of your most embarrassing moments?" I can tell you hand on heart; I've never told anyone this (who didn't come to my wedding anyway!). It's SO embarrassing but it's real, it's me … and I know I'm not the only one who's do it! AKA my favourite TV show Friends – if you read it, and you're a friend's fan, you'll know what I mean! Like I said, I put hours into the creative writing of my About Me page. But there are SO many out there, that just simply slap a few paragraphs together, make it all about them, and call it an About Page. The funny thing about and About page – is that it isn't really about YOU at all. It's actually about your client or customer or prospect, and only a little about you! It's showing them who you are, so that they can (a) Know they are connecting with a human (b) Find similarities in either what they are looking for or who they are That old H2H thing I've been crowing about for ages – human to human connection! So, let's go over the elements that make up a good About page You position your authority in your industry. Once people read your About page, they should know EXACTLY what you do and who you did it for. Who is your who and what do you want to be famous for? These are the two questions you need to consistently ask yourself when you are planning out your About page. Writing this page isn't the easiest thing to master, but it's possible once you understand the essential elements that must be included. Ignore the Myths! Myth #1: Write only about yourself – Your About page doesn't have to focus completely on you. Sure, it can include your personal story, but it's wise to focus on how you solve a problem for your readers. Myth #2: Use minimal design – I agree with this, to an extent, for some professions. For example, if you're a freelance writer, most of your target audience will be more interested in your words than whatever WordPress theme you've opted for. On the other hand, if you're a web developer or graphics professional, you really have to make your About page attractive. The point is, don't let these About page myths stop you from designing a page that's right for your target market. Focus on people's pain points and the solution that you can offer them. Unlike the homepage, the About page should be directed at using your own personal story and unique selling point (USP) to create a strong impact that drives leads. Make sure your readers can relate to your page and learn from it. On your About Page you should have: Headline: Every web page needs a headline, and your About page is no exception. Make it clear, simple and benefit driven! Supporting image: "A picture is worth a thousand words." No matter how attractive and well-written your page is, if it's nothing but text, you will lose a lot of potential customers. Don't let that happen to you. Add an image to your About page that shows who you are and what you offer. It could be your own phot

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 56 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. I looked forward to episode 52 so much and ticking off the goal of doing a podcast a week for a year, that's now I'm just, what number am I up too! It no longer correspondences with the week of the year! Confused? Me too! Anyway, welcome. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, it's my job, via this podcast, social media and everywhere else actually, to make your business life simpler. Business can be lonely and hard and complicated and it's hardly ever easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler, so that's my commitment you to on the Small Business Made Simple podcast! One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven't joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/56 www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners Today, as mentioned in the intro, I have a guest, Belinda from Your Social Bee, talking about Pinterest for business. As I mention in the interview, Pinterest to me has been, sit on the coach, Friday night, wine and cheese in hand and scroll to my little hearts content on Pinterest. Going down numerous rabbit holes and surfacing when I think "what was I looking for again". But this year, Pinterest is a goal of mine. I do a podcast every week and I regularly blog, so therefore, I have oodles of content (tech word that – oodles!). Pinterest seems like a fairly clear option for me to repurpose my content in a way I am currently not repurposing and also to break into an international market – another goal for 2020. I put in a group on Facebook that I was looking for a Pinterest legend to interview and Belinda was recommended to me. I reached out and hey presto – here we are! Belinda's business is Your Social Bee - https://yoursocialbee.com.au/ - link is in the show notes. Belinda is a Pinterest strategist and manager and her zone of genius is Pinterest for Business. If you've never thought about Pinterest as a marketing strategy, or even if you have, listen in. I think you'll be surprised about the statistics of Pinterest, who's the target and the type of businesses using it for marketing purposes. So, without holding Belinda up anymore, welcome Belinda: INTERVIEW WITH BELINDA https://yoursocialbee.com.au/ Convinced that Pinterest needs to be on your radar yet? I really hope you enjoyed that episode as much as I did making it. For those interested, I have started my Pinterest journey just this week and you can be sure that I will let you know of my progress or lack of as time goes on this year. No doubt I will be doing another episode of what I've found or how's it helped my business or vice versa, if it doesn't work. But, that's all for episode 56. I'll be back next Thursday with another great episode to help you simplify your business in 2020. If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode and share this with a friend. If you're still in gift giving mode, I'd love a rating and a review. Those things are like gold for podcasters like me! It would mean the world. PS – you can leave more than one rating and review – just saying! See you next week on the podcast for episode 57. But in the meantime, I'd love to connect with you all on social – so let's get social on social – I'm on all the platforms, so let's do that! …….. and remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there's no point in dreaming small!

Hey there podcast family, welcome back and welcome to episode 55 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. As usual thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, it's my job, via this podcast, social media and everywhere else actually, to make your business life simpler. Business can be lonely and hard and complicated and it's hardly ever easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler, so that's my commitment you to on the Small Business Made Simple podcast! To help your life or at least your working life to be simpler – come and join in my group Like Minded Business Owners. Ask questions, mingle (online mingle) with like minded business owners and show your expertise and market your business just a little! Besides my marketing/business owners' group – I also have another group on Facebook. It's called Buy from a Bush Business – the link is in the show notes if you'd like to check it out. https://www.facebook.com/groups/buyfromthebush/ At the time of recording these a little over 135,000 people in the group – yep 135,000 (yikes!) and it's this group that has inspired this episode. But whether you're in that group or not, there's a few things I consistently see business owners doing in both their digital and social media marketing, as well as offline marketing, that they could just tweak a little and make themselves easier to buy. My mentor taught me two things around this subject: Make yourself easy to buy from, and A confused buyer never buys I'm pretty sure if you looked your consumer behaviour you'd agree with both. If you have to click 7 buttons to purchase something through someone's check out, you'll likely stop after button 3, if you google someone's business or look them up on social media and can't find them, you'll move onto the next business or if you pick up the phone to chat to someone only to get an answering machine or an undecipherable message, you'll, again, more on. It may not be fair, and it may not be right, but the world moves at a quick pace and we, as business owners, need to make things as simple and easy as possible in order to get the sale. We lose momentum really quickly and are well aware, as consumers, that there's always the next business who will want our money. So, how do you make yourself easy to buy from? Be Your Own Customer Whether you have an online shop, a bricks and mortar or your sales are made via messenger, have you been your own customer and gone through the process? Or better yet, get your Mum or Grandma to do? What's that saying, if you can't explain it to a 6 year old, you don't know what you're talking about. So, if a person who has little computer skills can't navigate your website or your social media, then there's some fixing to do. The KISS method – keep it simple superstar! If your processes are streamlined, simple and easy, you are going to win more business than your competitors who aren't. I super guarantee it! Be Easy to Find I think it was the wonderful Kate Toon, Beyoncé of SEO, a past guest of this podcast (episode 39 for those playing along at home!), who said If you're not on google, are you even on the internet? And further to that, if you are on google but no one can find you, are you even a real business? Yes, you might not come up in lots of searches, but if I type into google your actual business name and location and you don't come up …. You are definitely not making yourself easy to buy from. Google my Business should be your BEST FRIEND in 2020. Not sure what I'm talking about, google, google my business! And perhaps check out episode 47 where I talk about the 6 marketing predictions for 2020 – Google my Business is one of them! If you don't have a website, if you can't afford or don't want to do google ads, make sure you have google my business set up and you are posting to it like you would a social media platform like Facebook. It will, in time, make you easy to find! Email Signature How many emails do you send each day? Each week? Each Month? What's your email signature look like? Is it branded? Does it have your contact numbers, email, website? Social Media icons so people can click and check you out? Bonus points if it has a photo of you! I would recommend every person has a photo of themselves in their email signature. Why? Because humans interact with humans – not logos. If you're concerned – have both a logo and a photo or a photo of you holding the logo! If you create blogs or podcasts or great content like that, have a link to your latest one in the email signature too! (This is something I need to work on – it's a bit hit and miss – depending on where I send my emails from – Gmail, outlook, mail chimp, Flodesk etc) Talking about email providers, I've just changed (or in the middle of changing) to Flodesk. If you're interested i

Hey there podcast family, welcome back and welcome to episode 54 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. As usual thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, it's my job, via this podcast, social media and everywhere else actually, to make your business life simpler. Business can be lonely and hard and complicated and it's hardly ever easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler, so that's my commitment you to on the Small Business Made Simple podcast! As I do this podcast recording, smoke fills my farm and visibility is less than 100 metres. Sad thing is the fire is at least an hour away. So, I cannot imagine what it's like as you get closer. My heart, like so many of you, bleeds for those who are going through something I hope, selfishly, ever to experience. I'm lucky my fire fighting hubby hasn't gone away. The local trucks did, but he stayed in the knowledge that someone had to be in our district in case something happened closer to home. My podcast is not the place to be making big statements, inserting my personal opinions but it is a voice to encourage humanity. Right now, we need compassion more than ever, humility more than ever and grace for things we don't understand. If you're not listening to this in real time, so at the start of January 2020, then this next bit might be a bit strange, so forgive me … But with human lives lost, farm stock lost and birds and animals in the millions lost, I'd like to take this opportunity for a minutes silence… Ok, so a little fittingly, I have a guest on the podcast today who's also a country gal like me. I am always pretty excited to connect with rural ladies doing amazing things. And if that's you – make sure you get in touch! Mell Millgate is my guest today. Her business is Starfish Marketing and she lives in Rutherglen. If you haven't heard of Rutherglen before when you're probably not a wine person! Rutherglen has some of the best fortified and red wines in the world! I digress….. Mell reached out to me earlier late in 2019 and we're clicked ever since. Two rural marketing gals doing very different things – as you'll hear on the podcast. Mell runs a marketing agency. And that's pretty much why I have asked her on today. How many emails or unsolicited ads do you see with massive promises and guarantees if you'll just sign up to this agency and let them do your social media? 10 a day. 20 a day. Minimum right. I often say that my industry, marketing and social media, has a person for almost every corner in the Australia and agencies who promise you the world to do your social media for you are probably the same. So how on earth do you choose? It's a fact that I am very used to: Everyone knows they should do marketing. Everyone knows marketing will help grow their business and their bottom line, but most don't have time (aka won't make time). And therefore, the offer of someone to do it for you seems like a good fit. So, if you're thinking of employing an agency to take marketing off your plate, this is the episode for you. Let's get into it and welcome Mell from Starfish Marketing. INTERVIEW WITH MELL MILLGATE – STARFISH MARKETING (Interview transcript) www.starfishm.com.au That's all for episode 54. Let's hit the ground running in 2020 …. It'll be as EPIC as you make it! Big love my podcast family .. I'll be back next Thursday with another cracking episode guaranteed! If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode and share this with a friend. If you're still in gift giving mode, I'd love a rating and a review. Those things are like gold for podcasters like me! It would mean the world. PS – you can leave more than one rating and review – just saying! But that is all for Episode 54. I'd love to connect with you all on social – so let's get social on social – I'm on all the platforms, join the Like Minded Business Owners Group on Facebook - so let's do that! …….. and remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there's no point in dreaming small!

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 53 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast and HAPPY NEW YEAR. 2020 is here! As a young girl, I was born in the 70's, I remember thinking about 2020 a lot! Dreaming, wondering what my life would be like THAT far into the future. And all of a sudden it's here …. I'm not sure I could have ever imagined my life would look like it does, the good, the bad and the sensational .. but I do have really strong memories of thinking about 2020 as a kid. How about you? Anyway, as usual thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, it's my job, via this podcast, social media and everywhere else actually, to make your business life simpler. Business can be lonely and hard and complicated and it's hardly ever easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler, so that's my commitment you to on the Small Business Made Simple podcast! One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven't joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/53 www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners Every week for the past year I have put out a podcast – so there's 52 already. Many of you probably either podcast yourselves (if not you should and that's a future episode) or at least write blogs consistently – hopefully weekly – be at least consistently. There's a lot of time and effort and energy that goes into creating consistent original content like this. A LOT OF WORK. So, it doesn't really make sense to do it, market it once or twice and more on to the next one. It's a pattern I see consistently with content creators. They are great at creating content – that's their jam – but they miss out on so much traction not repurposing enough or often enough. Which is what has inspired this episode – 11 ways to repurpose a single piece of content – plus lots of tips and tricks along the way. Why repurpose? Well because, despite what some believe, not everyone sees everything you put on social media or opens every piece of email marketing you send and therefore putting it under their nose more than once is necessary to build traction, build movements and build your expertise. If they don't see it or read it or watch it, they won't know how brilliant you are! So, let's dig in:: SUBMIT TO MEDIA OUTLETS FOR FREE PR This is probably the least obvious and is the one that needs the first thoughts. For a media outlet to pick up your content, you need several things, but original content is probably one of the most important. So, before you publish you blog on your own platforms etc, consider submitting to media outlets for some free PR around your business and expertise. If you've never done any free PR before, have a listen to episode 14 – www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/14 where I chatted to PR expert Jules Brooke. PR can do wonders for your business, your expertise and your bottom line! And plus, if you do get something published – you can repurpose that will all the suggestions below again! SHARE ON SOCIAL MEDIA No matter what platforms you are on – once your blog or podcast is published on your platform, share to social media. Write an engaging couple of lines which leads to a call to action – e.g./ click here to read more and share the heck out of it on social media. CREATE A SHORT VIDEO Video is king. He has been for a while now, and this is a great way of getting some video out there. Either record yourself talking about one or two important points mentioned in your blog or podcast and post on social media. Again, with a call to action following. If it's a podcast you are repurposing, you can create your own videos from the audio (if you publish your podcast on YouTube you could do a screen cast of a section). Again, repurpose on social media. Tools for doing short videos, that I use and are fabulous, are Loom, Wavve and Headliner – links to all these are in the show note. LINKEDIN ARTICLE LinkedIn has a platform for publishing articles. Apparently Sunday is the best day for traction on these! Go figure! Simply cut and paste your article into LinkedIn, create a banner, put a call to action at the end (which might be "come to my website to read more great articles or listen to my podcast here). Now if it's a podcast you are repurposing, I am assuming you are doing show notes. It's the show notes you'd tailor a little and cut and paste as a LinkedIn article. Of course, doing show notes is already another way of repurposing your podcast! EMAIL YOUR LIST Holy cow. Do you

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 52 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, as you'll learn along the way, I pretty much live, breathe, dream marketing and social media! I'm all about making your life, your business and your marketing simpler. Because business isn't always easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler. One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven't joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/podcast www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners So, as I mentioned just before, this is episode 52 – and alas the end of the year. Back in December 2018 when the idea for this podcast was born inside my little brain one day when sitting beside the pool pondering the question "what can I do to stand out from the crowd, to education small business owners and have the biggest impact I can in 2019?" The answer was of course the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. On episode 1 I declared that I would commit to doing 52 of these and aha today is the day that I can tick that goal off my list. I was done 52 podcast episodes – 1 every week for 2019. Don't panic, I'm not stopping now. I've got a white board full of podcast ideas to take me to at least August next year! But I guess, I just wanted to reflect on that achievement with you all. If there's something that you want to achieve in 2020, maybe it's been on your list in 2019 or even earlier than that, and just hasn't got done yet, I want to encourage you to do it. Back in January this year, I'd never done a podcast episode. In fact, I'd never ever been on a podcast as a guest, I hadn't even studied what it would take. I just did it. Mind you when I let myself take the idea seriously, I YouTubed like a crazed teenager to find out how the heck I was going to do it. And to be honest, I will probably never listen to episode 1 – because I am afraid of what it might sound like. I know that I edited the crap out of it and took as many breathes, ummms and you know's out of it that I could! It wasn't perfect, to some it probably wasn't even good, but it was done. My mentor had a saying "ready, fire, aim" – yes, ready, fire, aim (not the other way around!) and would say that the world doesn't need anybody else "aiming to do something". Just do it. Work with what you have and fix it or change it or make it better as you go because if you wait for perfect, you'll never do it. So, on this very short and short episode 52, on boxing day 2019, I want to encourage you to READY FIRE AIM On that project that you have for 2020 or on that project that never made it to the top of the list in 2019 or even just in life itself. Perfection is a trap and doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result is the definition of insanity! READY FIRE AIM Before I go, I would encourage you to take a listen to a couple of past episodes of this podcast, in case you haven't managed to listen to them yet: Episode 46 – Planning for 2020 – What's your Word. www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/46 Episode 47 – 2020 Marketing Predictions – 6 Essential Marketing Trends for 2020 – www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/47 And Episode 48 – What happened when I said yes for a year – www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/48 If you get a chance to listen to all those – then I know your mindset, heading into 2020, will be just where you need it to be to plan your best year yet. If you want to reach out and chat to me about what 2020 might look like for you and have a FREE 30 minute zoom call – then simple go to https://calendly.com/jenn-smm/discovery PS – I've never offered this before via my podcast – but I figure if I'm really serious about wanting you to have the best start in 2020 – then offering to have a chat is the one way I can really impact you and your business. PPS – if you listen to episode 46 about picking a word for 2020 – you'll quickly notice that mine is IMPACT. I want to have an impact on as many small business owners as I can …. Hopefully that's you too! There's no discovery of the week today – just you and me having a chat. That's all for episode 52. I'm proud of how 2019 turned out for me, and I sincerely hope you are proud of you too. Big love my podcast family .. I'll be back next Thursday (arrh it'll be 2020!) with some more marketing know-how and another discovery of course. If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 51 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, as you'll learn along the way, I pretty much live, breathe, dream marketing and social media! I'm all about making your life, your business and your marketing simpler. Because business isn't always easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler. One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven't joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/podcast www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners My very last guest on the podcast for 2019 is the amazing, the super, the extremely nerdified and talented Sarah Crawford of A Lined Design. Sarah is a website magician. Yep Magician – she's so much more than just a website developer or creator – she definitely more like a magician. And she was my magician. She magiced up www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au Yes, magiced up is a word. Today, we are going to discuss all things websites and answer the question – do you need a website in 2020 and beyond … But, first, my discovery of the week. THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY My discovery this week came from listening to another podcast with Molly Pitman – the expert of all things complicated with Facebook ads. It's a website app which can help you stand out when creating ads. It's called https://yaytext.com/ So basically, it lets you use bold, underline, crazy text, italics and more in your ad copy (really any social media copy) which in turn helps you to stand out from the busy world of social media feeds! You might know that you can have bold and italics in a Facebook group, but not on your business page or your personal page. But this app lets' you do just that! Anything that helps you stand out from the crowd, get noticed, look different on social media is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. And if Molly uses it, it must be even better! It's free – just go to https://yaytext.com/ to find it. As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! Will you need a website in 2020 and beyond? Ok, into the episode. As I mentioned before, my guest is Sarah Crawford from A Lined Design. Sarah is an extremely talented website designer/creator and I have to say continually blew me away with your knowledge, her processes and procedures and professionalism. But I've got her on the podcast today to talk to you about whether you still need a website in 2020 and beyond, how to get started if you don't have one and have you need to look after a website if you do (or if you get one!). This is a great conversation – like two friends chatting but there's some amazing gold in there. I say two friends chatting, but I only met Sarah through looking for a website developer, but I'm pretty sure we'll be friends forever! INTERVIEW WITH SARAH Contact Sarah www.alineddesign.com I hope you enjoyed that episode as much as I enjoyed recording it. Well episode 51 is the last one in 2019 before Christmas. So, please have yourself a very merry Christmas and if Christmas isn't your thing, then still enjoy your time with friends and family. Always be safe and take care of your loved ones too. I hope you have some time to relax and rejuvenate before 2020 hits! Big love my podcast family .. I'll be back next Thursday (boxing day!) with some more marketing know-how and another discovery of course. If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode and share this with a friend. And maybe leave me a rating and a review wherever you listen in. Those things are like gold for podcasters like me! PS – you can leave more than one rating and review – just saying! But that is all for Episode 51. I'd love to connect with you all on social – so let's get social on social – I'm on all the platforms, so let's do that! …….. and remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there's no point in dreaming small!

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 50 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, as you'll learn along the way, I pretty much live, breathe, dream marketing and social media! I'm all about making your life, your business and your marketing simpler. Because business isn't always easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler. One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven't joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/podcast www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners As we come into the end of the year, it's super important that we find time to sit back and reflect on the year that was. What worked, what didn't work, what we want to continue doing in 2020 and what we want to say goodbye too. I've had some time to do some reflecting and I wanted to share with you 5 things that I am going to do differently in 2020, which might inspire or enlighten something in you. But before I get into all that, let's do the discovery of the week. THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY My discovery I want to share with you this week is a piece of FREE accounting software. I absolutely hate that the government has made me a part time accountant – bookwork. Honestly, it really used to light me up – I used to love doing the bookwork for the 5 or so businesses I have under my hat – but now – not so much – in fact just no. My dear friend Jan, who happens like LOVE numbers, often talks about the fabulous piece of software called Wave. It's free accounting software and it's super simple to use, it's free – nothing hidden – and well, it makes bookwork easy. In fact, Jan has run several workshops to help small businesses get involved with Wave. If you haven't got yourself an electronic piece of accounting software, or you're sick of paying huge frees or monthly subscriptions for simple accounts software – have a look at wave. Find it at www.waveapps.com – it's not for big business, but perfect for small business As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! 5 THINGS I'D DO DIFFERENTLY IN 2020 As small business owners we don't spend enough time looking back. We are always looking forward – what's next, where do I want to take the business and how do I get there. Having goals and looking forward, strategically planning on how you will achieve them – all awesome things. Never not do them – always be stretching and learning and be forward thinking, but there's definitely merit in looking back. If you think of it as the amount of time you spend looking in the revision mirror of your car. You don't do it often, but if you're anything like me, you won't get anywhere if you didn't do it at least 30 seconds a day. I really encourage you to take time to reflect. If you're listening to this when it goes live, mid-December, then section out some time in the next 4 weeks to reflect – or if you're listening to this episode later – still book in some time in your diary to reflect. Ask yourself What worked? What didn't work? What's next? Having had some time to reflect on perhaps things I'd like to do better in my business next year, I thought I'd share some of them to inspire you to perhaps do them with me (and we can check in this time next year!) or be inspired to think of your own 5 things you'd like to do better in 2020. So, here goes:: ASK – just ask. Reach out and ask for what I want. This has been a HUGE lesson for me in 2019 – feeling like I'm not down the road enough, not a big enough brand, not important enough, that I couldn't ask people to be guests on my podcast, that I couldn't ask someone to think about doing a collaboration with me and so on. Of all the people I've reached out to in 2019 – one person said that they were sorry and didn't have time. ONE person and you know what, the world didn't end! I was totally ok with that and frankly, I'll try again because I would love to have an hour with this person to give you a freaking awesome piece of learning on the podcast. So, watch out if you're on my

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 49 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, as you'll learn along the way, I pretty much live, breathe, dream marketing and social media! I'm all about marketing your life, your business and your marketing simpler. Because business isn't always easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler. One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven't joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/podcast www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners Thanks for everyone who reached out, send me a message, and pulled me up on the street (yep, seriously!) to tell me that you were going to give "saying yes" or "not saying no" a go in 2020! I am super proud of you all and cannot wait to see your business and self-explode in 2020 with such a fabulous mindset! For those wondering what I'm talking about, head back 1 episode and listen in to episode 48 - WHAT HAPPENED WHEN I SAID YES FOR A YEAR Today I a super guest on – Suz Chadwick of the Connection Exchange. Suz is awesome, so full of energy and freaking great information around branding and expertise. But before I get into all that, let's do the discovery of the week. THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! Did you know that in October just this year, Instagram or Facebook launched a new app called Threads for Instagram - a new camera-first messaging app that helps you stay connected to your close friends? Threads is a standalone app designed with privacy, speed, and your close connections in mind. You can share photos, videos, messages, Stories, and more with your Instagram close friends list. You are in control of who can reach you on Threads, and you can customize the experience around the people who matter most. If you're the type of person who seems to like getting DMs on Instagram but before you get the read them you get very distracted by the actual feed or stories on Instagram – then this might be just for you! It's the only real benefit I see – no distractions. You can message your friends and family in a thread via Instagram – it works pretty much like Messenger to be honest. Which, from a sceptic marketing point of view makes me wonder what messenger is going to look like in the future. Because why would you have something just like messenger if messenger was going to be around forever in its current format …. Anyway, if Insta is your place to hang out with business friends or friends and family – then Treads just might be for you! You can find threads by searching in your app store for it – search Threads from Instagram. As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! THE 8 KEY ELEMENTS TO BRANDING WITH SUZ CHADWICK My guest today is Suz Chadwick, a business brand builder to savvy women in business. Suz has the Connection Exchange and her own podcast called Brand Builders Lab Podcast. Suz is all about playing big and branding bold. It's pretty much the reason why I got her on the podcast today. Not only to talk to us about branding and branding bold but also to inspire us to play bigger. I know this is a real 2020 goal for me. Play bigger. It kind of works with my not saying no philosophy! So, let's just dive into today's episode with Suz. INTERVIEW WITH SUZ Elements to Branding Suz talks about Brand purpose – vision, mission and values Visual brand – logo and colours Brand voice – tone and language Personal brand – what do you want to be known for Brand/customer experience Brand positioning – Kmart or Chanel Brand loyalty Brand Awareness Get in touch with Suz Website – www.theconnectionexchange.com Book website - http://playbigbrandbold.com/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/suzchadwick/ Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Suzchadwick So, did you enjoy that? Isn't Suz's enthusiasm just infectious! I hope you loved this interview as much as I did making it. But that's it for episode 49. I'll be back next Thursday with some more marketing know-how and another discovery of course. If you're enjo

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 48 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, as you'll learn along the way, I pretty much live, breathe, dream marketing and social media! I'm all about marketing your life, your business and your marketing simpler. Because business isn't always easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler. One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven't joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/podcast www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners Today I wanted to share with you something that just might give you a nudge. The nudge is for you, although as I am recording this podcast, it seems like the podcast is all about me! But it's really not, yes these are my stories but the message is 100% for YOU my gorgeous listener. But before I get into all that, let's do the discovery of the week. THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! This week's discovery is an app that will add captions to your videos. It's called Mix Captions. If you're a avid listener of the podcast – you'll know that I have often talk about and use Clips – an app that does captions on videos as you speak. But the difference with this app – Mix Captions - is that you can upload a video you've already recorded and add captions to it! How sensational is that?? So, I can use my favourite app for recording video – which is Snow – one of my discoveries of the week in episode 19 and now upload it in Mix Captions and have it captioned. For me this is a game changer! We all know we should have captions on our videos for social media, more than 65% of people watch videos without sound, so this app is solving that problem. It's available in your app store – search As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! THE YEAR OF SAYING YES I have to say, straight up, this episode is putting me out of my comfort zone. I am always ALL about my listeners, my customers, YOU – so talking about me, is giving that rolling tummy feeling. But I wanted to share and hopefully even inspire you to think about what you'd like to achieve in 2020 and how, just maybe, having a year of "saying yes" just might get you there (wherever it is that you want to go). BUT what this story isn't about is being busy. I'm not telling you my story about "saying yes" to every opportunity to encourage you to book up your calendar with "stuff". It's about saying yes to opportunities that align with your values or your business values, with your hopes and dreams, but may have always been outside your comfort zone and therefore you wouldn't normally say yes to. So, again, this isn't about being busy being busy, it's still about alignment and strategy, it's more about comfort zones. Ok, so the story starts about 3 years ago, on News Years Eve. I'm at my besties house, it's very late (way past my bed time) and my bestie and I are laying watching the stars. We've consumed a bit of wine, ok a lot, and we are starting to get, well, DEEP! For me, the coming year was either going to be EPIC or horrid. My choice right? About a week ago I'd listed my retail business for sale and we already had a purchaser. I know right, insane. I was selling my baby. Something I'd built up, nurtured, poured my heart, soul, and salty tears into and now it was going to be someone else's baby. So, my bestie turns to me, keeping this in mind, and also keeping in mind that we were pretty cloud 9-y by now, and says "Jenn what are you going to do this year with no shop"? I said, "I don't know, I really don't know, but I'm not going to say no to opportunities" Bestie said "No, ok, me either" And so become to drank pack of having the year of not saying no. Just an edit here – why not the year of saying yes you might be asking – wine. Wine is the answer to that question. So here I am, basically unemployed because I sold my business, feeling just a wee bit lost but determined to make this work – I just didn't know what "this" was. Sometimes we don't have to have it all wor

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 47 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, as you'll learn along the way, I pretty much live, breathe, dream marketing and social media! I'm all about marketing your life, your business and your marketing simpler. Because business isn't always easy, but it should be simple or at least simpler. One way I help to make your life simpler is by having a group of like-minded business owners all in one stop. To ask questions, get answers and enjoy the journey of business! If you haven't joined the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook Group, then hope over there after this episode and join! Simply search Like Minded Business Owners in Facebook or come to the show notes for the like. Show notes are at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/podcast www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners Today I wanted to share with you some predictions I see in the area of marketing, as we head into 2020. Some of them are already trending, some are on the tip of taking off and some we know very well, we just need to get better at! But before I get into all that, let's do the discovery of the week. THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! This discovery is Google Easy PDF. What does Google Easy PDF do? It makes PDF documents writable – which means people can fill in forms or write answers etc on your PDF. I think it's a frustration of many that we download these workbooks, lead magnets, books etc as PDFs and we need to print them just so we can write on them or fill out the answers. The second part to the frustration many of us feel, is that once we write the answers, we need to scan them back into our computer and send them back to the person via email. It's an arduous job! Labour intensive and not a good use of our time. And in the spirit of this podcast – google easy PDF will make your life simpler! Now I have PDFs out there in the world and haven't used Google Easy PDF. So, it's one of my jobs, over my December January to get things like this done. How about you? Do you need to go back over some items in your business and make it easier for your client or customer? Give me a better experience? As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! 2020 MARKETING PREDICTIONS – 6 essential marketing trends for 2020 My predictions for where we need to be spending time in our marketing in 2020. I've come up with these 6 predictions by watching trends, doing marketing myself and for my clients and watching what works, what doesn't and what did and doesn't anymore or vice versa. So, let's get into it. Google my Business If you haven't already set up your "google my business" page – then do so TODAY peeps! And start treating it like social media – post to it – put your best content on it. Why? Well what I've seen and experienced is that since the demise of Google + which shut down in about May 2019, Google has put a whole load of focus on Google My Business as it's answer to a social media platform. It's like an online directory for local business. Want to be found locally, then this is the place you need to be putting your time and energy into in 2020. Some of the most compelling reasons why you need a Google My Business presence It's Free. ... Helps Customers Find Your Physical Location. ... Better Search Visibility. ... Displays Useful Information. ... Another Communication Channel. ... Encourage and Actively Respond to Reviews I recently had a new prospect reach out to me and said "I just had to ring, every time I google X you keep coming up. I can no longer escape you, so I've picked up the phone and called!" So, priority number Uno (although I'm probably going to say that about all 6 points) is Google my Business. How do you start, just google, google my business! If you already have a Gmail account, you are halfway there! Voice Search This has already taken off, but I can absolutely guarantee you, these devices will be hot on the Christmas list for households without one this year! What am I talking about? Voice search devices, Google Home, Amazon Echo with Alexa and the one many of us have in our pockets Siri by Apple! We have one, every morning my children ask, Hey Google, what's the weather going to be like today" or "Hey Google, can you set a timer for 5 minutes please" We are only going to see the rise and r

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 46 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, as you'll learn along the way, I pretty much live, breathe, dream marketing and social media! Today's episode is brought to you by my brand new and FREE eBook, the Ultimate Beginners Guide to Facebook Ads. I've had some great feedback from some very proactive biz owners out there who have downloaded the eBook and, importantly, taken some action. Because I love an action taker! So, if you're interested in learning more about Facebook Ads or just where to begin, download the free eBook at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/ads. Today we are talking 2020 planning and quite specifically, the word you'll use to describe 2020. Now, don't switch off just yet. This little exercise has had a massive impact on my business and I just want you to share in the love too! But before I get into the word of the next decade (!), let's do the discovery of the week. THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! This discovery has changed my life! I absolutely kid you not. I popped a question into a Facebook group that I belong to a few weeks ago and asked for help. I was so totally and utterly frustrated by Instagram and it blooming well changing how I wanted my captions to look. I thought, there had to a better way. A lovely lady by the name of Katie Taylor @_katiemtaylor, told me about Hashtagie! She said it would change my life and well freaking well did! You basically cut and paste (or type) your caption into it and then copy it and paste into Instagram and it stays the exact way it's supposed too – emojis, paragraphs, spaces and all! If this is your frustration, then I've just paid it forward and changed your life too! You can find Hashtagie at https://www.hashtagie.com/instagram-text-spacer The link is in the show notes too – www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/podcast As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! PLANNING FOR 2020 – WHAT'S YOUR 2020 WORD? Ok, just in case you're thinking I'm going all wishy washy on you talking about 1 word to describe your coming year and 2020, let me tell you a bit of a story! About 12 months ago now I was listening to a podcast and I can't honestly say which one it was, although if I had to guess I would say more than likely Amy Porterfield's podcast because I'm a HUGE Amy fan, and they were talking about choosing a word to describe your year. Writing down all your goals, your hopes, your dreams, your BHAG, and then choosing 1 word that would describe all those goals, hopes, dreams that you could think of every day in your business. I kind of thought at the time, 1 word, are you kidding me, how am I to think of one word to describe all that. But in true Jenn fashion, the thought wouldn't leave my head. It was November 2018, I'd just left a business partnership, one that I thought would last forever, with a business partner I thought I loved and admired, but alas it had come to a very abrupt end and soared quite quickly (which in itself was a complete surprise) and I was re-thinking all my decisions, all my business decisions. I'd been coaching and teaching social media and marketing for almost 2 years already, but never really branded me, never really on my own and now I was TOTALLY on my own. So, this podcast, this idea that I could have 1 word to describe what was pretty unknown for me, what 2019 was going to hold, because basically I was starting a brand new chapter and it was a Jenn Solo chapter, started to build in my head. So, I asked myself these questions – what did I want 2019 to look like? What impact did I want to make on the world in 2019? I asked these questions over and over and over again. And, as I discovered, within those questions, lay the answer. Answers are often just in front of us aren't they! IMPACT. IMPACT was my word. Impact was why I started this podcast on January 1st this year. Impact was the reason why I took on my private coaching clients. Impact was the reason why I hosted over 30 workshops this year. If I was going to do this thing, build the Jenn Donovan brand, then by heck it was going to have an Impact – an impact on my listeners, clients, workshop attendees, and on me. So, what's your word? In 2020, what will your word be? How will you show up? WHY CHOOSE A WORD OF THE YEAR? If you're new to

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 45 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first-time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, as you'll learn along the way, I pretty much live, breathe, dream marketing and social media! Today's episode is brought to you by my brand new, course Facebook Ads for Beginners. It's been many hours in the making, but it's here and I'm more excited than a cat when the Christmas tree goes up! I love talking about Facebook Ads. I believe they have the power to make a massive difference in my business and in yours. So go check out my course at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/facebook Today, I am going to have a chat to you all about Christmas marketing. Yep – it's almost that time of the year and whether your business is Christmas orientated, you believe in Christmas or whatever, there's no denying that for many business owners summer peak season is coming! And, I have to say, and STRESS THIS A LOT, now is not the time to getting too busy for marketing! Top of mind marketing is so so important when it comes to Christmas or peak season time. If you're not marketing to your audience, I guarantee you, your competition is, and they are winning the business. Not because your customer aren't loyal or they don't love you and your products and/or services, but because they have simply been targeted and remarketed too so often by someone else that it seems like the natural choice. So today I'm going to give you some practical tips and tricks on how to stay top of mind when you're going out of your mind with busyness! But first, our Discovery of the Week. THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! My latest little app discovery is Layout. It's the one that Instagram recommends when you go to post in Instagram and want to have several pictures "laid out" as one. So, in other words a photo grid. It's quick, it's easy and it's simple – so yay – after all that's the goal of the podcast! If you are you wanting to use several photos but in a grid rather than individual photos, when have a look at Layout. If you go to post in Instagram and click Layout (so second button in – first one boomerang, second Layout, third, multiple pictures) when you'll need this app. Handy little app to have on your photo for creating awesome graphics for socials – not just Instagram! As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! CHRISTMAS/PEAK SEASON MARKETING Like I said before, now is not the time to be taking your foot off the accelerator with your marketing. Being busy cannot be your excuse for letting marketing go by the wayside. Yes, absolutely, it matters what marketing you do in the 9 months leading up to the bat crap crazy season, but if you let it go now, you WILL miss out on market share. There's a drought happening which I am sure you are all very well aware of. Therefore, there's not as much cash around and things have been tight. But rightly or wrongly, people still find money to purchase Christmas presents, so if you're not marketing to get your share of this, then your competitors will be. Harsh, I know but I've seen it too many times before. Last week in November hits and I hear nothing from the stores I love, from the businesses I've followed all year, because they are busy being busy. And I get it. Don't you worry, I SO get it. I've been in retail. I know what busy looks like, but I also know that a little planning goes a long way. So, here' some tips on marketing when you're busy. PLAN, PLAN and PLAN Bit obvious I know. But when I was in retail, I planned, and I planned some more, especially in November for December. I dedicated a whole day out of my calendar in mid-November, planned out our Christmas marketing and got together all the assets I needed, and I scheduled my little heart out with any marketing I could. I know every business is different, but here's an example of what I did coming into retail. You need to listen and then think how it relates to your business and make it work! First thing I did was worked out what marketing we were doing in December. Most of this was already in the pipeline well before I took this day out in November – but planning day was about bringing all my marketing assets together. So, we had a catalogue, which we built ourselves – side note – so if you're in small business and not part of a buying group or franchise, this is so

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 44 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! If you're a first time listener, super super welcome, I am so pleased to have you here. I am your host Jenn Donovan, and, as you'll learn along the way, I pretty much live, breathe, dream marketing and social media! Today's episode is brought to you by my brand new, course Facebook Ads for Beginners. It's been many hours in the making, but it's here and I'm more excited than a cat when the Christmas tree goes up! I love talking about Facebook Ads. I believe they have the power to make a massive difference in my business and in yours. So go check out my course at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/facbeook Today, I have a very special guest, Kellie Briggs of Business Networking by design, and we are talking all about networking as a marketing strategy. Now Kell's walked the walk and talked the talk when it comes to networking and I am so happy to have her on to talk about something we haven't really covered on the podcast before. Before we get into that interview, let's do the discovery of the week. THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! My discovery this week is an app called StoryArt. I am a very big fan of Instagram stories and so always on the look out to make them better for my business and pass on the tips to other businesses too! I have to say, StoryArt is new for me, but so far I am loving it. So much so, that I have given them my money! The app is free but if you want to upgrade for more templates etc, you can and I have. It's only available for iOS so far as I know, but if you're trying to up your Instagram game (which pretty much where it is at the moment, I have to say), then check out StoryArt. The templates are pretty cool! As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! NETWORKING AS A MARKETING STRATEGY WITH KELLIE BRIGGS Straight up, I have to say, networking is NOT a dirty word! I'm not sure about you but until very very recent years, I hated networking. The thought of talking to strangers, feeling like I was being judged, having no idea what to say made me feel completely and utterly sick. I am very much a people person, but networking made my stomach roll! I'm still not a massive fan of networking BUT I am very aware of it's power as a marketing tool and therefore have learnt to, as I say, pull my big girl undies on and just get on it the job of networking. I have found one of my most endearing strategies at networking events is to be the listener! Everyone loves the listener and often everyone remembers the nice, kind, lovely person who stood there and listened! If you don't network, I am hoping that this episode might make you change your mind. I know it's something I need to do more of. Anyway, onto my interview with the Queen or Beyoncé of Networking, Kellie Briggs. I met Kellie online. We are in the same group for some courses you've bought, ended up in a LinkedIn Pod group together and our friendship has flourished since. She's about a 5 hour plane ride from me, but in 2019, distance is no barrier to get to know someone! She's also a fellow podcaster, so I love that! It's so good to talk to other podcasters, makes you feel like you can keep going and everything will be alright! Kellie's podcast is called Business Networking by Design. I suggest you have a listen in (after this one, of course!). What I know about Kellie, I have mostly heard on her podcasts. She is so very passionate about networking and I loved our conversation together today. Everything she's learned about networking comes from the real world experience of needing to network to find customers for her first business! So without any further delay, let's bring on Kellie! INTERIVEW WITH KELLIE BRIGGS Connect with Kellie Website:: https://kelliebriggs.com.au/ Podcast:: https://kelliebriggs.com.au/podcast/ Facebook Group:: https://www.facebook.com/groups/800836630302126/ How good was that? I hope you enjoyed that episode as much as I did making it! I hope Kellie has changed your perspective on networking, as she has mine, but if you need some more convincing, head the show notes www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/44 and find a link to Kellie's podcast there and get listening! Before I go, if you're interested in my brand-new Facebook Ads for Beginners course, I'd love to be the person to teach you. I take your hand and I walk you through, step by step, not only on the actual Fac

Hey there podcast family, welcome to episode 43 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! Today's episode is brought to you by my brand new, course Facebook Ads for Beginners. It's been many hours in the making, but it's here and I'm more excited than a cat when the Christmas tree goes up! I love talking about Facebook Ads. I believe they have the power to make a massive difference in my business and in yours. But one of the biggest mistakes people make and probably one of the most asked question I get about Ads is "to boost or not to boost"? So, I thought I'd deal with just that question here on the podcast today. It won't surprise to learn that I am anti-boosting. But it will surprise you to hear that I think they do have a time and place and I'll talk about that a bit later. Before I get all addsie (!) with you – let's do the discovery of the week. THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! This discovery is a fun one! If you're anything like me, you see things, get curious and think "how did you do that" and off you set down a 100 rabbit holes looking for the solution to what you saw and that was a little bit cute/different or awesome. Alas, this was one of those needless investigations driven purely by curiosity. Let me see if I can explain it? Have you ever seen on Facebook or Instagram or social media for that matter, a post where someone is texting in an animation and a second later someone responds? With all the sound effects of text typing and look and feel of a text. Well that's what I've seen and thought "cool"! So, I found an app that does it. It's called TextingStory and you'll find it in the app store. It's free and well, frankly, I think it's a little cool. If standing out from the crowd on social media, where it's busy and crowded, is the name of our game – then this little app just might hit that goal. And plus, it's like having a little conversation with yourself! For those who talk to themselves, you know what I mean?!?! Anyway, check it out. I'll have a story of what I am talking about here on my Instagram stories today – so go look at it – head to Small Business Made Simple and check it out. As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! ARE FACEBOOK BOOST POSTS WORTH IT? Ok so let's get into today's episode all about boosting posts. Recently, a Facebook account manager had this to say about Boosted Posts: You are targeting engagement of heavy users and this does not correlate with purchase intent, brand recognition, etc. Instead, it is solely focused on those who tend to react or "like" anything. Yikes! Do you want to spend most of your ad dollars with an objective where people "like" anything? And as I've said several times on this Podcast when it comes to social media, my bank manager doesn't accept "likes" as payment and I suspect yours doesn't either! Boosting, frankly, is chasing that vanity metric – likes. It's not good business strategy and it doesn't help you reach those business goals. The abundance of information and targeting options for advertisers that can be used for advertising from within Facebook can be overwhelming for anyone that doesn't work at a digital agency. Facebook knows this which is why it created the Boost Post option from the page interface. It knows it needed an "easier" option for businesses, so it created one – but it doesn't mean it's the right one for you. Easy isn't always best. There's a reason why this podcast is called Small Business Made Simple NOT Small Business Made Easy – easy isn't always the right option. Here's 3 reasons boosted posts are not a good option Reason One There are far more effective options available to you as an advertiser. Boosted posts are just one of twenty different marketing objectives Facebook offers advertisers. Many of its other marketing objectives will help you achieve business outcomes that Boosted Posts will not, such as leads, sales, brand awareness, increasing video views, and more. Reason Two Boosted Posts are focused on engagement (these are vanity metrics – like I mentioned before) and targeted specifically to the 16% of users likely to engage with an ad. Each of Facebook's marketing objectives is designed for a specific goal and boosted posts are focused solely on post engagement. And engagement is not a good objective to pursue when you are focused on business outcomes such as growing revenue. Reason Three When you boost a post from your page interface, t

Hey there, welcome to episode 42 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! Today's episode is brought to you by my brand new, almost can't hold in my excitement, course Facebook Ads for Beginners. It's been many hours in the making, but it's here and today is launch day. I will be talking all things Facebook Ads on this episode, so keep listening, but if Facebook Ads is something you'd like to try for yourself, or you'd like to learn more about (and you're kinda just a beginner), then stick around. I've got a great offer for you! I get to talk to so many small business owners, in rural areas and in the city and I know 2 things for sure. Firstly, they realise there's power in using Facebook Ads to sell their wares and services or to engage with their audience or to bring in new prospects, and secondly, they know they need to know this stuff. BUT, what I also found is that there's a whole lot of either "boosting button" pressers out there or small business owners who just don't know where to start when it comes to Facebook Ads – they might have looked, and things just look too hard. Hence the reason for today's podcast and frankly, my new digital course. But before I get started, let's do the Discovery of the Week. THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! I always find it funny how someone can mention something new to you and then all of a sudden you are hearing about it and seeing it everywhere. It could be good marketing – or the red Mazda theory – you know the one when go buy a new car and then the next day everyone on the road seems to have the same car as you, but you didn't notice yesterday? Well, this week's discovery of the week has a bit of that in it. Last week I had a lunch date with the wonderful Mell of Starfish marketing, and she mentioned it, then Kerry Anne Nelson had a post about it on LinkedIn and then someone mentioned it in a chat group and so on and on it's gone. So, what is it? It's called, Missinglettr. It can be found at missinglettr.com (and it's missing the second e). If you write blogs, you are going to love this. Missinglettr turns each of your blog posts into a 12-month social campaign, which is then dripped out to your social channels. Each campaign is designed to engage with your audience and drive traffic back to your site. Repurposing content gets my heart – I love tools that help repurpose content. Blogs are a lot of work and to just put them on your website seems silly – you need to repurpose, repurpose, repurpose! Missinglettr can help! It's only new to me, so I haven't got any experience or analytics to report back to you about, but I have signed up in the past week – so I will let you know how I go. Or if you already use missinglettr, head into the Facebook group – Like Minded Business Owners and let everyone know about your experiences there. As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! FACEBOOK ADS FOR BEGINNERS Facebook isn't just powerful—it's flexible. No matter what type of business you run, it has enough different marketing options that you can tailor your marketing efforts to fit your business, your budget, and your time constraints. Yes, it can take some time to get to know all of its features, but it's worth it. If Facebook is not a current part of your marketing campaign, it should be. Facebook Ads vs Boosting Here's what I know (from a lot of you), the boosting button is easy, the Ads platform is not and therefore boost gets the love. I totally understand. But I want you to promise me you will stop touching that boost button. It's not evil but it's not good either. Boosting a post is pretty much telling the Facebook algorithm, I don't know what I'm doing. It's a "throw spaghetti against the wall" approach. Will it work? Maybe. You might get some wins, just like some spaghetti will stick, but most of it will fall flat and fail. Module 6 of my course goes through boosting vs Facebook ads and steps you through what boosting is really doing and how your money acts on the platform when you boost. So, when it comes to Facebook Ads, here's some bits of wisdom I've learnt along my journey and that of my clients. (a) Assume nothing, test everything If you are wondering whether this image will work better than that image, you can ask a prospects, your staff, your partner, a test group, but the truth is that you couldn't possibly know which ad will give you better results until you test them. We're humans, we're co

Hey there, welcome to episode 41 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! Today's episode is brought to you by my new downable Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Facebook Ads. This is a workbook full of exercises, tips and tricks on how to get your first Facebook ad hitting the goal you need it too. To download it now, go to www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/ads - Facebook Ads will change your business forever if you get them right! Today I have a very special guest, Jane Anderson. It's absolutely no lie that you are going to be blown away with this interview. We talk everything from imposter syndrome to customer service to branding and personal branding and all things in between. It is one of my favourite interviews on the podcast yet. I am simply itching for you to hear it. So, let's get the discovery of the week out of the way, so we can get into the interview! THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! I shouldn't say that, should I? I know you all love this segment. In fact, this is definitely a fabulous discovery I know you are ALL going to love me for. Have you heard of Facebook Creator Studio? It's new (I think!). It's been around for a couple of months; it's put out by Facebook and you are simply going to love it! Why are you going to love it? Because it's going to simplify your life – the whole idea of this podcast! In its simplest form, it's an easy way to manage everything to do with your Facebook Business Page and if you have multiple, like me, it makes things super super simple. You can post from there, you can go live from there, you can schedule posts from there, you can see amazing analytics from there – it's like normal Facebook but all in one place and OH so lovely to see on one dashboard. And if you're interested, there's a super new feature where you can make money from your videos on Facebook, just like people do on YouTube. I haven't done it yet but have watched some videos on it explaining what it's about. I cannot recommend highly enough that you go check out Facebook Creator Studio. You can get there through your Facebook Page, but it's easier just to google it. I'd love to know your thoughts and start some conversations about it. Head into the Facebook Group, Like Minded Business Owners, and let's have a chat about this discovery. It has the opportunity to rock your world baby! As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! INTERVIEW WITH JANE ANDERSON As I said earlier, I am so very excited to have you hear this episode. It's out of this world fabulous, at least I think it is! I was so happy and ecstatic when Jane agreed to come on this podcast. We talk a little about imposter syndrome at the start of the podcast and if I'm being honest, I certainly had it when I reached out to Jane. She's amazing and she's very successful – so I thought who am I to ask her? I'm not really in her league to be asking for such favours. But alas, it was all in my head, we connected, we laughed, we had some great conversations on and off air and well, apparently I am good enough to have her on my podcast – evidence based of course! Jane is a strategic communications expert. With over 20 years' experience in Personal Branding and Content Creation, she has worked with over 50,000 people. Her clients include Virgin Australia, Lego, Ikea and Rio Tinto. She is the host of the iTunes podcast "The Jane Anderson Show" where she has interviewed world leading experts such as Seth Godin and has been featured in Business Insider, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Courier Mail and Sky Business News. Jane's blog was recently voted in the top 10 branding blogs in Australia and in the top 30 branding gurus globally. Jane has won numerous awards including being nominated for the Telstra Businesswomen's Awards. She is also the author of 6 books including her latest "TRUSTED: The Level Above Influence." See I told you she was fabulous. So, let's get into it, welcome Jane. INTERVIEW WITH JANE ANDERSON LinkedIn:: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janeandersonpersonalbranding/ Facebook:: https://www.facebook.com/JaneAndersonPersonalBranding/ Twitter:: https://twitter.com/jane_anderson__?lang=en Instagram:: https://www.instagram.com/the_jane_anderson_/ The link to the Influencer Indicator (Valued at $80) for FREE - https://janeandersonspeaks.com/influencer-indicator/ So, friends, how much did you love that conversation? Seriously, sometimes I feel like the luckiest girl alive being

Hey there, welcome to episode 40 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Want to know the bad thing about episode 40 – it means episode 52 is only 12 weeks away, which means it's only 12 weeks til 2020 …. Sorry! And if you're still listening after that, thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! Today's episode is brought to you by my new downable Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Facebook Ads. This is a workbook full of exercises, tips and tricks on how to get your first Facebook ad hitting the goal you need it too. To download it now, go to www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/ads - Facebook Ads will change your business forever if you get them right! Today I am talking websites. Not just websites, but I wanted to share with you my experiences with building my brand-new website. You see, just this week, I launched my new website. It was truly like having a baby – and I've had 3 so I can say that. It's definitely been a long journey, not quite 40 weeks like growing a bub, but a lengthy journey at that. I really wanted to share with you the things I learnt, the things that are important and the things that we/I got hung up about when it came to be building my new website. I'm hoping my journey, my lessons, my wisdom might help you along yours, whether you're thinking of doing a website, having just done one or aren't quite sure where to start. But first, of course, everyone's favourite section of the podcast – the discovery of the week! THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! Because I am talking about my new website this week on the podcast, I thought it would be good to tell you about Leadpages, a program that I built my now "old" website in. https://www.leadpages.pxf.io/LEvvZ Leadpages helps small businesses connect with an audience, collect leads, and close sales. Easily build websites, landing pages, pop-ups, alert bars, and beyond. And when I say easily built – I mean it! Templates are so simple to use and to choose and if you're building pages to collect leads or for conversion, it has a lead-o—meter to tell you how good or bad your page is! I really love this program. Even though I have a new website, I will still use it, just not as often. The think I love about it most is that I can think up a lead magnet for a podcast episode, build a lead page to collect leads, make it live, plug it into the back of my WordPress site and have it out to the world in about 20 minutes. No need to involve a web designer or a coder – just me and my copy! If you're interested in Leadpages, there's a link in my show notes for it. As I have always said I will let you know when I am an affiliate for something, and this link is an affiliate link. But you don't have to use it, you can just google Leadpages. By using my link, you get something, and I do too! https://www.leadpages.pxf.io/LEvvZ Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! MY WEBSITE JOURNEY First I'm going to set a bit of a back story. About 12 months ago I had the dream job. Well that's what I thought and when it came crashing down like a building just been torn down by explosives, I knew I either had to pull my big girl undies up or go get a job. There's nothing wrong with having a J O B but for me, the thought of having to be somewhere at 8.30 am and not being able to leave until 5 ish or having to ask for the morning off to go to a school event etc, almost made me break out in hives – so getting a job wasn't really an option. So Social Media and Marketing Australia was born, as was this podcast and one of the essential assets my business needed, other than social accounts, was a website. By this time, it was December, everyone was shutting down for Christmas, my website designer wasn't returning my calls and, to be honest, cash wasn't flowing. So, I built my own website. Yep, I built the whole entire thing. I built it in Leadpages – which is, of course, this week's discovery. It was built over a couple of days and has moved with me as my business grew, as I needed new pages etc. It was a $500 investment life saver. But even as I built it, I knew it wasn't going to have the SEO I needed, doing a blog was almost impossible and well it's just didn't really reflect me, not like my new one does. But it was 100% a means to an end at the time. It was in about January that I posted a post on one of my favourite Facebook Groups – Like Minded Bitches Drinking Wine and asked for website developers to reach out to me as I was looking for one to help out and build me my website. Like I said, I had one, but I knew it wasn't going to last for long. I was going to outgrow it and my brand was going to outgrow it. The lovely Sarah from A Lined Design was one of the people who responded to be post, sh

I have the QUEEN of SEO on the podcast today. It's going to be fun but most of all you are going to LOVE how she talks about SEO! Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! Today's episode is brought to you by my new downable Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Facebook Ads. This is a workbook full of exercises, tips and tricks on how to get your first Facebook ad hitting the goal you need it too. To download it now, go to www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/ads - Facebook Ads will change your business forever if you get them right! I have to tell you guys, I have complete Hollywood love heart eyes for our guest this week. Her name is Kate Toon and she is literally the Aussie Queen of SEO. I haven't met Kate in real life, but I have had her on other podcasts, have followed her, have signed up for her emails and have basically "Jenn stalked her". She might be the queen of SEO but I'm the queen of online stalking … just ask my friends. Good stalking – not creeping – just saying! So, when I reached out to her via LinkedIn, my fav social media platform, and asked her to be a guest on my podcast – her response flawed me. She wrote "Absolutely – thanks for asking". No, I'll get back to you or who the hell are you – just Absolutely, thanks for asking – now that's how a queen does it – take note people! It's needless to say, I'm excited to talk SEO with Kate Toon and copywriting too – because she's an expert at that too. You are going to love this conversation with so much gold. But first, of course, everyone's favourite section of the podcast – the discovery of the week! THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! Sourcebottle – have you heard of it? Spelt Source Bottle (not like tomato sauce!) Sourcebottle helps journalists and bloggers find expert sources and help PR pros and businesses get FREE PR coverage and publicity. Do I have your attention now? FREE PR – ummm golden! Getting PR for your business can not only set yourself and your business up as "experts" and the "go to" people, but it's a great way of you building your brand and giving value to your audience, new and current! If you haven't listened to Episode 14 of the podcast – go back and have a listen. I have PR expert Jules Brooke as my guest and she explains all about how to get it and how to leverage from it. Something like sourcebottle just makes it easier to find the places you can contribute too. Following them on Facebook and signed up to their email list. Every day they email or post about PR opportunities you can apply for and write for. This makes is really simple to start – because with PR that's the most common question – where should I start. If PR is something that's been sitting in your marketing plan as a strategy for a while – then here's a handy tool to help you out. PS – another one like Sourcebottle I subscribe to is the Audacious Agency, they are located in Brisbane. Similar business model – worth checking out too! So there you go, two discoveries in one! Enjoy. As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! SEO WITH QUEEN KATE TOON So, let's get into the episode. And if you're thinking just for second, hey Jenn why would you bring someone onto your podcast who you've never actually met, then I'd say, ha ha, give me about 30 minutes from now and you'll see! So, how is Kate Toon. Her Instagram profile describes her at the Beyonce of SEO and Copy(!). Her LinkedIn profile describes her as a SEO Lover, Copywriting Mentor, Speaking, Podcaster, Author, Copywriting, and Hula Hooper – takes me back – who had a Big M Hula Hoop when they were young … I disgress! She's all that and award-winning SEO copywriter and SEO consultant with over two decades of experience in all things advertising, digital and writing. Kate's originally from the UK but now based just outside Sydney and has worked with brands such as eHarmony, Curash and Kmart, as well as helped countless small businesses produce great content and improve their copywriting and SEO. She's the founder of The Clever Copywriting School and The Recipe for SEO Success eCourse, as well as co-host on the Hot Copy Podcast. Phew … now are you getting the picture – why I am stoked to have her on my podcast – yeah you are! Without any further ado – let's get into it. Welcome Kate …. INTERVIEW WITH KATE TOON I hope you enjoyed that. I hope you got some ideas and thoughts for your business from it and well learnt a thing or two about this pretty cool thing called SEO! If you want to contact Kate,

In small business we have this fantasy that BIG business at the BIG end of town has all their i's dotted and t's crossed - but my guest today is here to tell us othewise! Today's episode is brought to you by my new downable Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Facebook Ads. This is a workbook full of exercises, tips and tricks on how to get your first Facebook ad hitting the goal you need it too. To download it now, go to www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/ads - Facebook Ads will change your business forever if you get them right! I have to say that I've had a wonderful response and meaningful responses to last week's episode – For What Purpose. Clearly it struck a chord with some of you. If you are feeling a little overwhelmed or without clarity with your marketing and you didn't tune in, after this episode head back to Episode 37 and have a listen in. This week on the podcast I have a guest – a special guest. Alita from the MI Academy is joining me, and we are going to talk about the future of marketing. Ali works in Corporate Retail. She works with brands like Retail Global, Alfa Romeo and House of Home but Ali was actually one of my first business coaches ever! Over 10 years ago I met Ali and she helped shape my retail business with online strategies and we've kept in contact ever since, watching each other grow and change direction and change again – and well be where we are today! I can't wait for you to hear this episode, but before I go down that rabbit hole, let's do the Discovery of the Week. THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! So, apparently I've been holding out on you! When I went through my spreadsheet of my podcasts, so I can keep track of subjects, discoveries etc, I was astonished to see that I haven't told you about Unsplash! If you've seen me talk, then you know about it, but I've never mentioned it here in this segment! Unsplash.com – it's a fabulous place for free images. And they might be free, but they are fabulous. So, if you need some images for your business, your socials, your website and you don't have enough, then I recommend you head to Unsplash. They are free, but they do ask that you acknowledge the creator of the photo – but hey that's a small price to pay for images that are so beautiful and so versatile. Have a look – you'll be surprised at the quality and quantity for sure! As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! THE FUTURE OF MARKETING Let's get into it. As I mentioned, Ali was my first business coach and I've always admired her knowledge and understanding of technology. It's truly her jam! But I also asked Alita to come on because in small business we think that BIG business has it all sorted out – they don't have the same problems as us, they've got their chizz sorted. But as you'll hear from Ali, that's not exactly true. They have the same issues, they're just bigger and actually harder to solve! So, as you're listening, take solace in knowing that even the BIG end of town as worries and tech issues! Ali and I talk a lot about the future of business and the future of technology, and I hope you get a laugh out of our troubles with Siri – you'll see what I mean when you get to that point in the interview! It was quite hilarious and a bit of a pain in the butt! Let's get into it, welcome Alita. INTERVIEW WITH ALITA I hope you enjoyed that. I hope you got some ideas and thoughts for your business from it and well learnt that small business is pretty cool too! If you want to contact Alita, just head to the show notes at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au and look for Episode 38. Got questions? Well head into my Facebook group – Like Minded Business Owners . If you haven't joined yet, the link is in the show notes or just go to Facebook and search Like Minded Business Owners. It's another great way to stay on top of what's going on in the world of social media and marketing! I'll be back next Thursday with some more marketing know-how and another discovery of course. If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode and share this with a friend. And maybe leave me a rating and a review wherever you listen in. Those things are like gold for podcasters like me! PS – you can leave more than one rating and review – just saying! But that is all for Episode 37. I'd love to connect with you all on social – so let's get social on social – I'm on all the platforms, so let's do that! …….. and remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there's no point in dreaming small!

If you are a life long learner, always listening to podcasts, reading blogs, following people on social media - learning as much as you can to bring your business forward but wonder how it all can fit together - then this is the episode for you! Today's episode is brought to you by my new downable Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Facebook Ads. This is a workbook full of exercises, tips and tricks on how to get your first Facebook ad hitting the goal you need it too. To download it now, go to www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/ads - Facebook Ads will change your business forever if you get them right! I've had the privilege of talking to many small business owners over my time doing this job, and just recently I've done a tour of some rural towns in NSW that don't often get attention so far as workshops etc go. Shout out to everyone who came along in Deniliquin, Moulamein, Moama and Tocumwal – you people rock! Especially those in Moulamein, a town of a few hundred that pulled 20 people into a workshop! That's awesome! Big towns struggle to get numbers! But there's one thing I find myself saying over and over again, for what purpose. Those who know me well are now laughing at me dedicating a podcast to that question, because, well, I hate it! Well I did hate it. You see my first business mentor used to say it all the time. ALL THE TIME. And I hated him for it. On return from my second mentoring session, my business partner Jo, asked me, how it went, and I said, "if he asks me for what purpose one more time, I'll shove …." – you get the picture. And yet, here I am. Using the same question on my clients in my mentoring sessions. Before I get too far into this conversation – let's do the Discovery of the Week first. THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! Everyone know how much of a fan I am of Canva. Canva.com – it was the discovery of the week on my very first podcast and if you aren't using Canva – then GO DO IT NOW! Sign up for free now! Actually, no, when this podcast is finished …. But I love to have many things up my sleeve. It's always good to have other creatives you can turn too. On my tour of NSW, some of my audience members, who hadn't heard of Canva, had been using Poster My Wall – found at www.postermywall.com – I've had a look, signed up and I have to say, it's no Canva and it's impressive. I am really liking some of their templates. Especially, as the name suggests, for posters. So, go check it out. Have a look at Poster My Wall – let me know in our Facebook Group – Like Minded Business owners, what you think. As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! FOR WHAT PURPOSE As I've already mentioned, this simple 3-word question used to drive me bananas, because it made me think, WHY AM I DOING THIS? But it's a perfect question isn't it? Certainly, one I've used a lot in the past couple of weeks. So, let me put this in perspective for you to get great value from this question too. I stand on stage (or out the front of audiences) and talk on this podcast, do lives on social and post as well and I talk about social media, my absolute love for email marketing, I talk marketing until the cows come home, giving lots of value, value, value, tips and tricks and my best kept secrets. I try and give you information for where you are in your business – trying not to overwhelm but give next steps or fresh ideas. BUT, the question you need to ask yourself is FOR WHAT PURPOSE? I can sit, stand, yell, talk all I want about driving more sales, bringing more leads but you need to Think – how does that relate to my business, how can I make that work Is that marketing idea, strategy, tips, trick, what will work for me? And (the big question) if it does work – what that means for me, what does that look like for my business. So, I'll give you some examples, so you can get your head around what I'm talking about. Let's say you're going to run a VIP event in your bricks and mortar store, and you ask me how you should market it. I might say things like, Facebook Ads, email marketing, creating an event on Facebook or Eventbrite, I might suggest a few offline strategies as well, such as printed invitations or even a targeted mailbox drop. All these things will work – if worded correctly, if target appropriately – they will get you the outcome you want – people to your VIP event. But you need to ask yourself, how big do you want this event? How much marketing do you think you need to do to make the event a success? What does success look like? For what purpose are you marketing? If you have a d

Hiring the right people at the right time can be a REALLY difficult process, so today I've got a special guest, who's going to help us with just that! Hey there, welcome to episode 36 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! Today I have a special guest. A friend, colleague, client, a leadership coach but mostly a fabulous human, Michael Peiniger of Kameleons, Developing Leaders. I've asked Michael to come on the podcast to chat to us about hiring the right people for our business. I know a lot of you out there are gearing up for the summer/Christmas/silly season and you need more staff – or maybe you're just at that season in your business where it's time for help. Even if you're not there yet, not looking for staff, this episode still has some fabulous conversational gold well worth listening in too. But before we start, let's do the discovery of the week! THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! This week's discovery comes to you from my LinkedIn friend Kate Wright. She put this on her feed the other day and I thought straight away – woo hoo this week's discovery! Instead of Google, next time you are searching the wide world web, try Ecosia – E C O S I A – and enjoy private browsing whilst doing something good for the planet at the same time! You see Ecosia users 80% of their ad revenue to plant trees, so your daily browsing can help make the world a better place! And they don't sell your data – win/win! There's an app as well. It might not make your life any simpler (which is the goal of the podcast) but it is the little things that can make a difference if we all do them! What do you think? Would you be willing to give Ecosia a go instead of Google? As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! HOW TO HIRE RIGHT WITH LEADERSHIP COACH MICHAEL PEINIGER I'm really excited to have my guest today. Michael, as I mentioned earlier, is a leadership coach and facilitator based out of Melbourne. He is the CEO of Kameleons, Developing Leaders, that aims to build high performing teams that delivered improved business results. Having spent many years in the Airforce, he definitely walks the walk and talks the talks when it comes to leadership. I've known Michael for a few years now, both as a friend and client and colleague. He sets the bar high both for himself and his clients, and I have always admired his practical approach to business and leadership. Some of the discussions today really made me sit back and think – sometimes we just get so set in our ways, we can't see the forest for the trees! It was a great chat and again, I'm super excited to bring it to you, so let's do it … let's bring him on. DISCUSSION WITH MICHAEL PEINIGER https://kameleons.com.au/ Click here to download the Team Expectations – Likes & Dislikes, as mentioned on the Podcast. Click here to download the Top 100 Values for your Business, as mentioned in the Podcast/ For more information or to reach out to Michael Peiniger, please head to his website www.kameleons.com.au or email [email protected] So, did you enjoy that? I sure hope so. It's brings me so much joy to bring guests on like Michael and all my past and future guests, that can provide such fabulous FREE value through this podcast. Seriously makes my heart sing. Got questions? You know what? Michael is a very active member of my Facebook group – Like Minded Business Owners – so if you're got questions, head over their and tag Michael in them and I'm sure he'll answer them in no time at all. If you haven't joined yet, the link is in the show notes or just go to Facebook and search Like Minded Business Owners. Not joined yet. Well welcome … let's do that – it's another great way to stay on top of what's going on in the world of social media and marketing! I'll be back next Thursday with some more marketing know-how and another discovery of course. If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode and share this with a friend. And maybe leave me a rating and a review wherever you listen in. Those things are like gold for podcasters like me! PS – you can leave more than one rating and review – just saying! But that is all for Episode 36. I'd love to connect with you all on social – so let's get social on social – I'm on all the platforms, so let's do that! …….. and remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there's no point in dreaming small!

Today's topic on the Podcast is Facebook Ads and I'm sharing the secret to getting them right! Today's episode is brought to you by my new downable Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Facebook Ads. This is a workbook full of exercises, tips and tricks on how to get your first Facebook ad hitting the goal you need it too. To download it now, go to www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/ads - Facebook Ads will change your business forever if you get them right! But before we get into that, let's do our Discover of the Week! THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! Vont – V O N T is an app I have on my phone that I like to have a play with every now and then! What's it do? It let's me put text over my video and change the text where I want. Perhaps when you first start watching my video, I might want to have the word "welcome" across the frame for few frames, and then maybe some words to highlight what I'm saying and at the end the words "see ya later" shooting through! This isn't for captioning – it's for attention! We all want to stop the scroll when posting our videos to social – so perhaps this is one way of doing that? Having impacting words appear on the first few quick frames to crab the attention of the viewer. You can choose the frame, you can write the words and you can play around lots with them to have something a little different on your videos. Vont is free, comes with a little annoying ads though – but if you can put up with them, it's a great app. Available on iOS and Android – and you can download it wherever you normally get your apps! As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! THE SECRET TO SUCCESSFUL FACEBOOK ADS I'm on a mission to give you all the information I can on how powerful Facebook ads are because, well, the silly season is coming and I really want you to have the absolute best chance of getting more customers, gathering more qualified leads, selling more stuff – whatever will make you more profitable – because that's pretty much the goal! Episode 32 I spoke some more about Facebook Ads – in fact the 3 mistakes that we need to stop making. If you haven't listened to that episode, then I suggest you go back and listen in once you're done here. On this episode I wanted to talk about the secret to Facebook Ads success. It's not a HUGE secret but you do need to know it and really understand it to achieve success on Facebook. It's understanding the objectives. At the beginning of the Ad, you have 11 choices to make, 13 if you count that engagement has 3 choices in 1 objective! This is one of your first choices and if you get this wrong and you won't achieve your campaign goal (because you listened to Episode 32 and you know how important setting goals are – so you have set one). You can't change your objective once your ad it live. I'll say it again – you can't change your ad objective once your ad it live. So, you need to put some energy here. Of course, you can stop the ad if it's not working for you and you mighty well should – but you can change just about everything else except the objective. But the secret sauce is more than that. It's understanding that the objective you choose is telling the Facebook Algorithm EXACTLY and that's in capital letters, EXACTLY what to do. I'll give you an example:: Traffic. Traffic is the objective you would choose to drive people from Facebook to any URL you choose, such as your website's landing page, a blog post, app etc. So, Facebook will find the people, according to your targeting, who are the people most likely to click an ad with the objective of driving them off Facebook to X – wherever you've sent them – blog, website, landing page, sales page etc. But that's it. That's the secret – that is all it will do and that's all it will guarantee. So, if you just thought, YAY – that's awesome – it will give me traffic to my website to buy my product, then you'd be wrong – very wrong. Now, disclaimer, I'm not saying you won't get sales from this objective, but what I am saying is that Facebook are not necessarily sending traffic to your sales page who are most likely to BUY – they are only sending traffic who are most likely to CLICK the ad and go to the page. I really hope you can tell the difference and get my point. Sometimes Podcasts are hard because you can't see my face and my expressions or my diagrams explaining this stuff! If you want people who are most likely to buy, if you want Facebook to send people who are most likely to BUY, then you'll need to use the conversions objective. Because that objective is set up

Today's topic is sales – but don't turn off yet! If you're in business, you're in sales – just like if you're in business you're in the business of marketing. We need to stop thinking of sales as something sleezy car salesman do on movies and take the ick out of it! Without sales, we have no business. So to help with today's episode, I've enlisted the help of my sales guru LinkedIn contact, Michael Dunne from Epic Sales. If you don't like the idea of selling, then this is DEFINITELY an episode you should tune into. The way Michael talks about sales is just like sitting with an old friend, giving value. But before I introduce Michael, let's do everyone's favourite section of the Podcast- the Discovery of the Week! THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! This one I love - https://recordscreen.io/ and it does literally what it says – it records your screen! I know there's lots of software out there that does this sort of thing, like Loom has been one of my discoveries before, but I love this one, because there's no sign up, no account needs – just go to https://recordscreen.io/ and hit record. You can choose to record your screen only, with or without sound or have your face show up as a bubble on the screen – so your audience can see you too. I can see this as a wonderful addition to your marketing. Record your screen and put it into an email or record a tip or tick for a client or your audience – literally the uses are endless. And if we take, what I waffle on about all the time – the H2H – human to human aspect that we need to see more in our marketing – then hey, this could be a great tool for you and your business. Check it out. As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! SELLING THE RIGHT WAY WITH MICHAEL DUNNE, EPIC SALES So, like I said, today I have a guest – Michael Dunne the co-founder of Epic Sales Group. Michael and the team at Epic Sales, build dream sales teams that free us business owners up so we can scale sales and impact social change. Michael has over 20 years sales experience in running sales teams, both in this own business and through a franchisee. EPIC was founded in 2016 and since then we have built out over 30 sales teams with some of Australia's leading brands. So, without waiting any longer, let's welcome Michael for a sales conversation with a difference. INTERVIEW WITH MICHAEL DUNNE – EPIC SALES Epic Sales Group Pty Ltd. 3/156 Mossvale Road, Kangaroo Valley PO Box 6257 Kangaroo Valley NSW 2577 M: 0410 618 645 [email protected] www.epicsaleshire.com.au LinkedIn:: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-dunne-epic-sales-hire/ I hope you enjoyed that interview as much as I did. I really enjoyed chatting to Michael and liked his approach to business and sales. If you'd like to get in contact with Michael – all the links are in the show notes or hit him up for a connection on LinkedIn and start a conversation with him there. Oh, and if we aren't connected on there as yet – let's do that. LinkedIn is one of my fav places to hang out. Sales are an important part of our journey as small business owners. And can I give you some advice, if you're the type of person who says, "I don't like selling" or "I don't feel comfortable selling or in sales" – you need to change your mindset and your language around that. Because, as we all learnt in the playground, you are what you say you are. If you continually say you're no good, then you will be no good at it. You don't have to say out loud that you're awesome at sales, or I love sales – just stop saying out loud that you don't. So much of success is mindset. Remember that. Ok, Got questions? I've got answers! Let's continue this conversation in my Facebook Group – Like Minded Business Owners. Not joined yet. Well welcome … let's do that! Link is in the show notes at www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au I'll be back next Thursday with some more marketing know-how and another discovery of course. If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode and share this with a friend. And maybe leave me a rating and a review wherever you listen in. Those things are like gold for podcasters like me! PS – you can leave more than one rating and review – just saying! But that is all for Episode 34. I'd love to connect with you all on social – so let's get social on social – I'm on all the platforms, so let's do that! …….. and remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there's no point in dreaming small!

Today's episode is brought to you by my new downable Ultimate Beginner's Guide to Facebook Ads. This is a workbook full of exercises, tips and tricks on how to get your first Facebook ad hitting the goal you need it too. To download it now, go to www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/ads - Facebook Ads will change your business forever if you get them right! Today's topic on the Podcast is something I talk about a lot but have never dedicated a podcast episode to. The Customer Journey. Every customer or client you have is on a journey with you or to you. They begin as someone who has never heard of you to, hopefully, a raving fan who purchases from you over and over again. This is what marketing is all about. Getting your customers to go on that journey. To be giving enough value, enough business love for them to want to do business with you one day. One of my favourite sayings, and I do not know where I picked it up from, is being do business with people who align with their values – so making sure people know your business values is an integral part of the client or customer completing that journey. Although, a side note, you hope they never complete the journey, you hope that they just keep ascending through your business model, buying what you sell, becoming an advocate and your biggest fan! Before I share with you a couple of examples of how your customer might take a journey with you, let's do the discovery of the week. THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! Gifs or jifs – whatever you'd like to call them – you have to call them cool! I love a good gif and I love to share a good gif on my socials – to make my point!! So, this week's discovery is where gifs come from - https://giphy.com/ - here you can find all the gifs you'd ever want as well as make your own. Use them in your emails, your social accounts, your website – wherever you'd like to see them. If you've ever wondered where they all come from – well here's the place! Maybe you could give making your own a go!?!? As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY Here's an example of how someone might come into your world – what their journey might look like. I want you to be very aware of how many touch points and steps there are in this one example – I'll talk a little more about that in a sec. They like a social post shared/liked by a friend or sponsored. They come and like your business page Get invited into your "closed" Facebook group Interact with your community, absorbing quality content for free from you and your community members. They take up an offer to download a lead magnet which solves a current problem they are having Take up offer on the Thank You page (of the offer) to follow along on Instagram or Join you on LinkedIn Receive an email with the opted-in lead magnet attached (note this is possibly the most opened email you will ever send) Then they start receiving a series of 3 or 4 other nurture emails over the coming days/weeks talking about the lead magnet and deepening the relationship. One of the nurture emails before asks if they want to join your weekly Newsletter – which they do (so now you start weekly communication) Another nurture email offers them the opportunity to undertake a small mini training via a series of 3 or 4 short videos The final video in that series, invites you to attend a live seminar or event you are hosting or are affiliated with. They are offered a free GUEST pass, an offer they decide to take up. They attend the live event, connect in person. (so now have a connection with this person online, offline and human to human). At the end of the event, they are offered an opportunity to buy a low-level training program or series or something that requires the exchange of money, such as a membership etc. Now they are a paying client and have gone from being just a fan on social to be on your list and buying from you – which, is EXACTLY the point of being on social media in the first place! So, you see that there's a possibility of 12 touch points before any money has exchanged hands. Recent statistics tell us in 2019 that's almost the minimum amount of touch points you need to get someone to go from cold traffic (no idea who you are) to a paying customer. Granted it maybe less and it maybe enormously more. I've been thinking about buying my next car for about 4 years now – I've had lots of touch points – but haven't bought yet! But I can tell you the day I go into test drive that car will be the day I buy it!!! I digress … There's 8 steps in what I can see

Hey there, welcome to episode 32 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thank you for lending me your ears today – I know you have lots of choices, so I sincerely appreciate me being one of them! Today's topic on the Podcast is Facebook Ads and the top 3 mistakes I see people making when doing Facebook Ads. This episode is sponsored by my new eBook – Ultimate Beginners Guide to Facebook Ads – go to www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/ads to get it now. Facebooks Ads can be so highly targeted that we can put out ad in front of the people will know will buy our product (or do whatever action we wanted them to do – whatever our call to action in the ad was). They are quite brilliant and as marketers (and yes you are a marketer – if you're in business, you're in the business of marketing) we haven't ever had access to such targeting EVER. BUT, Facebook Ads (or insert Instagram, LinkedIn, Google) can be a MASSIVE suck of your hard-earned money and it happens really really quickly if you haven't got your eye on the ball (or the prize). So that's what we're talking about today – the things you really need to keep your eye on, know, do before taking on a social media ad (frankly some points relate to any marketing/advertising). So even if you've never done a Facebook Ad or social media ad before – listen in, there's still some gold for you. But before we get into that, let's do our Discover of the Week! THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! This week's discovery is not something I use, but something I've discovered. I don't use it because I am a massive fan of LinkedIn and use that platform well. But I know LinkedIn's not for everyone – whether that's because you're concentrating on other social media sites or you just can't seem to work out LinkedIn – but if that's you – I'd suggest you listen to episodes 20 and 30. But, my discovery – let's stay on track! Firstly, it's at https://about.me/features And its a place where you can go and get yourself an About Me page. Why would you want to do it – well the biggest place I could see it being used is your email signature. Giving your readers a call to action to get to know you better. It would be sensational for professionals like real estate agents or solicitors or trainers or even people who have a small side hustle. Possibilities are endless. It's free (although, as usual there's a paid option). So, if you're not a LinkedIn fan and you currently don't have a website (or maybe you're not the business owner) – then your About.me page could be just what you're looking for! As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! FACEBOOK ADS – 3 MISTAKES WE NEED TO STOP MAKING As I said in the intro, Facebook ads are powerful – so gosh down powerful – but also a great suck of your money if you've not careful and don't know what you're doing. There's 3 mistakes I see online marketers (yep, again, which is you – no squibbing, if you're on social media you're an online marketer), make constantly with their ads. Actually, frankly, the first one I see people make offline as well. And it's just so important. START WITH THE END IN MIND It's so important that I want to yell it from my roof top – actually I live in rural NSW, so no one would hear me, I want to head into a big regional town and yell it from the top of the town hall! It's not just another quote or motivation saying. One day I'll do an episode that will be all about the "quotes or inspirational sayings" that have got me to where I am today – and this is certainly a massive one. If you know the goal, you know the road to get to the goal. If you don't know the goal – then how on earth will you know if it's been successful or not. If you run a Facebook Ad for say 5 days with a budget of $10 per day and after that 5 days you have x result – if you have set any goals at the start of what you wanted to achieve, how do you measure that $50 bucks success or failure? But let's go a little deeper with Facebook ads and starting with the end in mind. If you've ever looked at Ads Manager, you'll know the first thing you need to do when setting up your Facebook Ad is choosing an objective (**ahem, an outcome, **ahem a goal) – anyway you see where I'm going with this! If you haven't got the end in mind, the end goal, then how are you going to chose or even start your ad – you're stuck here, straight up. And there's 11 objectives to choose from (** 13 if you count that engagement has 3 different options). So, this is mistake number 1. The thing that trips so many online marketers up. Such before I go o

Hey there, welcome to episode 31 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Boy oh boy of boy do I have an epic episode for you this week! I have a guest – Kate Christie and her business is called Time Stylers and she is here to chat to us about finding 30 extra hours in our week! Yep, I kid you not. But to find 30 hours, you'll have to invest about 30 minute with me and this podcast! Before I introduce Kate and we get into the interview, let's do our discovery of the week. THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! Because I have an epic guest, I thought I should have an epic discovery – and I'm not about to let you down. You all know how important video is in marketing, on social media, in emails, on your website and just about everywhere else, well today I've got a video tool that will simply blow your mind. The website is https://www.shakr.com/ - and Shakr is an online video maker and video ad creator. If you want to win at video on social media and get more ROI for your spend and take your videos to the next level – then look up Shakr. Literally, thousands of personalized videos at a click of a button. It's not free, in fact it's a subscription model but they do have a free trial and you can certainly have a play before signing up. I cannot tell you just have easy and simple it is to make amazing videos on this platform. They are super impressive. Yes, you need to make an investment, but if video is truly king and you're finding it hard to do more video, then this could be the tool for you. Check it out. As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! TIME MANAGEMENT WITH KATE CHRISTIE So, before I get into the interview with Kate, let me let you a little about this very impressive lady! Kate Christie, Founder & CEO of Time Stylers is a Time Investment Expert; International Speaker; and best selling Author. Kate consults to big and small business, government departments and C suite executives on maximising individual time spend and managing organisational drag through smart time investment strategies. She has appeared on television, radio and in print as a leading commentator on time management and maximising work/ life integration to ensure your success across work, family, community, and life. With a reputation for helping her clients find 30 hours of lost time a month, Kate's focus is to ensure you are left educated, entertained and with a lasting impact on the way you choose to live, work and play – which she certainly does today! One of my clients reached out to me and told me about Kate and after some "Stalking Jenn Style" I asked her to come on the podcast to help you, my gorgeous listeners, with time management. So, let's get into it. INTERVIEW WITH KATE CHRISTIE – TIME STYLERS Please connect with Kate on: web: www.timestylers.com Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kate-christie/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kate.christie.92 So – that was quite the episode – I hope you got lots of gold from it. Wasn't she amazing! I would really love to know what resonated with you the most during this interview. Let's continue this conversation in my Facebook Group – Like Minded Business Owners. Not joined yet. Well welcome … let's do that! I'll be back next Thursday with some more marketing know-how and another discovery of course. If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode and share this with a friend. And maybe leave me a rating and a review wherever you listen in. Those things are like gold for podcasters like me! PS – you can leave more than one rating and review – just saying! But that is all for Episode 31. Thanks, so much for lending me your ears, I know you have LOADS of options – so thank you for making me one of them. I'd love to connect with you all on social – so let's get social on social! …….. and remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there's no point in dreaming small!

Hey there, welcome to episode 30 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Can I just say, I'm a little excited to hit 30 – it's not a big milestone, but it's a milestone, nonetheless. I thought I'd run out of topics by now, when I started out, and now I'm thinking I need to do more than 1 a week just to say everything I have to say! This week I am talking all things LinkedIn – my absolute favourite social media platform! If you've missed the last two episodes or if you're new to my world, episodes 28 & 29 were audits of Facebook and Instagram respectively, so if you're on those platforms – head back there and listen into those. Let's not forget my gratitude that you are listening in – you have a lot of choices – so I am very grateful you are lending me your ears today. It wasn't long ago that I did an episode on it – in fact it was Episode 20. I will try not to repeat myself too much, but I do encourage you to head back there and listen into that episode. LinkedIn is my absolute fav of all the social media platforms. That surprises many as many of the small business owners I came across are not going it to the attention and weight that it deserves – they are perhaps still trying to get their head around Facebook and Instagram! But I hope, by the time I have finished this episode, I will have convinced you to start using LinkedIn or giving it some more love, if you're already on the platform. Remember, and this is a big thing to remember, googling anyone's name will bring up their LinkedIn profile in the first 2 or so listings on a google search – that's how powerful a LinkedIn profile can be. Spend all your money on SEO only to be able to rank by having a good LinkedIn profile with key words! It's like magic – free magic! But first, of course, let's do our discovery of the week! THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! Headshots – I've spoken at length about them on the last two podcasts with auditing both your Facebook and your Instagram profiles – and I am about to talk about them again. So, I thought it would be appropriate to make this week's Discovery of the Week about headshots! My photographer, Karen Merry, shout out to Merry Images, told me about this website ages ago. So, one of the best ways to make sure your headshot is LinkedIn worthy is to use Photofeeler. Photofeeler puts your headshot in front of thousands of people who anonymously rank it for competence, likability, and influence. You can upload a few different versions of your headshot and use the one that users rank the best on LinkedIn. It's not an exact science, but if it helps you choose a photo that's going to attract the right people to your business – it might be worth a go! I'd love to hear your thoughts if you go across and use it. As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! LINKEDIN AUDIT LinkedIn is professional Facebook. No trolls and a heck of a lot more respect and it's fabulous for connections and even education. If there's an expert in their field, they'll be on LinkedIn. HINT:: if you're an expert in your field, better get on it! It's a great platform for connection with people – it's like networking but online. So, if you think networking can help grow your business or grow you (because we should always be investing in ourselves) then it's the platform for you. Now, confession time, when I saw it's my favourite platform, it wasn't always like that. When I had my retail shop, it made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. I did not invest the time or energy to find out or see how it could work for me. But as I evolved as a business owner and my business evolved, I began to see and harness its power for connections. One thing I have realised about LinkedIn which has allowed me to have such fantastic growth into my business, if you really do have to give to get! You should be reaching out on any platform, but this one, in particular, can really love you back if you love it first! Ok, that's enough convincing that this should the platform for you, let's get down to some auditing:: Your profile picture If you've listened to my past two episodes you'll notice I'm repeating myself here. Your profile picture should be of you, should be professional and should give the message you want your audience to get. It should look like you, today, not 10 years ago – today. Looking sexy when you're a chiropractor, not a good look. Glamour shots – nope. Not looking at the camera – nope! Pets/friends/partners – nope nope nope. You want to be engaging, you want to give the impression of someone trustworthy, a

Hey there, welcome to episode 29 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. This week I am talking all things Instagram and I guess taking you through a bit of an audit. If you don't have an Instagram account – maybe you should still listen in because perhaps you should – except of course if you're target marketing just isn't on there! If you tuned in for Episode 28, you'll know last week we audited your Facebook, this week Instagram and next week I will be going through LinkedIn – which I have to say is my favourite platform of them all. But it wasn't always that way – more about that next week! 9 million Aussies are on Instagram – of that 9 mil – 57% are men, 42% are women (as of May this year). 75% of users are between 18-44 years old and the biggest demographic of 32% is between 25-34. So, if you're target market falls into any of those stats – this is the podcast for you! But before we get all grammie (that's me being cool!) let's do the discovery of the week! THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! I love a good life changing, making business simpler (ahem – whole idea of the podcast) discovery. And this week is a cracker! It's called https://www.fbdown.net/ and it allows you to download any video from Facebook onto your desktop. Allows you to download any video off Facebook onto your computer. This is very handy for repurposing Facebook lives and the like! It's super easy too. Just click the video you want to download, go to fbdown.net, paste the video's URL in and click download. I found it SO useful! Especially for repurposing some of my client's social content. So, if you've ever done a video on Facebook and haven't got a copy to use on other platforms or repurpose later, now you can! Freakin' fabulous yes? You can thank me later – or perhaps I should say I take thank yous in the form of podcast reviews and shares!! As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! INSTAGRAM AUDIT Full disclosure, straight up here guys, Instagram is my least favourite platform of all the social media platforms. I don't know exactly why, it just is. But does it work? Absolutely. And at the end I'll give you my biggest tips on how to make it work for you, but this Podcast is all about auditing what you've got there already. So, I'm going to start with your bio. Your bio is super important – it's your opportunity to tell how your brand can help others who are looking. There's 5 key essential elements here Your profile pic – It should be you! And like last week, it should be a recent picture of you! Having your brand logo in your bio pic is not wise. You might get sick of me saying it, but you've got to think H2H – human to human. Unless you have a national or internationally recognisable brand logo – your bio picture needs to be of a human. Professional yes. In keeping with your brand – yes. Again, no dogs, no cats, no partners – YOU! The Headline (that's the line that's in bold). Besides #'s – this is the ONLY searchable terms you get on Instagram – yep the ONLY. So, make it count. Use keywords that describe your brand. By default, Instagram fills in your name, but you can change it and you should. And as with everything on social media, done once is NEVER done. Change this as your business changes, as events or seasons come and go in your business. The key here is remembering "keywords that describe your brand". Absolute Prime Real Estate here! PRO TIP – if the keywords you use don't fill up all the spaces – put some relevant emojis in there – not searchable but eye catching to a visitor perhaps! The Body – tell your audience the value they get from your account – straight away. I'm pretty sure you get 150 characters here – again use them wisely! None of this is searchable though. There's been a lot of talk lately about whether you should put #'s in your bio. The answer is yes and no. No if you are doing it for search related reasons. You will not come up in searches because you have a # in your bio. Yes, if you have #'s that are brand specific to you. Let's say you have a # that specifically to your brand, putting it in your bio will allow someone to click it and then they'll go and see all the posts related to that #. In this way, it can be a fabulous little marketing tool. I know you only have 150 characters, and that's tiny – but try to make it interesting. Use emojis to make sentences stand out, use emojis instead of words where you can to save word count! If you have space, write something personal about you, like "almond latte lover" or use an emoji to describe a feeling, your f

Hey there, welcome to episode 28 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. For the next 3 weeks, I will be doing some social media platform audits. This week is Facebook, and the next two will be Instagram and LinkedIn. The idea is to ensure you have all your i's dotted and t's crossed and that your profiles and content are as magnetic as they can be. If you want to get off to an even faster start, you can take my 5 Day Social Media Challenge and get ahead of the crowd! Just go to www.5daysocialchallenge.com.au/ and join up. I come across many social media profiles, on all platforms, that people have simply set up quickly and started banging out content. What they've never done, is have a look at what "first impression" is given for anyone landing on your profile for the first time. Do they know who you are, what you do, what you are famous for or importantly, what you can do for them? So, buckle up and listen in so you can make sure everything is smick with you and yours! Of course, if you're out walking or shopping or in the bath listening to this – there's always show notes – just go to www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au and find them there! But firstly, let's do the Discovery of the Week! THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! Ok, this week, it's a good one and is a discovery for me and I am just a wee bit excited to use it and share it with you all! At the moment I am in the middle of head down bum up, building my first digital course – Facebook Ads for Beginners. And with that course comes workbooks! I wanted a way people could fill in the workbook on their computer – whilst dealing with all the different platforms and systems my students might be using. And then I found https://www.pdfescape.com/windows/ - which is a free PDF editor and form filler! Can you get excited!?!? Not only can you edit PDFs but it's a form filler too! So, all those PDF's you're sent you can plug into here and fill them out online! I really think this is a game changer to me in my business and get see so many applications – not to mention filling out Uni and School forms for the kids!! I hope it will make my life Simpler and yours too! As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! FACEBOOK AUDIT If you can listen to this podcast at your desk in front of your computer – that's great – and will be best. But if you're not – that's ok too – everything will be in the show notes – you can use them to do your audit when you're ready! Ok – so let's get into your Facebook audit. So, for this audit I will be going through the essential things you need to have on your Facebook Business Page, and I will touch on things you should have on your personal page regarding your business too. FACEBOOK BUSINESS PAGE I'm gunna start with your Facebook Business page:: Your profile pic Does it look like you? Is it brand consistent? Is it a recent picture of you? Would I recognise you from it if I saw you at the supermarket? When was the last time you updated it? Is it a consistent look across all your social platforms? That's a lot of questions – but let me break it down into some BIG don'ts – don't have a picture that doesn't look like you. I come across some profile pics on social media and they are clearly hanging onto their youth! It is their picture, but it's from long, long ago. You are doing no justice to yourself or your brand having a picture like this. Update it. Embrace who you are, warts and all! No glamour shots. Seriously, I've seen people use those shots that I would call "glamour" and look more sexy than engaging – not the platform – this is business not a dating app. Plus, it just makes you look less authentic when you post a selfie or another pic of yourself and you're almost unrecognisable! No dogs, no pets, no partners – this picture if about you and your business. Think H2H – human to human. Just be YOU! Your Facebook cover. What does it say about your business? What does it tell your prospect who's landed on your page? When was the last time you updated it? This is PRIME real estate peeps. It should say what you do in pictures and have a call to action. If you've got an event coming up – change it. If you're on sale – change it. If you've got something significant to tell or show your audience – change it! Ok, it's Facebook Cover challenge time – if you click on your Facebook cover – does it have a link – call to action – anything? This is a step that so many people forget to do – and it's a HUGE mistake. If someone clicks your cover – you want to have something else for them to do right? A C

Hey there, welcome to episode 27 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. I have got a super episode for you today. I have a very special guest, Kerry Anne Nelson from Operation Verve who is going to chat to us about systems and processes. About those systems and processes perhaps we don't have in our business, those systems and processes that we SHOULD have in our businesses which would, keeping in line with the goal of the Podcast, make our lives SIMPLER! But before I get to that interview, let's do the Discovery of the Week! THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! This week's not so much a discovery but more of a did you know, and can you see how awesome it would be for your business! Although I guess for some it will be a new discovery! So, the did you know is, did you know that you can send voice messages through your social platforms to prospects and new connections? So, a DM on Instagram – you can send a recorded voice message. A message on the LinkedIn platform – you can send a recorded message to your connections. Messenger (Facebook's message system) you can send a voice message! If you've followed me for any length of time you know I am all about H2H – human to human contact and a massive advocate for making these social platforms just that – SOCIAL. So, what better way to make it social then recording a message and sending – I think we can all speak WAY faster than we can type! And you might be thinking, yes Jenn but a video would be better – and it 100% would be. But many of you out there don't like video so recording your voice and sending it is a great way to give a better user experience to any prospects without the roadblock of video getting in your way! So next time you have someone reach out to connect on LinkedIn for instance, don't type a reply back – press the little microphone, record a personalised thank you message and then send! You just might be surprised at the response. Let's do this guys, let's get more social on social! SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES WITH KERRY ANNE NELSON I'm pretty excited to have Kerry Anne on today. Talk about being more social on social, social media was where I met Kerry Anne and LinkedIn is the platform we're been connected the most. Kerry Anne is a local businesswoman, business mentor and community leader. The two things that struck me about Kerry Anne (and the reasons why I asked her to come on the Podcast) is that she has over 20 years' experience in retail and bricks and mortar (there's not many of us out there!) and she calls herself a Workplace Processes Architect – now who doesn't want to lean in and hear more about that! Systems and processes can make our lives so much simpler – so why don't we take the time to construct and introduce them into our businesses? Well I'm not sure either which is why I have Kerry Anne on to help us all out! Kerry Anne's greatest passion is empowering business owners to scale or sell their businesses, so buckle up for this interview because there's so much gold! INTERVIEW WITH KERRY ANNE NELSON Contact Kerry Anne Nelson LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerry-anne-nelson/ Website: https://operationverve.com/ Email: [email protected] Wow, small business peeps, I hope you really enjoyed that interview. She is just sensational, and I was so thankful for her time and effort to bring such value to you guys, my amazing listeners. I'd love to hear about the systems or processes you have in your business. So, let's get social on social and continue this conversation in my Facebook Group – Like Minded Business Owners. So, that's all for Episode 27 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. I'll be back next Thursday with some more marketing know-how and another discovery of course. In fact, the next 3 weeks we have auditing our social accounts – so make sure you tune in for those! If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode and share this with a friend. And maybe leave me a rating and a review wherever you listen in. Those things are like gold for podcasters like me! PS – you can leave more than one rating and review – just saying! Stay on your game and keep going for your dreams because the world needs that special gift that only you have. Thanks so much for lending me your ears. …….. and remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there's no point in dreaming small!

Hey there, welcome to episode 26 and to week 26 of 2019 and to halfway through your year. Are you shocked that we are officially halfway through the year? Or are you organised, on track and killing it in 2019? I sure hope it's the latter. I sincerely hope that you've set your goals 6 months ago and you're either working diligently towards them or have achieved them. For me, well this Podcast episode I thought I might get a little intimate and let you in a little closer to the world that Jenn Donovan and Social Media & Marketing Australia, because for me this year has been everything! Everything from high highs to low lows and I'm just talking business here! If you listened in to the very first episode of this Podcast, you will remember my declaration. I declared I would do 1 podcast a week for 52 weeks. I'd never made weekly consistent content before, so this was an enormous challenge and a challenge it's been. But I am halfway there and so far I haven't missed a deadline! And these things take time – it's almost a days work doing a Podcast every week. I thought it would get quicker and it probably has, but it still takes a lot of time and energy from researching to the point where you listen! Now I'm not complaining, it's done more for my business and any other thing and it's only going to get bigger, better and more amazing – that's why I'm so glad you've decided to come along for the journey! This week on the podcast, I thought we might do a mid-year check in. Let's check in, see how things are tracking and maybe reset and refocus. But first, of course, let's do our discovery of the week. THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! If you follow me on only of my social platforms, Facebook, Facebook Group, LinkedIn, or Instagram, you will already know my discovery is week, because it was so brilliant I couldn't keep it in until the podcast! And I wanted to do a demonstration for you all that you can't get on a voice only platform like this podcast! It was of course the app CLIPS. Clips is brilliant. Why is it brilliant – well, let me explain. We all know how important video is in our marketing yes. Some of you are doing video already, some of you need to stretch yourself and start and that's ok. But using just video in our marketing mix isn't enough in 2019 because over 86% of us watch video on our phones with the sound OFF. Therefore, next level with video is captions. If you record your video with Clips you can have live captions – in other words, it does the captions as you speak. For starter the AI on that alone is mind-blowing. But for a free app and an almost 99% accurate free app – that's next level mind-blowing! So, download Clips today and start recording your videos with captions. I guarantee your engagement rate will go up. And if you aren't doing video in your business but know you should, download clips and start recording something. You don't have to do anything with the video, you can delete it and never show a soul, but start getting used to yourself on video and if you record something that you're happy to put out to the world, then know it's already ticking the captions box! There's plenty of YouTube videos out there teaching you all about Clips if you have any problems or want to know more. Or, of course, reach out to me! As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! CHECK IN AND REFOCUS At the beginning of the year, did you set yourself some goals? My hope is that you set them, they sit prominently displayed somewhere where you can see them everything day and that you are well on your way to achieving them or have already ticked some off the list. If you didn't set any or you have lost sight of them or where you are going, then let's chat about that too! I have 3 quotes or inspiration says printed in my office which I look at every day and I know they get me on track and keep my head screwed on the right way. They are IF YOU DO WHAT YOU'VE ALWAYS DONE, YOU'LL GET WHAT YOU'VE ALWAYS GOT START WITH THE END IN MIND, and THERE'S NO POINT IN DREAMING SMALL The first two have been with me for a long time. I built my retail business on the first two. The last one, well that's a new addition this year because late last year I found myself lost, confused, hurt beyond belief from a colleague, friend and business partner. That story is still too raw to tell but I can certainly see it in a future episode. But I will tell you, know your worth, don't let anyone tell you differently and fight for what is yours because sometimes you think you know someone inside and outsi

Hey hey, hello and welcome. Welcome to Episode 25 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thanks for tuning in today, I know you have loads of options to listen to – so I really appreciate you lending your ears to me today! Sending podcast love for that! I know I've mentioned countless times on this podcast (and everywhere else if you follow me online and offline) that we need to know who our who is – BUT I've never dedicated an episode to it – until today! Today we are going to go through who your who is, where to target them, how to target them and so much other gold. Now if you've done this exercise before, trust me you are still going to want to listen in because we go deeper, much deeper than most. More shortly, but of course, first up, let's do our Discovery of the Week! THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! As I just said, today I am talking about getting to know your ideal client and one of the things I'll talk about shortly is getting to know your competitors. So, I thought a great little discovery this week would be Google Alerts. Did you know that you can set up Google Alerts? Go on Google News and set up an alert for key terms in your industry, the names of your competitors and the economic factors most likely to have an impact on your business. But do yourself a favour: Don't have the alert delivered more than once a week. You don't want doing your homework on competitors or what's going on in the world that may or may not impact your business, to take the place of your real job, which is running your business! To set up a Google Alert go to https://www.google.com.au/alerts and follow the prompts. And just a PRO TIP too – you can set up a google alert for your own business or your own name so you know when people are talking about you or references you – which can help with ensuring you're there giving value, continuing the conversation. Pretty cool hey! As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! KNOW YOUR WHO IN BUSINESS! How many times have you said, "My business could get really big if I could just find the right clients"? If you have, you're not alone: There's not a small business owner that I know who hasn't had that thought, at least once. The good news is that there are many ways to find the right clients. Here are four steps that can be applied to any business to help you find them. 1. KNOW YOUR WHO! I've spoken so many times on this Podcast and knowing your ideal client. Ideal customer. Know who you are attracting and if that's not who you want to attract, then get to know the person you want to attract into your business. For example if you are attracting customers or clients who are price driven and they are driving you up the wall – then you need to look at why you are attracting those people, and start attracting people who you want to do business with – the people who aren't price driven! Effectively understanding who makes an ideal customer allows you to build your entire business, message, product, services, sales and support around attracting and serving this narrowly defined customer group. News Flash – NOT EVERYONE IS YOUR CLIENTS OR CUSTOMER! I know lots of business owners who are afraid to market to a niche group for the exclusion of other sectors – thinking that they are missing out on money from the groups they aren't targeting. I absolutely guarantee you that if you target your marketing to a niche group – then your business will grow quicker and more profitable than if you spray and pray targeting everyone with everything. Pepsi toppled Coke in the 80's by focussing on one small section of the population and they've been competitive ever since. They niched down, marketed to that group, the marketing worked not only for the target market but created what we now refer to FOMO – Fear of Missing Out. OK – so let's get down to business here – let's start the process of knowing who your who is. I've have spent almost a day creating the most comprehensive workbook on defining your ideal client. It digs down deep into who your who is, when I say comprehensive, I mean it! This workbook is what people would normally charge 100's for! But for you it's free today. Simple go to www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/client and you can download the workbook there. Finding and serving an ideal customer is just so important for a business, whether just getting started or long established. A focus on discovering a narrowly defined ideal client will save months of wandering in the dark trying to be all things to all people and make your business more

Why hello and welcome. Welcome to Episode 24 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. Thanks for tuning in today, I know you have loads of options to listen to – so I really appreciate you lending your ears to me today! Sending podcast love for that! Today I've got a special treat for you and the subjects just a wee bit different to what you'll hear on most podcasts because we're going to be discussing offline marketing and print marketing with my very good friend Tom. Tom and his better half Ally own and run Same Day Printing out of Melbourne, and he is at good at marketing as he is at printing – it's a seriously valuable podcast to listen into! I've known Tom for what must be about 6 years now and I'm proud to call him my friend. What started off as a business friendship via having the same mentor and belonging to the same business group, is now a friendship shared over wine and holidays (because I live in God's country and once a year Tom and Ally and the boys come to visit). I know this isn't what the podcast is about today – but this is one of the reasons why I love my business so much. Colleagues become business friends who become great friends. I also love that my children see this – that friends come from far and wide as you venture into this world – it goes far beyond the friends you make at school. But I digress! So, Tom's on to share his wisdom shortly – but of course, first up, let's do our Discovery of the Week! THIS WEEK'S DISCOVERY! This week's discovery is not something that I use but I know a lot of you out there might want to know about it! It's called Last Pass - https://www.lastpass.com/ Basically, LastPass remembers all your passwords, so you don't have to. So, if you are continually trying to remember what your password for this or that is, then this could just be the lifesaver that you've been looking for! As usual with these applications, it has a free version and a paid – I think the paid version is like $3 a month – so for peace of mind could be a very small spend! It also helps to generate those really secure, unusual passwords without you having to remember them or retype them. I have one friend who demanded his wife get this due to the headaches and heartaches of her consistently forgetting passwords! They're still married so it must work! So, if I'm describing frustrated, forgetful you – then look into LastPass. As always, just a little disclaimer, my discoveries are just that and I am in no way affiliated with any of them but promise to tell you if I ever am. I just love them and from the response of my listeners, you guys, you are loving them too! Hey and if you have a little discovery, or something you use in your business that you'd like to share, please do so. Email me at [email protected] or tag me @smallbusinessmadesimple. I really love to know what tools you use to help make your life simpler! OFFLINE MARKETING – THE POWER OF PRINT! INTERVIEW WITH TOM DICKSON www.samedayprinting.com.au So, I hope you enjoyed that interview and can really start to see the power of print inside your business. If you'd like to chat about it further – well then, let's get social on social and continue this conversation in my Facebook Group – Like Minded Business Owners. I'd love to hear your thoughts around print, what you've done in the past or what you might be thinking of for the future! But that's all for Episode 24 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast. I'll be back next Thursday with some more marketing know-how and another discovery of course. If you're enjoying this podcast, don't forget to subscribe so you never miss an episode and share this with a friend. And maybe leave me a rating and a review wherever you listen in. Those things are like gold for podcasters like me! And you just might get a shout out on the podcast too – so make sure you leave your name and business name if you want that mentioned! And if you want even more awesome tips, tricks and resources, head over to www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au or head to my Facebook Group – Like Minded Business Owners. Stay on your game and keep going for your dreams because the world needs that special gift that only you have. Thanks so much for lending me your ears. …….. and remember small business peeps, as my opening song says, there's no point in dreaming small!