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 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 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 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 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.
Read MoreHOW TO START SAYING NO IN SMALL BUSINESS
Saying NO to different opportunities as a small business owner is scary. We want to say YES all the time because we aren’t sure when the next opportunity might come or if by saying NO just that once, all the opportunities will disappear. But it’s not that cut and dried.
Read MoreWHY GEOFF LEE IS WINNING AT MARKETING
In the lead up to the election, campaigning is on everyone’s mind, from Malcolm Turnbull to Tony Abbott and even Bill Shorten has decided to get on the band wagon. And at a national level, its easy to assume that politicians are always campaigning, because they are so visible thanks to those media followers, photographers and their squillions of dollars. At a local member level, we see a stark difference. I have lived in a lot of different electorates in my life, and as such I have noticed that most local members want you to elect them based on the 2 or 3 weeks every couple of year they spend being visible in your community, showing off what they could do for you, in the hope to pull the wool over your eyes regarding their commitment. I’ve never bought into it, because it is exactly that – a bit of a sham, a con, a façade if you will of community engagement.
Read MoreWHY YOU SHOULD BE COMMENTING ON BLOGS
Commenting on blogs is both my most utilised tool as a social media manager, and the most underrated tool I see in other’s social media activities. If the end goal of being involved in social media is to create conversation and dialogue, then a comment is the response YOU make to the question or statement being posed by the writer – without it, you aren’t fulfilling your end of the conversation. As a content creator of any kind, your aim is to develop a community of like-minded people, who are essentially picking up what you are putting down – whether that’s knowledge, reviews, experiences or warnings. So it’s absolutely natural for comments to happen, as people respond to your content. Think about the blogs that YOU read. How many times have you sat at your computer during your lunch break and verbally gone “Ugh YES” when the content is great, or “Pfft” when it’s a bit off. THIS is when, how and why you should comment. Be part of their conversation.
Read MoreHow to brief in a Social Media Manager
Once you have decided to brig a social media manager(or consultant or contractor, whatever you want to call it) into your business, it can be a bit nerve wracking. This is someone who has access to all your customer facing information and who is going to go out there and represent your brand, without knowing the business inside and out like you do. How is that possibly going to work? In order for you to work together well with your new manager, it’s important to sit down together and discuss exactly what it is you are looking for out of that role.
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