well.being.business.
ISSUE 3
growing your business online creating a #1 app setting yourself up for success starting a wellbeing blog finance tips for business growth WWW.YOURWELLBEINGBUSINESS.COM
PLUS SO MUCH MORE INSIDE...
Table of contents growing your business online A practical guide to marketing for your online audience. P4
creating a #1 app How the Merry Maker Sisters did it. P8
ethical online shopping A guide to the fashion revolution. P12
cash flow fantastic How business operations can make a big difference. P14
one year of wellness blogging Lessons from the front line. P17
home work benefits Making your environment and habits work for you. P22
ask the questions Steps to help you connect with your customers. P27
money matters Common financial issues we face. P29
editors letter Penny Wort
penny@yourwellbeingbusiness.com Hi there, thanks for returning to read Issue 3. It's our biggest issue yet! We are so lucky to have readers who are forward thinking, reimagining the ways we work, and embracing change. In this issue we are focused on growth and bringing you loads of content to help you expand your brilliant, unique, businesses. The growth of Well Being Business magazine for me is inextricably linked with my growth as a mother (of the little lady pictured with me above). As I’ve grown in confidence and embraced the new family flow I have really allowed my vision for this magazine to clarify. Once I had my ‘why’ sorted it became 100% easier. I encourage you all to dig deep into your 'why' this month and feel energised by the answers. Thank you for all your feedback, we will continue to scope out the stories that matter to you, so keep sending your thoughts through. Also send through any hot tips for travel with toddlers, as my family and I are packing our belongings into three small bags and travelling around Europe for a few months. Working while we are away, exploring and growing. So sorry in advance for filling up the insta feed with #gelato.
Find out more about Well Being Business here: www.yourwellbeingbusiness.com/about
growing your business online Words by: Bianca McKenzie
Before we dive into what marketing activity your business absolutely needs, I want you to take a few
In a world of social media, websites, newsletters,
steps back and focus on the one thing you must
podcasts and videos it can often be overwhelming
create before you undertake any marketing
to figure out what the best way to market our
activities.
business is. The key to any well-executed marketing activity is Let’s face it, as entrepreneurs we already wear so
your strategy.
many hats and adding marketing to the mix can feel like you’ve added another full-time position.
Without a strategy your marketing will most certainly flop, or at best you’ll get results that you
How do you know what marketing activity to focus
can’t measure, explain or replicate.
on in your business? How will you know what activity will give you a return on investment?
A good strategy will most likely incorporate a number of different marketing activities, but
I’m sorry to burst the bubble but nothing in
there’s one that stands out above the rest.
marketing is certain, at least not until you test it in your business, but luckily for us there are a few
By now you might feel that dreaded feeling bubble
methods that have been tested in multiple
up. That feeling when you hear the word
industries and are showing great returns for many
‘marketing’, especially when you think of all the
businesses.
other things you need to do in your business.
Is it Facebook? Is it blogging? Is it newsletters? Is it
How are you going to do all the marketing things if
the next big thing?
you have limited time and resources?
How will you attract leads and convert them to
If your email marketing isn’t working there could
sales? How are you going to find the time to stay
be more at play, such as:
up to date?
• you have the wrong people on your list • you don’t really know your ideal client
If you are an entrepreneur with limited time there
• your funnel doesn’t speak to your ideal client
is one marketing activity that you must include in
• you’re not asking them to buy (you need a strong
your strategy. Even if it’s the only marketing
CTA – call to action)
activity you focus on and you leave the others
• your product isn’t what your clients want
behind at times. Investigate what’s going on by surveying your list, The one marketing activity that you cannot ignore
going back and creating a more accurate client
in your business is building an email database of
avatar, trying different copy, making a stronger
prospective clients, also called list building.
call to action etc.
Why is list building so important?
Test, test, test until you hit the sweet spot. You’re probably not far off hitting gold, but you need to
There are a number of reasons but one of them is
dig a little further.
that email marketing still outperforms other marketing activities in terms of conversions.
Hardly anyone get’s their marketing and their message right the first time, and that’s totally ok,
Email marketing (aka communicating with your
but the art is to not give up and dig deep into the
list) gives a 4300% ROI according to the Direct
story of what your data is telling you.
Marketing Association. There are many ways to grow your mailing list, Are you shaking your head right now because you
including asking former clients to join, getting
tried email marketing but you didn’t get a single
referrals from friends and family, writing for a
sale from your emails?
magazine, adding an opt-in box to your website etc. I suggest that you do all of the above and more
Email marketing isn’t as easy as it sounds and
to grow your list, and ultimately the opportunity to
there’s more involved than simply writing some
grow your business.
copy and pressing send.
"Test test test until you hit the sweet spot. You're probably not far off hitting gold"
If you want to speed up your list growth a bit, I
If your Facebook ads aren’t quite doing what you
suggest using Facebook advertising. Using ads
wanted them to do, read into the data and make
gives you the opportunity to get in front of people
tweaks.
who don’t know you at a fairly low cost. If you have never used Facebook advertising it can be a little
If another part of your marketing strategy isn’t
bit daunting and a fairly steep learning curve. In
working, stop pushing and re-evaluate so that you
my course, FB Ads for List Building, I help
can improve.
entrepreneurs navigate the, sometimes, rocky seas of Facebook Advertising.
There are three things about online marketing I would like you to take away from this article:
Just as with any marketing activity, your strategy
1. Every marketing activity needs a strategy to
is going to be key. First up, you need to set your
know where you are going and how you will get
goal (in this case it’s list building) and then work
there
through each step to how you are going to achieve
2. Build your email list to connect with your
this with Facebook ads.
audience 3. Learn to interpret your data so that you can
Your email marketing will play a large role in your
course correct
success to turn subscribers into buyer, but your Facebook ads will play the role of turning people
It’s time for us to part, and time for you to start
who have never heard of you into subscribers so
your strategy.
that you can take them on that journey from subscriber to buyer. Email marketing and Facebook ads measures are similar in that the data you collect from your
Bianca McKenzie demystifies marketing strategy and optimizes lead generation for female entrepreneurs, big dreamers, movers and shakers so that they have more time to do what they love and be the change-makers they dream to be.
Facebook ads campaigns also tells a story. In both cases it’s important to learn what the ‘signs’ are telling you. Learning to interpret the data your various marketing pieces are giving you is the key to
An intuitive marketer, natural connector and qualified teacher, Bianca brings marketing strategy and technology together with ease. Bianca is a regular guest blogger on ROOOAR, a Beautiful You Coaching Academy guest speaker and E-Course Launch Formula expert contributor.
improving what you are doing. If one thing isn’t working, evaluate it and go back to the drawing board so that you can course correct. If your email marketing isn’t performing the way
Website Facebook Instagram Pinterest YouTube
you’d hoped, look into why it’s not instead of making the conclusion that it’s not for you.
Check Out The Course Here
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EXCLUSIVE
creating a #1 app Penny Wort spoke to Emma and Carla, otherwise known as the Merry Maker Sisters, about their app which went to #1 in iTunes! Penny: Once you had decided to create the app what was your first step? Page 8
Merry Maker Sisters: We actually decided we wanted an app way back in 2014! We started working with someone and it just wasn't working so we left the project and kept on going with everything else. The idea of creating an app was super overwhelming as we knew nothing about the area. Then our good friend Jarrod from The App Match got in touch and said "You guys NEED a Merrymaker recipe app. It's super easy I reckon you can do it in 7 days!" We were like... "Ummm this is crazy! But if you say we can let's do it!"
We did it as part of one of Dan Norris' 7 Day Startup Challenges. Did we do it in 7 days? 100% not! But we started it and this was the exciting thing! Then we went on to brainstorming what we wanted the app to look like, what it would be for, how it would look. This was a super fun and exciting part of the Get Merry app journey! PW: Who did you engage to work with you on your app? MMS: We worked with The App Match. They are such an amazing team to work with and we recommend them in a heart beat! They make building an app easy with zero over-whelm.
They also introduced us to all the developers and contractors we needed to build the app and get it up ready for sale.
With our Get Merry app we update every single week with a new recipe, our virtual assistant does this for us.
PW: How long did it take? MMS: Our app took us about 6 months to create. But we had a few breaks during that time. We probably could have got it done in 1 month if we dedicated more time and energy to it! But the timing ended up being perfect with an epic result!
PW: Is there any app-maker jargon beginners should know? MMS: We are sure there is! But because we worked with The App Match they really held our hands through the whole process. Anything we did not understand we went to them and they explained it in non-app-makerjargon terms.
PW: How much did it cost? MMS: The initial cost to set up was about $2500 (Australian). We were so happy with this as we chatted to many people and they said it would cost us about $100k-$200k to make our app. Since then we've made a few updates, this can be a little addictive! PW: What kind of ongoing management does an app take? MMS: We make sure we promote it regularly to keep new sales happening and then update with new content. If your app does not offer new content you can pretty much just let it be and fix any bugs and update when needed.
PW: How did you decide on the $4.49 price point? MMS: We based it on what we'd like to pay. Most of the content on our app is free on our website so app users are buying convenience and they are saving time as they don't have to search the interwebz for our recipes! We also looked at similar apps and what they were charging. It was harder to decide on what to charge for our in-app purchases. Again we looked at what other similar apps were offering and what we'd like pay. We're happy with our decision, we feel that it is an affordable way to view our healthy recipes in a super convenient way.
Connect themerrymakersisters @themerrymakersisters themerrymakersisters.com/app
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ethical shopping
"The global fashion industry is opaque, exploitative and environmentally damaging and desperately needs revolutionary change. We love fashion, but we don’t want our clothes to come at the cost of people or our planet." Fashion Revolution.
Ethical fashion is picking up momentum! An organisation called Fashion Revolution is making sure social media is abuzz on this topic. Fashion Revolution Week has just passed and it was huge this year, with both brands and consumers contributing to the online campaign #whomadeyourclothes. It was an educational week as members of the fashion industry shared their behind the scenes processes and showed their comfort with an increasingly transparent model. Ensuing we can't plead ignorance to dodgy 'fast fashion' practices. We spoke to the team at ecomono and asked them about the importance of questioning who makes our clothes. They told us consumers have more power than we think, and that our questions and our shopping habits can have the power to change the industry for the better. They can see that it’s starting to have an effect with more brands listening to our collective voice and responding. Fashion Revolution Week showed us loads of success stories but the spotlight was also thrown on some pretty shady practices. If you came across some information that makes you want to avoid your old favourite shopping haunts, never fear we have a few excellent ethical online shopping spots to suggest you to check out...
L-R: WE DASH LOVE, THOUGHT, KAHLA & ECO VEGAN BOUTIQUE, WELL MADE CLOTHES, ECOMONO, BRANDS FOR GOOD, EVERLANE, YEVU. YOU CAN FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WHICH AUSTRALIAN BRANDS ARE ACCREDITED AS 'ETHICAL' HERE: ETHICALCLOTHINGAUSTRALIA.ORG.AU
cash flow fantastic Words: Penny Wort Images: Food To Nourish
Danielle Minnebo, founder of Food To Nourish, is a business woman I admire. She is a firm believer in producing top quality products but also has the business smarts to bring her brand success. When I first interviewed Danielle about 12 months ago we were in her office just off her commercial kitchen, at a desk in close confines with her boxes of nut butters. This recent interview was conducted in a roomy warehouse office space with no kitchen in sight, although i’m told a new and improved kitchen was just to the other side of the back wall. Their growth has been pretty astounding for a specialised food brand. The way Food To Nourish has blossomed over the years is down to more than just Danielle's background in Nutrition. I spoke to her about the business decisions she has made along the way to grow her brand at the right time in the right way. She was generous in sharing the nitty gritty about finance and spreadsheets.
Danielle is a poster girl for going into business with your eyes wide open, taking the financial responsibilities as seriously as the product being distributed. Here at Well Being Business we are advocates for ensuring small business owners empower themselves by learning finance basics and don’t purely rely on outsourcing the jobs they find annoying. The thing is, if you’re hesitant to dig into your own business finances and plan your cashflow then at some point you will probably come unstuck. My conversation with Danielle further confirmed this. Clever and consistent spreadsheet tracking of cashflow has allowed her to keep tabs on micro and macro elements of her business. Informing her decisions on everything; from when to order more ingredients (and hence draw money out) and when to set some aside for future investments (like the super expensive commercial grade kitchen equipment).
Danielle's solid gold business advice:
19
Cash flow Even without any background in accounting, you don’t need to take a course to manage your cashflow. You just need the time and attention to detail to keep on top of it. If you forecast 6-8 weeks in advance and literally put in all the incomings and outgoings you will have some vital information to work off. If it looks too tight you have the time to make adjustments which you wouldn’t have if you stuck your head in the sand. Investment We had a business plan before we started Food To Nourish and we focused on the funding part so we knew where the money was coming from. We knew we wanted to have multiple products so we had to grow and strengthen the brand quite quickly. In the first two years we couldn't rely on cash flow to grow so we needed investment.
"Only ask for advice from people who have what you want."
The funding you seek will have an impact on the kind of brand you become. If you seek external investors try to ensure they understand the industry so your business doesn’t become about squeezing every dollar and taking shortcuts. Partnership Pick business partners where you each have a complimentary skill set, that way you need to outsource less and can add different dimensions to the brand. The Food To Nourish product labels are all drawn and designed by a business partner. Growth Explore additional income streams when you have capacity. The Food To Nourish kitchen now also produces different products to provide to other brands, like spice mixtures and granolas. Sourcing becomes more efficient as you grow. The first two years were close to the line, it’s only after then the economy of scale in ordering ingredients became really beneficial.
Not only is she a kick-arse business woman but her products are really delicious and nourishing. You can check out Food To Nourish here:
@foodtonourish
@foodtonourish
www.foodtonourish.com.au
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1 year of wellness blogging Words by: Matt and Nat Dillon, a husband and wife duo transforming their health through a Paleo based lifestyle. They run a health and wellness website – Paleo Power Couple – Nourishing you with real food recipes, tips and inspiration.
we had registered 12 months earlier was about to expire, unless we coughed up a whole bunch of money! Shit! It’s been 12 months already?! We had nothing to show for it yet! We had reached a turning point: do we continue
Starting out as a wellness blogger and business
with our passion of helping people get to a healthy
owner can be daunting. It seems like an
lifestyle through real food recipes and inspiration
insurmountable hurdle. During our first 12 months
and just launch this thing (despite having a
we’ve learned so many things, and we’re delighted
newborn)? Or do we place this little venture into
to have an opportunity to share them with you.
the too hard basket?!
So what we’ve learned over this past 12 months?
Despite the tiredness and doubts over whether we could make this work with a newborn, we trusted
1. Know your why
our gut and took the plunge. Why? Because we believed in what we wanted to do! We had
Laying in bed after just getting our 2 day old
experienced so many amazing benefits from our
newborn son to bed, we checked our emails to
real food journey, and we were really passionate
discover that the website domain and hosting
about sharing that with others.
2. Take Action
We’ve found connections help us because it surrounds us with the kind of success we want to
Knowing your why is an essential ingredient for
achieve for ourselves. It’s powerful stuff.
any budding wellness blogger, but taking action can be intimidating! We’ve learned that it’s
4. You find yourself
important see beyond the FEAR (which is simply False Evidence Appearing Real) and do what you
As you start working on your business, you’ll
want to with your blog before you are ready.
discover so many things about yourself. You’ll learn that you have a lot of skills you weren’t
Blogging gives you so many learning opportunities,
aware of, and that you’re motivated to learn new
and we do our best learning after we’ve taken
skills in order to grow your business!
action. Trust your intuition, make a decision and learn as you go!
But best of all, your view on life changes. Why? Because your values (your why) are being aligned
3. Get connected
with your priorities (what you do). In the past you passed the time watching netflix, but now you’re
Like any physical business, online businesses
devoting all your spare time to build your business.
thrive on connections. First, research some
And best of all: by helping others, you’re also
potential influencers in your niche to find
investing in your own self-development in the
collaboration opportunities. For best results, pick
process. How good is that!
people who are slightly more established in your circles as you may find it difficult to get the attention of the top of the crop. It’s amazing how supportive fellow nichers are despite supposedly being in competition with you. Next, reach out to other bloggers or online entrepreneurs and try to meet up regularly to discuss strategies, goals and hold each other to account. You may want to choose one person that you really identify with and ask to be mentored by them. Not yet found connections? A great place to start is by listening to podcasts about blogging or your particular niche topic. Hearing people's stories of how they got started can be really inspiring. You’ll find that most people had a lot of failures before they hit the jackpot. It’s a nice reminder that there’s no such thing as an overnight success!
what to do from day one...
1.
Get proper hosting An essential part of having a wellbeing business is having a professional online presence. We get our hosting from Bluehost which allows us to have own our own domain (www.paleopowercouple.com) at an affordable price. But best of all, it supports the installation of the version of Wordpress that allows your site to be customised with more functionality (more so than the free version of wordpress). This setup has allowed us to take advantage of fantastic plug-ins like ‘recipe card’ to show-case our food, as well as Optimizepress to create sexy sales pages to help monetise our business. Paying for professional hosting is a worthwhile investment for your business's credibility.
2.
Regular content Yes it’s cliche, but regular content is key! We aim for no less than 1 post a week. It’s important for both your audience in terms of building up trust and expectation. Have you ever refreshed your web browser or podcast catcher on the day you know that your favourite blogger releases content? Your followers will be doing the same thing for your content. Also, focus on quality. You want your free content to be so awesome, that they’ll start imaging how awesome your paid content will be when it’s available! This means your content schedule may be different to ours depending on your circumstances. If you’re doing this part time and 1 post per week is too much. That’s ok make it fortnightly, but make that content epic! Our last tip on content is to try to build up a backlog of content so that you can stick to your schedule. It’s hard to do this when you’re writing content week to week, just keeping your head above water.
3.
Search Engine Optimisation SEO is a mystery to a lot of us and yet it’s so vital. Put simply, SEO is the process of making your site attractive in the eyes of people who search for keywords using google. Optimisation = more potential site visitors = more subscribers = more potential revenue.
what to do from day one...
If you’ve taken the step above on hosting, you’ll be able to install a simple plugin called ‘Yoast SEO’ which helps optimise your site for SEO and write great content that has the potential to attract more traffic from google.
4.
Collect emails This was something that intimidated us a lot, but has been really worthwhile doing. From day one we set up an account with MailChimp and started sending out weekly newsletters to our subscribers. We attract new subscribers by using a free ebook. People who want it have to provide their email address in order to receive it. But you can also have a simple sign up box and invite people to subscribe to receive updates. Having access to your audience via their email inbox is a precious resource. It’s a great way to promote your content, especially when you start producing paid content. Remember, these people trust you, and were interested enough to subscribe to receive updates. It’s another way of adding value to their lives! Connect with us here: paleopowercouple @paleopowercouple @paleopwrcouple
feel your best
When you're running a business your own wellbeing can get put on the back burner. We asked nutritionist and health coach Nic Makim to share her top five tips for staying on top of your wellness, even when you're flat out!
Nutrition - Balanced, nourishing, healthy, and delicious. Eat a variety of quality protein (salmon, beans, lentils, quinoa, whey protein, chicken, or occasional red meat) throughout the day to keep your energy firing and blood sugar levels balanced. Also include healthy fats for optimal brain function and mental clarity, and slow releasing complex carbohydrates (brown rice, millet, rye, quinoa, oats). Veg every plate up with a double handful of fresh vibrantly colourful veggies, herbs and salads.
Yoga - Find the time to slot yoga into your day. Practice daily, even if it is only 20 minutes in the morning or evening. Apart from the benefits of yoga for stress relief and many other things, yoga is an integral part of tuning into your own authentic self. This helps your business to grow authentically to you and your direction. Cleanse, Nourish and Revitalise - Cleanse with a synergistic blend of natural cleansing herbs that gives your body nutritional support to nourish and revitalise.
Mindset - Whatever you put your mind to, you can achieve. Work out your why. Your why is the emotional reason and leverage for whether we do or don't do anything. It's the spark that ignites passion. A strong WHY improves your health, grows your business, supports your family, and helps you achieve greater personal growth.
Hydration- So basic but so powerful for high vibe energy and mental clarity. Drink at least 2 litres of pure, filtered water daily. Aim for 35ml of water per kg of body weight. So if you weigh 60kgs that’s 2 litres a day. Add a slice of fresh lemon and or a slice of fresh ginger. Always remember your smile is magic to you and everyone around you. Happiness always looks gorgeous on everyone!
www.nicmakim.com.au
home work benefits Words by: Rebecca Gawthorne
We live in a time where working from home is
Are you considering making the move to work from
becoming increasingly common. I personally work
home and adopting a healthier work/life balance?
from home and I love it.
It can help you reduce your stress levels and improve your overall health and wellbeing, I will
Working from home has allowed me to develop a
show you how in the following six tips.
great work/life balance and has given me the freedom and flexibility to adopt a much healthier lifestyle than when I was working the standard 9am-5pm day in the office. Working from home has also allowed me to become more creative. With my new venture of Instagram and health blogging, it has allowed me to design my own creative space where I feel more relaxed, made me more productive, self-motivated, and I've developed new problem solving skills.
"working from home has allowed me to b ecome more creative."
1. Create a designated work space: If you want to work from home, you will need a designated work space. Those who work from home are notorious for setting up wherever they can – think lounge chair, bed etc. For a few months, I started off on my bed and dining table, which just wasn’t a good idea! So my husband and I cleared a room and made it into my home-office. I decorated it with some beautiful indoor plants (did you know that having plants in your workspace can improve productivity, increase your concentration and make you happier, plus they make it look so pretty!) and some nice smelling candles. Now I love going into my “work room”. I feel comfortable and relaxed but also motivated to work. I also recommend keeping your work area organised! Declutter regularly and keep everything ordered.
2. Consider a stand-up desk or other alternatives: Research has proven that sitting, especially for long periods of time, is detrimental to your health. Healthier alternatives to sitting include a stand-up desk which can: • Increase blood flow and circulation • Improve energy levels • Increase productivity • Reduce risk of chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes • Aid weight loss I invested in a stand up desk and I love it! I also find it helps reduce pain I used to develop in my hip flexors and glutes from sitting in the office chair for too long. Other healthier alternatives to a desk chair include using a fitness ball as a chair (really good for strengthening your abs), walking on a treadmill or kneeling on a mat.
3. Have healthy snacks on hand: Take advantage of the fact that you don’t have the temptation of the the office biscuit jar and try some of the following healthy snacks instead: A bowl of fresh fruit, veggie sticks and healthy dips, nuts, homemade fruit muffins, cold pressed veggie juices, herbal teas and water. Also, aim to keep the tempted by them. Remember; healthy, nourishing foods are “brain food” and will fuel your brain with the energy it needs to concentrate and be productive in your home work environment.
| PAGE 15
unhealthy snacks out of the house so you’re not
4. Get some sunshine: The Australian Bureau of Statistics estimates that one in four adults are vitamin D deficient, and a persons vitamin D levels being associated with the type of work that they do. Those employed in occupations that spend most of the day inside, are more likely to have a vitamin D deficiency than those working in jobs based mostly outdoors. This is because your body produces vitamin D when your skin is exposed to sunlight. So when you work from home, you can take advantage of the fact that you can get outdoors to boost your vitamin D levels. It is essential for bone and muscle strength, preventing osteoporosis and improving your mood! Try these tips to boost your vitamin D levels when working from home: Walk around outside whenever you have a phone call, take your work outdoors and work near an open window where natural sunlight can stream in.
5. Incorporate physical activity and exercise into your day: Physical activity is your day-to-day movements and exercise is structured physical activity. To create a healthy work/life balance when working from home, you need to include both. I take advantage of the extra time I get in the morning by not having to drive to work and use it to exercise first thing. I also try to be as active as I can throughout my work time at home by having stretch while reading or walking while talking on the phone. I also love to get creative and do lunges and squats while I answer emails on my phone.
6. Have a routine / daily regime: While working from home allows for great flexibility, it’s still good to have a routine to drive productivity. My routine starts early with some exercise out in the fresh air, a healthy breakfast and writing a to-do list to prioritise what I need to do that day.
nourish_naturally rebeccagawthorne.com.au
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RebeccaGawthorne.DietitianNutritionist
good + green Yep. Another subscription box. Full of organic beauty finds. But guess what? This one’s good! The samples are generous and the brands are top notch. Considering most of us have the shops we favour again and again (displaying the same thing every week) it’s a novelty to get a new brand in your hand. Especially if it's one that comes recommended and you know is natural. Most of us are stubborn about what we want on our skin, we’ve carefully crafted our ‘routines’ over many years and this box won’t ask you to change them. It will just pop in to your life to say “hi, let’s pretend you're unpredictable and try a different body wash tomorrow morning”. This month's box contained a few things that can easily ingrain themselves into your beauty routine if you so feel moved and a few other new and exciting things to try as a novelty. If you would like to get one of these delightful boxes in your hot little hands head here to enter our giveaway. We have three to giveaway before May 31st.
Goodgreenbox is an Aussie natural and organic subscription beauty box. You can connect here: @goodgreenbox
goodgreenbox.com.au
Disclaimer: We were sent a freebie of the goodgreenbox, we are not affiliated with them in any other way nor are we paid for sharing our opinions. It’s just good stuff.
ask the questions Words by: Penny Wort Ok call me trashy but I’m firmly entrenched in the new Netflix series ‘Girlboss’. There's some amazing eye candy ( in the form of vintage clothes) and also some salient business lessons . Sophia is the hero (and sometime villain) of the story. She is starting up her first business and learning as she goes.
The one thing you cannot fault Sophia for is her crystal clear vision of her customer. The scene where she takes her frenemy to the local dive bar to show her the full who/what/where/when/why of her buyer base… you just know this girl has hit the nail on the head. She can envision exactly who is buying from her and why. She wants to give them what they want… so she does. That drive is what makes her a massive success.
Anyway, enough about my dubious viewing habits. Let's chat about audience targeting. Getting to know your ideal customer is probably something you did before you even launched your business. Did you put in the time to really understand your customers needs and build your offering around that feedback? That's the way to create meaningful engagement, ask your customers exactly what their frustrations/ challenges/ views are.
Kristina Karlsson, founder of Kikki K, is known for having taken to the pavements to question her future customers about their stationary likes or dislikes and price point. She now owns a company turning over $60 million a year in revenue. Whether formal or informal research is what you have in mind, there a few questions which will garner invaluable answers from your desired customer base. If you are lucky enough to meet them in person, great, if you’re firing out Survey Monkeys that’s good too. Your research might confirm your beliefs (good for you!) or it might save you from making a costly mistake by highlighting an issue for you. Any chance you have, meet with your customers and ask them these four questions: 1. How can I help you solve problem XYZ? 2. How would you prefer I get in touch with you? Email or phone? 3. Do you have any issues or frustrations with my current offering? 4. How do you spend your free time online and offline? Hobbies, leisure activities, preferred publications, favourite shops etc. Hopefully these conversation starters will also lead you into even more interesting territory if your customer has the time.
Free survey tools: - Facebook polls - Survey Monkey - Google Forms - Typeform
use our small biz forum for surveys
Good luck, I hope you learn something very useful, I know I always do!
Join us on the 27th & 28th Well Being Business founder Penny Wort discusses the keys to success for small businesses. See the schedule here.
money matters Rachel Allen is the author of When Business Meets Baby, a fantastic book covering all the aspects of running a business alongside parenting. This is an excerpt from the chapter 'keep an eye on your money honey'. Beliefs & emotions Most people (especially women) have a bad relationship with money. They feel judged about how much they do or don’t have. They want more, yet they do not feel that they deserve to earn more. What if you could remove emotion from money, and think of it merely as a number? Your business gives you the opportunity to step back and be quite cold and logical about “numbers” and money. Removing emotion from the subject of money is often difficult for women, but it’s something we need to do. Financial planner Jenny Brown, of JBS Financial Strategists, agrees that women are generally more conservative than men, and that they do not take as many risks when it comes to money and investing. She believes that it’s most likely because of our protective and nurturing nature: “Women won’t take a risk because they tend to not look long term.” Money beliefs run deep, and can affect every aspect of life. I recommend identifying and addressing your negative beliefs as soon as possible, as it will make all the difference to your business and to your future. Get the help of a mindset course or coach, if you need it.
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The value of time I used to cringe when I gave people my hourly rate because I was afraid that it was too high. At a deep level, I probably thought I wasn’t worth it. I used to think that I would never earn the same amount as men, probably because in my 20s I was told this, by men. I was frightened to talk about money with accountants, financial planners… anyone, really. I felt as though I was divulging a great-big secret part of myself to them. I don’t feel that way anymore. Why is this so? Well, I was employed in a role that paid $85,000 a year (I was offered the role and then asked for the higher amount on offer – and they paid it to me!), and I was then in the final running for a role that was paying $100,000 a year. My partner and I received financing for another investment property, with plans for another one soon after. Money was finally working for us. It was hard work to reach this point, yet we did it. As business owners, we need to put a monetary value on our time. When people buy you, they are buying your experience and the value you can add to their lives. Determine your value by looking at the depth of your industry experience and what pricing the market will bear, and also factor in how much you need to earn to have a profitable business (and, ultimately, how much you would like to earn to live the lifestyle you desire). Note that you also need to consider your overheads – computer, printer, internet, superannuation, insurances, office space and so on.
@WhenBusinessMeetsBaby
www.rachelallan.com.au
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Next Issue: Keeping it together. An essential insight into avoiding burn out, and how to treat it if you're past the point of no return. yourwellbeingbusiness.com