I had a fairly in-depth conversation with a good friend the other day about life and business and everything that is going on, and she made a fairly sweeping statement – “It’s so nice to hear from someone who is doing cool stuff but didn’t just fall into it.” Maybe it’s that others wrap it up in a fairy-floss coating, but I cannot believe that anyone in business for themselves, whether its full time, part time or a side hustle, could have “fallen into it”. It sounds too much like that stupid idiom you see plastered on Pinterest and Instagram “Love what you do and you will never work a day in your life”. It’s just not bloody true.
Read MoreYou have to want to be in Business.
I am very lucky in life that I have been raised by two people who have run their own businesses. My mother has run multiple businesses over the past 40 years, most notably when she ran a plant hire business in Wollongong, employing 5 staff and with plants placed in all major hotels, pubs and clubs; her most recent endeavours The Secret Garden and My Productive Backyard and when she conned my sister and I into selling veggies for her in our neighbourhood (we were cute sales people and made more money that way). My father has run his own financial planning practice, Innovus Advice, for the past 10 years but ran someone else’s practice for years before that as a partner and managing director. Why am I telling you all of this?
Read MoreWhere have all my followers gone?
There have been a lot of conversations lately around the watercooler about social media engagement. About how brands are getting less and less of it, the platforms are charging you more and more to reach your audience (in the form of advertising) and the penalties that come after advertising. There is a reasonable amount of fear going on, that brands have lost their followers, and they are right to be afraid.
Read MoreWhat the hell is social media engagement?
Engagement is one of the most tossed around terms in marketing. No longer is it just a phrase we use in digital marketing, now we are talking about the engagement at events, the engagement with printed collateral and the engagement of our spouse with the dishes (I have the data – the engagement is none). But what does it actually mean?
Read MoreHOW TO TURN YOUR SIDE HUSTLE INTO A BUSINESS
I took the not-so-conventional route to growing my side hustle into a business, and now my major source of income. Or maybe it is actually a more conventional route. I started freelancing as soon as I knew I could do design. I had originally gotten into graphic design because I wanted to one day own my own business and have the flexibility that that brings – so I went into this experience eyes wide open knowing that running my own business was in my future. The vision with the side hustle was to start small and work my way up. Get a book of clients together, enough to cover my salary, and then when I got there, quit the corporate job and go legit. And I guess it kind of worked out like that – but there are some things I did well, and others I didn’t do so well that have taught me a few things about the change from nights-and-weekends side hustle to all-encompassing small business. Start small, but make a start Get your side hustle going, whatever that looks like for you. Start an Instagram and talk about what you’re doing, or start trading your services with your mates and go from there. Be serious about it as future business, register yourself for an ABN, speak to a financial advisor about how to work this into your tax and create a brand. However you choose to start is completely fine, but make a start and do it intentionally. Build it up slowly No-one is going to go out and tell you to quit your day job and make candles full time. And if they do I think that’s really crappy advice. Yes, if you’re loving your side hustle more than your job and you KNOW that’s what you want to do full-time, then have that as a goal. But that takes time of the side hustle being just that – so don’t just go and pack everything in so soon. Work out whether the business model is sustainable, work out whether it’s truly something you can do for a career and not get sick of it, work out how you are going to cover your monthly expenses. Get your ducks in a row. Use the time while the side hustle is that to work out kinks – are you any good at chasing invoices? No?…
Read MoreWHY EVERYONE SHOULD HAVE A SIDE HUSTLE
When I got to my third year of design school, I distinctly remember taking on my first ever freelance client. It was my roommate at the time, and she and I traded a logo design for her burgeoning fashion business for a dress she made me for my cousin’s wedding. And pretty much since then, I ran a nice little side hustle as a freelance designer.
Read MoreWHAT VALUE DO YOU BRING?
Value is a term that is often tossed around, mostly from people trying to sell you things. For me, value is about what I learn, grow or get enjoyment from – and that is a pretty broad set of standards. In the fast-paced, often vapid-seeming world of social media though, the question we should ALL be asking is “What VALUE does my social media bring to my customers lives?”
Read MoreLet’s be something other than busy
People seem to have come down with a case of the “busy’s”. “How are you?” – “Busy”. “How is business?” – “Busy”. “How’s your Mum?” – “Busy”. See a pattern here?
Read MoreSometimes, the best advice you can take is your own.
I would like to start out here by explaining that this piece of content really isn’t as wanky as it sounds on face value. You know how it is so much easier to give your girlfriend advice about her clothing choices or her career than it is for you to take the same advice and put it into practice? Well, business is much the same. From the outside looking in, it is often incredibly easy to see the changes that someone should make in their business, and the steps that they should take. The question has always been, how do you apply the same clear and logical thinking to your own situation, and essentially learn to take your own advice?
Read MoreSocial Media Damage Control – how do you handle it?
Social media is a fantastic thing for small businesses, giving you direct marketing access to your customers and allowing your brand to be a part of their every day and every movement. Thinking back 40 years ago, brands had nothing like the access we have to customers today – but that works both ways.
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