Tag: small business

Tim Reid, Host of The Small Business Big Marketing Show Podcast [Interview]

Posted on by Sue L Canfield
This entry is part 8 of 13 in the series Podcaster Interviews

Tim, tell us about your podcast.Tim Reid

Called The Small Business Big Marketing Show, it’s reason for being is to help demystify marketing for small business owners. To help them embrace this important business-growing discipline to the point that they actually enjoy marketing themselves and their precious business. In fact, my dream is that marketing becomes a hobby for every business-owner listening – when something’s a hobby, you look forward to doing it, and will find the necessary resources to do it properly.

Why did you start this podcast?

I’ve been marketing all my life – but I especially love chatting and supporting the smaller end of town. Whilst they could afford to pay my coaching fees, they can afford the time it takes to listen to my free podcast made directly for them.

How long have you been podcasting?

Eleven years – my show was the first Australian business podcast aimed at small business owners.

What do you look for in a guest?

A successful business owner that has an interesting story of growth and who has used some form of marketing to get them there.

How can listeners find you?

More about Tim Reid

Tim is the founder and host of Australia’s #1 and longest running business marketing podcast – The Small Business Big Marketing Show, which can be found on the Apple iTunes store, Spotify as well as inflight on all Virgin Australia domestic and international flights.

His highly informative weekly show was awarded Australia’s Best Business & Marketing Podcast at the 2018 Australian Podcast Awards.

Each week, Tim shares marketing insights and tips to help you build that beautiful business of yours in to the empire it deserves to be.

Having launched his hit program ten years ago and with well over 490 episodes and three million downloads under his belt, it regularly ranks in iTunes above The Tim Ferris Show, Seth Godin’s Start Up School and and even outranks the Harvard Business School’s show, as Australia’s number one business marketing podcast.

Tim has built a global audience of motivated business owners in 110 countries, and is the author of The Boomerang Effect, a popular marketing text. He is also Australia’s most practical marketing keynote speaker.

Prior to this, he was the marketing manager for Flight Centre and spent ten years working in Australia’s largest advertising agency looking after the advertising needs of Gillette, AXA, Yellow Pages and Dulux.

Tim was instrumental in helping AFL legend Jim Stynes raise $1M dollars for youth charity, Reach.

He now travels the world showing business owners and marketers how to embrace modern marketing methods – gaining success and increasing profits, without spending a fortune.

Tim is also an engaging and entertaining emcee, having emceed the Telstra Business Awards around Australia, and is the emcee for the annual Australian Podcast Awards.

4 Common Financial Crises for Small Business Owners and How to Solve Them

Posted on by Sue L Canfield

4 Common Financial Crises for Small Business Owners and How to Solve ThemAs a small business owner, you’re essentially writing your own paycheck. But that doesn’t mean you have an endless supply of funds anytime you need them. Instead, your earnings are dependent on a variety of factors, some of which are outside your direct control. So what can you do if you run into difficult financial circumstances? Here are a few ways to jump money-related hurdles.

… more … “4 Common Financial Crises for Small Business Owners and How to Solve Them”

4 Ways Your Small Business Can Remain Competitive

Posted on by Sue L Canfield

4 Ways Your Small Business Can Remain CompetitiveDo you want to remain competitive and increase your profits? Of course you do! How can you still accomplish all you need to do while remaining competitive?

Here are 4 ways your small business can remain competitive:

  1. Get professional help!

Two questions to ask yourself to determine what tasks you need to get help with are:

  1. What are the things you do that drain you of energy? We all do things we really enjoy and that energize us. We also do things that tend to drain our energy.
  2. What are the things you do that don’t directly increase your profits? You know—those tasks that have to be done in a business but don’t directly bring in income.

Once you’ve identified the things that drain you of energy and that don’t directly increase your profits, you’re ready to call in professional help. A virtual assistant can take on those tasks, leaving you with the tasks that you feel energized about and that contribute directly to your bottom line.

  1. Market by providing valuable education

Any business owner can increase their profits by gaining new clients. The key here is to approach this with a new mindset. Instead of focusing on gaining new clients to increase your business, focus on contributing value to others. The increased business and new clients will come.

Think about how you market to your clients. Is your focus on what you do and what your services you provide? The key is to focus on our prospects and clients, on their needs, who they are, what challenges they face, and what benefits they will receive by using your services.

Another way to provide valuable education to prospects and clients is to write articles and reports, such as this one, and distribute them freely. They not only increase your credibility, they give your prospects valuable information and a way for them to learn more about you and your services.

  1. Build relationships with social networking

Marketing now needs to focus more on building relationships. That’s why we’ve seen an increase in businesses using social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. Use these sites to provide resources and referrals. Be involved and participate in a meaningful way. Building relationships at these sites can build trust and at some point you’ll find people asking more about what you can do for them.

  1. Invest in your business

Sometimes the best way to remain competitive in the small business world is to invest in your business. As a small business owner myself, I know how difficult the first few years were and there were times when there was no way I was going to spend any money until I had earned a certain amount of money. However, I learned an important lesson: investing in my business. Investing in my business allowed me to hire additional help so I could take on more work. In the process my business grew, I was making more money, and actually working less because I had a team of people assisting me.

One way to invest in your business is to utilize the resource Kabbage. Small businesses can use the working capital loan Kabbage offers to invest in their business to grow and thrive.

So what are you waiting for? If you want your small business to remain competitive, then get professional help, market by providing valuable education, build relationships with social networking, and invest in your business!

Add 5 New Connections to Each of Your Social Media Networks

Posted on by Sue L Canfield

facebook social media networkAnother goal for your virtual assistant business this coming year is to add five new connections to each of your social media networks each week.

You want to expand the exposure for your business by adding new connections on a regular basis on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google+. Choose one each weekday to add five new connections and watch your social media interactions grow. Look for people in your industry you might want to collaborate with. Connect with local small business owners who you may do business with.

You’ll find me on each of the networks below. I invite you to connect with me!

Facebook

Twitter

LinkedIn

Pinterest

Google Plus

Where are you on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Google+? I want to connect with you!

You Don’t Want a Job and I’d Like to Tell You a Few Reasons Why

Posted on by Joel D Canfield

You Don't Want a Job: Why Self-Employment Reduces Your Risks & Increases Your RewardsMy 10th book was released July 27th. It’s called You Don’t Want a Job: Why Self-Employment Reduces Your Risks & Increases Your Rewards. If you’re already a self-employed, it contains loads of information from great psychological resources that’ll make you feel good about your choice, and help you make the most of it. Here are a few of the ideas from the book, which you can buy from us right here.

[S]ince no one else is going to take the trouble of making sure that we enjoy our work, it makes sense for each of us to take on this responsibility. — Finding Flow: The Psychology of Engagement with Everyday Life by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, p. 101-2

Self-Employed Doesn’t Always Mean Entrepreneur

Not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur.

Some are cut out to be freelancers.

Entrepreneurs want to create. They want to be in the driver’s seat. They do not fear the fires of risk. They like finding new people, making connections. They want to choose their own deadlines and make their own way.

Some folks don’t fit that description. That doesn’t mean they should get a job. It means freelancing instead of entrepreneurship.

Freelancing is hiring out your talents to a number of different people. It’s like having lots of bosses. Except you get to choose them, not the other way ’round.

Working freelance (the word comes from “free lance,” as in, a mercenary who was good at one thing: fighting wars, whoever was paying for it) means you don’t have to convince clients they need your help. Your clients are entrepreneurs who appreciate the skills you bring to their business. They understand you. Your marketing is simpler because it’s aimed at other business folks, not end users. Your pricing is less subjective. You don’t have to set your own deadlines. You know what needs to be done every day.

Entrepreneurs and freelancers get the same benefits despite their different personalities.

You Have Control

One objection I hear to the concept of entrepreneurship is that “you’re just trading one boss for a whole bunch of bosses: your clients.”

Well, sure, if you’re doing it wrong.

Control is not a gift you’re given, it’s a power you wield.

When you’re the boss, you have control over the 4 Ts.

You control what tasks you do.

You control the techniques you use.

You control the time you work.

You control the team you work with.

I can hear you yelling about the last two from where I’m sitting. “My buddy is never around because he’s always rushing to meet a deadline.” “My sister’s clients are all jerks, but she needs the money.”

Covered in my other books, I’ll briefly dispel those here:

If you schedule properly and maintain good client relationships, you should rarely, if ever, be forced to work at a time you’d prefer not to. I keep my goal dates (I don’t even call them “deadlines”) flexible enough that if I want a day off, I can take one. What that also means is that if I wake up at 4am and feel like working, I can, because then when I’m tired at 9:30 I can take a nap.

Working for jerks will make you a jerk. It is an immutable law that we become like those we associate with. Choose clients you wish you were more like. It takes guts to turn down money from someone you don’t want to work with, and I’ll admit to making this mistake more than once — and regretting it every single time.

You do not have to work 88 hours a week, nor do you have to work with jerks. You are the boss. If you work too much or with the wrong people, it is because you chose to, not because you had to.

Autonomy Over Balance

Anyone who always chooses the 4 Ts entirely at their own whim is going to struggle. We live in a complex intertwangled society, as gregariously social creatures. It goes against nature to seek total independence.

Another autonomy is over the balance of autonomy we choose.

When the economy shifts, I focus more on one type of project than another.

When I’m partnering with someone I want to build a working relationship with, I’ll use the tools they’re familiar with, at least at the outset.

When a beloved client really truly needs it now, I usually choose to pull out all the stops to deliver for them.

While I won’t work with jerks, either as my client or as a co-worker on a project, I have worked with folks who didn’t light my fire in every interaction. I’ve asked advice from folks who seem incapable of tact. I’ve read great information in deadly dull books and blog posts.

And every one was a choice. My choice. Choice to balance how much autonomy is right for this time, this day.

A Job Is Simpler

Life is complicated and messy. We tell ourselves stories to simplify it, to get a handle on it, to teach our children.

Oversimplification can be a useful teaching tool, a beneficial coping strategy. It can also fool us into believing that simple is better in cases where it’s not.

Having a job is simpler, tidier, than the messiness of creating your own business, whether entrepreneurial or freelancing.

Simpler.

Not better.

Joel D CanfieldEven though you know who I am, we’ll say it again, a little differently:

After losing two jobs in a row because companies went out of business, Joel D Canfield resurrected Spinhead, the web design company he’d founded in 1998. In the six years since his last job, Joel and his family have traveled full-time throughout the US and Canada for 18 months, created and refined multiple businesses, and spent nearly all their time doing exactly what they wanted to do instead of what they had to do. Read more about his newly released 10th book “You Don’t Want a Job” at http://JoelDCanfield.com