WĀ-HINE

ARE YOU MISSING OPPORTUNITIES BY IGNORING CLIENT OFFBOARDING? I say you probably are. 😭 See, when the project is done, we’re eager to move on to the next big thing. All excited, ready to hit the ground running. BUT I’ve spoken before about the power of data. I’ve mentioned the importance of getting a clear view of your client profile, your unique position in the market, your client’s pain-points,...

Why bother with client onboarding, you ask? Here’s some advice from an agency owner who’s done the miles: CLIENT ONBOARDING IS A MAKE - IT - OR - BREAK - IT MOMENT. No, I’m not being over - dramatic. See... If you get it right, you’re guaranteed to have a happy client for life, who will - no doubt - refer you on.  But, if you get it wrong, they’ll be taking their business elsewhere at the first op...

ARE YOU THAT PERSON WHO FINDS SYSTEMS AND PROCESSES BORING? OR RESTRICTIVE? While, of course, everybody is free to do what floats their boat, I’m also here to point out that a lack of systems and processes will at some stage restrict the growth of your business . And I’m going to assume that this is not quite what you have in mind... I'm saying this because you NEED systems and processes to o...

When scaling your done-for-you service based business is on your mind, your attention should go to the systems instead of stubbornly sticking with the hustling practice.  WHY? Because there’s only so much hustling you can successfully fit in a day as a business owner without paying the price. 🥴 BUT when you streamline the processes and systems, on the other hand, you can hand over the job to the...

Are we in a recession yet? It seems to be the question on most business guru’s mind. Me... I am more concerned about the survive or thrive. Because how you build your business and your resilience make all the difference between those two. And of course  you want your business to flourish, even if the rest of the world seems to be limping. So... HOW DO YOU DO IT? I give you 2 Strategies That Gets Y...

IN THE WORLD OF EMAIL MARKETING, NOT ALL EMAILS ARE CREATED THE SAME! See... if your idea of email marketing translates to a monthly newsletter, you have some catching up to do! Because newsletters are OUT. But the right kind of emails are very IN! The short and the narrow is that email marketing has ... changed . Become more sophisticated, more potent. The word ‘smarter’ comes to mind. And as a b...

“ Don’t hire when you’re desperate.” “Hire before  you’re ready. “ There is no lack of advice and opinions when it comes to the right time to add to the team when your business is growing. But what it fails to tell you is ... EXACTLY AT WHAT POINT ARE  YOU READY TO HIRE A NEW TEAM MEMBER???  🤔 What you really need is a strategy. You need a PLAN  to figure out the balance between ... the decisions...

It’s happened AGAIN... the client missed a deadline ! Maybe it’s the rev iew  of some work you have done. Maybe it’s content or key information you r agency  need s  in order to move forward. The bottom - line is, your project loses its momentum, the timeline is now messed up and your revenue stream equally stuffed. BUT WHAT IF I TOLD YOU THIS SITUATION IS AVOIDABLE? What if I said that it’s only...

There are no lack of  big scary moments in the journey of a service - based business owner . But morphing your business from being a sole trader into an agency  can be savage! You may  already have a VA that helps you with some of the admin. And very likely, you also engaged a bookkeeper to take care of your accounting. But now ... you're at capacity with your client work, so you know you’re...

You know what? DEDICATION. ORGANISATION. FOCUS. MIND SET . The fundamentals work! That’s why you need to go back to the basics  when you want to grow your service - based business, but have no desire for a journey that is both exhausting and frustrating. (And who does?!) But HOW ? I give you 4 Tips For Scaling Up Your Service-Based Business Without The Growing Pain! Because I’ve been there myself ...

We have an important question to answer. CAN YOU REALLY  SCALE A SERVICE-BASED BUSINESS? I need to ask, because there seems to be a consistent road block almost every service based business owner encounters at some stage in their journey. I was one of those service - based business owners. But I’ve managed to break through the hurdles! How? Th e a ns wer is The Sca labl e Growth Process . Which of...

Everybody loves a good quiz, right?  🤔 I mean, women's magazines figured this out a long time ago. Honestly, I challenge the person who hasn’t been drawn in to do ing  one at some stage to come forward.  😉 BUT have you ever considered that we could use a well - designed personality based quiz to attract the perfect clients for our business?! Heck, you could even target different products to...

AND JUST LIKE THAT WE’RE AT 52 EPISODES! One for each week of the year. It’s quite something when you think about it. There are 2 things about the year of podcasting I probably appreciate the most: The first one is the feedback I get from you, the listeners. It truly makes my heart sing! The second one is the interactions I have with my podcast guest. The wisdom....! So... I didn’t want Episode 52...

Marketing can be intimidating, confusing, and time - consuming. BUT IT DOESN’T NEED TO BE. When I speak with Sunny Logsdon, veteran content marketer with a weak spot for small business, she is adamant content marketing is just as important for small businesses as it is for the big corporates. And it doesn’t need to be the big hurdle it’s made out to be. All you need is the necessary systems in pla...

It makes sense to build a business that makes the most of your skills and talents. After all, that’s when you’ll be at your best. But as I found out myself, that’s easier said than done. Because WHAT ARE THESE STRENGTHS that should take centre stage in your business? I turned to Anna Nelson for the answer. And by golly, did she deliver! Anna Nelson is a 1:1 executive coach who helps entrepreneurs...

Having staff is not always easy. Technology is: It works, or it doesn’t. People, on the other hand... Yet, Justine Parsons from Your Virtual Assistant calls her team her biggest accomplishment in her business, the thing she’s most proud of. 😳 But when you speak with her, it’s also her team who seems to be the answer to whatever problem she’s facing. To top it off, Justine‘s team seems to stick wi...

Usually my life is pretty calm and organised. Recently, out of nowhere, ... it wasn’t AT ALL! TEARS, NETFLIX, COMFORT FOOD! Life sometimes takes a good laugh at what we think is ‘control’. So when I found myself in a moment of massive chaos and overwhelm, I had to pull out all the strategies and tools I had available to make it out the other end. Now that I’m catching my breath again, I’m also acu...

You scratch my back, and I’ll scratch yours. It’s how I would sum up some of the potential answers to a burning need all business owners share. WHERE DO YOU GO FOR ADVICE AS A SMALL BUSINESS OWNER? It’s obvious that everybody needs advice at some stage. (Only fools and liars claim to know everything.) But it’s even more vital when you are a sole proprietor. So... WHO can be your listening ear, you...

Ghostwriting? Nailing your founder’s story in one or two sentences in such a way that people get who you are and can’t wait to work with you? Leveraging story in your business? Are you as puzzled AND intrigued as I am? I mean, there’s no escaping the s torytelling as a marketing strategy narrative, but what can it mean to your business? And how do you do it well, even if writing is not your thing?...

4 STEPS That’s all it takes to bring in your ideal client. One who appreciates you, pays you fairly, lets you get on with the job, AND returns for more. SIGH! Are these 4 steps easy? If ‘easy’ would be the word that comes to mind, we’d all be doing it from day 1. BUT I wouldn’t call them ‘hard’ either. First, of course, you would have to work your way through episode 43, so you know how to create...

To jump or not to jump, that is the question! I’m talking about a dilemma that most of us have at least mildly contemplated: Should you turn your passion into a business? There’s plenty of opinion out there. Here’s Oprah’s: “Forget about the fast lane. If you really want to fly, harness your power to your passion. Honour your calling. Everybody has one. Trust your heart, and success will come to y...

WHO ARE YOU? It’s an important question if you want to create a business that is aligned with your talents. When I reached out to the BYW community to see which topics they wanted me to delve into in future podcasts, this came up. It’s an important topic too, so it’s time we address it, I say. But let’s be fair, it’s quite a meaty subject that can’t be answered in a couple of minutes. My solution?...

There’s some deep wisdom coming from Christi Cooper. I ask her what her 3 tips for new service - based business owners are, and she gives me these three gems: Don’t give up. We all have low months, downtimes, bad days. Business gurus promise fast growth, but that’s not usually how things work. In the real world, things take time and it’s a more sustainable way of growing. Don’t be afraid to try an...

Making constant decisions is an unavoidable part of (business) life. Even in an indecisive state, you decide to stall a decision (think about that one for a minute!) But what’s more important, you can’t make progress without making decisions!  🤔 But it doesn’t make the endless deciding less taxing on our poor business owner’s brain. The solution? MAKE THE DECISION PROCESS AS EASY AS POSSIBLE. If...

What does it tell you when somebody builds a dashboard on Notion that monitors the health of the 150+ plants in their apartment?   It tells you this person: has a deep passion for plants is extremely organised knows a thing or two   about Notion and how to work with it. I‘m talking about Sara Loretta, my new guest on the podcast. Sara is a successful Certified Notion Consultant (1 out of 40 in the...