Online Business Launchpad | Start An Online Business | Online Business Growth

As busy business owners we all wear way too many hats.  

But some of the hats we wear … and the tasks associated with them, can be painfully boring and repetitive.  

One of the most useful tools I’ve come across for automating some of those tasks is Zapier (rhymes with “happier” apparently).  But it’s not always obvious where to start.

So I asked tech expert and Zapier aficionado, MV Braverman from Your Tech Maven to share some of her favourite ways of using Zapier to turn “boring” into “already done”.

Listen in and take away some great ideas that will help take some of the load off.

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Website:  https://yourtechmaven.com/ 

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/mvbraverman/ 

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How long has it been since you’ve bought (or tried to buy) something for the first time?  What was the experience like for you as a newcomer to that supplier?

And what about your own business?  Have you recently put on some “new customer” glasses and really looked at what it’s like for newcomers to buy something from you?

In this short episode I share two recent events where my experience as a new buyer has made me think “they could have done this so much better and here’s how” ….If you would like to receive tips and advice about doing online business better, sign up for my regular updates at https://onlinebusinessliftoff.com/newsletter/ 

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I had just begun running a big program that helped carers/caregivers learn how to start their own business.  It was exciting, it was fun, it was … chaotic.

We were essentially in startup mode ourselves, trying to get everything running smoothly for our participants.  And I was bringing on team members to help.  But they were finding it difficult because all our processes and systems were … to put it politely … fluid.

Every day, we were losing time because we couldn’t find this document or that plan.  And with a program of that size (or any size), time is money.

So I reached out to streamlining guru, Ee Zen Cha from REAVA Solutions for some help. 

She was able to make a massive difference.  So much so that I’m still using many of the procedures and processes she put in place.

The work she did was so helpful that I asked her to come onto the show and share some of her tips for getting started with streamlining what you do, so that you can get some time back in your day for the things that matter to you.

There are some great tips here.  Enjoy!

RESOURCES:

Website:  https://REAVASolutions.com.au  

Streamlining Mini Course:  https://www.reavasolutions.com.au/training/how-to-get-back-more-time-by-streamlining-your-business-mini-course/

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Jeremy Cline has been a lawyer for more years than he likes to think about.  And truth be told, he wasn’t really enjoying it that much. He had been searching for something different to do.  Something that was … well, he wasn’t exactly sure just what sort of business would be right for him. 

So he had a couple of cracks at it.  The first business did okay, but wasn’t satisfying.  The second business was a much better fit.

In this podcast episode, Jeremy shares his journey of finding that right fit.  And how getting a coach helped him uncover the secret to starting a business that felt right.

If you’re in the middle of making your own leap from corporate to small business owner, or if you’re thinking about making the leap, have a listen.  Jeremy shares some really good advice for picking the right business the first time.

If you’d like to have access to more tips and great advice about making the leap from corporate employee to business owner I invite you to join my email list. 

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Website:  https://changeworklife.com Free Download:  https://changeworklife.com/happy 

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If you love writing … and you’ve been wanting to make money from your carefully crafted words, check out this interview with Michaɫ Stawicki.

Michaɫ used to work in IT and was desperately wondering how he was going to ever be able to make enough money to allow him to support his family and some day, retire.

So he started looking around for ideas and eventually decided to start writing.

It’s taken years of practice and a lot of hard work, but in this podcast, Michaɫ shares how he was eventually able to leave his corporate job and support himself and his family just with his writing.  

He has published 19 books and sold 85.000 copies of them.  He literally has thousands of articles all over the Internet and if you check out his website, there are a lot of links to his writing.

And now he has added in another writing-related business that builds on all that hard won experience.

Have a listen to the podcast and hear how he did it, warts and all.

And if you'd like to get regular notifications of when new podcasts episodes are available you can sign up at 

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Websites

https://resurrectingbooks.com/

https://expandbeyondyourself.com/media

Twitter URL

https://twitter.com/StawickiMichal

Linkedin URL

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stawicki-michal/

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Have you ever felt like a failure?  Especially as a small business owner?

You look around and it seems like everyone else is so much more successful than you are.  And it feels like everything you try just isn’t doing that well?

Know that you’re not alone.  

As small business owners trying to wear all the hats, learn a ton of new skills and still make a living, we all struggle to hit our success goals, especially at the beginning.

And that can feel both embarrassing and overwhelming.

In today’s podcast episode, host Trudy Rankin shares the 5 secrets she’s learned for dealing with those feelings of embarrassment, shame and overwhelm.

And if you’d like to access more tips and expert advice about successfully building your small business, you’re welcome to sign up here at https://onlinebusinessliftoff.com/newsletter/  

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

Book (affiliate link):  Outliers:  The Story of Success by Malcom Gladwell

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Each individual piece of software you buy for your business probably doesn’t cost that much.  But when you add them all up together they can take a big whack out of your budget every month.

If you feel like your software costs are starting to eat your lunch, it might be time to do something about it.

In this podcast episode, host Trudy Rankin, shares her proven 3-step system for keeping software costs under control.

And if you’d like to get a head start on the process, download her Software Register Template here at https://onlinebusinessliftoff.com/software-register 

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How often do you take time to leave your normal routine behind and do something completely different?

Or decide on the spur of the moment to take up an opportunity you know is likely to never come again?

Normally, we’d most likely say “I don’t have time for that.”

In this short episode, podcast host, Trudy Rankin, shares her experience of doing something out of the ordinary and the unexpected benefits of just saying “yes”.

You’re invited to listen in and enjoy the story.

And if you enjoy hearing about all things online business, you’re invited to sign up for Trudy’s emails where she talks about the experiments and projects she’s working on and what she’s learned from the process.

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As a child, host Trudy Rankin struggled to translate what was in her imagination into visual art.  Stick figures were about as good as it got.

Fast forward to today and she still has the same problem.  When faced with having to create visual images that reflect and amplify her spoken or written content, she still goes completely blank.

So when Trudy had a chance to play with some AI tools, she had a crack at filling the gap between her imagination and what she could create onscreen.

Did it work?

Have a listen and find out what actually happened.

And if you find it interesting, you’re invited to sign up for her emails where she talks about her experiments with all things online business (including using tools like AI to solve challenges).

RESOURCES MENTIONED:

https://openai.com/product/dall-e-2 

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Have you ever been through an experience that made you hesitant to speak out?  Especially on social media?

As content creator and repurposing expert, Franciska Sore shares the story of building her business, she talks about how a scary stalking experience made her afraid to make her “voice” heard for the longest time, and what she finally did about reclaiming her voice.

We also talked about:

• Her biggest challenge in her work
• ChatGPT, artificial intelligence and the impact and opportunities it could likely have on businesses like ours
• Why we still need copywriters and high quality content
• The importance of storyline in creating impactful repurposed content
• The art of wearing many hats when running a business
• Her one key piece of advice for people just getting started

One of the key takeaways from this episode is that if you want to stand out, you can’t copy other people.

We invite you to have a listen.  There are plenty of other gold nuggets in this episode.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

Website:  https://franciskasore.com/ 

LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/company/franciskasore/ 

Instagram:  franciskasore

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Have you ever had that nightmare feeling that all those plates you’re trying to keep spinning will come crashing down?  And you can’t take your eyes off them for even one minute?

Well, you’re not alone.  

Productivity expert, Mindy Iannelli, knows exactly what that feels like.  She felt like she was just spinning her wheels in her web design business.  And she didn’t like it.  Not one bit.  

So she figured out for herself, how to be more productive and discovered that not only did her methods work, but she was actually able to help her clients save time and be more productive.

How?

By setting up systems and automating things.  But not just any old thing.  

So in this episode, Mindy shares her top tips for saving time and getting rid of some of that overwhelm.

We talk about:

• Why Mindy started her own business in the first place
• How losing focus and what she did about it set her on her journey to becoming a productivity expert
• Her tips for helping us focus and be more productive
• Why we need to move away from a “task-based” mentality and what to use instead to stay on track
• Being serious about time blocking
• Aha moments and the two automations that make the biggest difference for her clients
• The best timesaving automation that Mindy uses in her own business

So if you’re feeling overwhelmed and you’re sick of being scared of all those plates crashing down, have a listen.  I think you’ll find it worthwhile.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE:

Mindy's Website:  Complete Online Presence 

Instagram:  online_roadmap

Twitter:  @online_roadmap

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If you’re like most small businesses, you’re working hard to market your products and services.  But how do you know what’s working and what’s not?

And if you don’t know what’s working (or not working), you’re not going to be able to do anything to improve.  And for most small businesses, even just a 1% improvement in their conversions would make a noticeable difference to the bottom line.

In this episode, ads expert, Ilana Wechsler from Teach Traffic shares what she’s learned over the years about running, first, a digital ads agency and then a community where she helps people get better at setting up and running paid ads. 

We talk about:

• How Ilana got started with her Green Arrow Digital ad agency and how it grew and morphed over the years into a successful, but very full-on business
• How success can bring its own problems and how downsizing helped her refocus on what mattered to her and generate new business models
• Ilana’s realisation that hiring an Ad Agency for a small business is like buying a Ferrari to go get milk from your local shop … that’s not what they need
• Starting her Teach Traffic community, learning how to teach and how running an ad agency helps with teaching concepts around paid ads
• Why niching down can be useful for awhile, but isn’t always the answer
• Why web design can make or break the power of ads to grow your business
• Micro versus macro conversions and why conversion tracking really, really matters

So if you’re using ads in your business, or you’re thinking about getting started with ads, this episode is going to be thought provoking.

And be sure to sign up for Ilana’s $10 Remarketing Challenge (not an affiliate link).  I’ve done the challenge and I got A LOT of value out of it.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN EPISODE:

Website:  https://teachtraffic.com/ 

$10 Remarketing Challenge:  https://teachtraffic.com/challenge/ 

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Six years of studying to be a speech pathologist hadn’t prepared Rose for the challenge of working with a young man who only knew how to communicate his needs and wants by behaving in negative ways.

She quickly developed a passion for helping people on the autism spectrum find their voice.

When Rose made the switch from career employee to business owner, she quickly realised that she could only help so many people at one time.  She knew that if she wanted to maximise the impact she could have she needed to find a different way.

In this episode, Rose explains the journey she went through starting her own business and then moving from expert provider to expert teacher. 

She changed from being the “doer” in her  business to being the leader.  And as she did she was able to amplify her impact exponentially and now teaches other speech pathologists who work with people on the autism spectrum, how to help their clients find their voice.

We talk about:

• How she is able to grant CEUs (continuing education units) to people who listen to specific episodes from her podcast, Autism Outreach
• How she developed her first product
• The experience of moving from being an employee to being a boss and realising she needed to do things differently if she wanted to help more people
• The one thing that helped Rose accelerate her business growth
• The ripple effect that using a “train the trainer” model can bring
• The number one challenge for speech therapists who work with autistic learners
• Advice for people thinking about changing from career employee to business owner

If you’re a professional who is thinking about moving away from a 1-to-1 service model, there’s a lot of wisdom here.

And if you’re thinking about leaving your corporate career to start your own business, but you’re not sure what you’d like to do or where to start, download my free step-by-step guide to finding a great business idea.

RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE PODCAST:

• Power Up Podcasting:   http://onlinebusinessliftoff.com/pat-flynn-power-up-podcasting (affiliate link)
• SPI Pro:   https://www.smartpassiveincome.com/pro-application?via=trudy (affiliate link)
• Podcast:  Autism Outreach
• Website:  https://abaspeech.org

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Do you feel like you’re still wearing 3000 hats when it comes to running and growing your business?  Doing all the things, even the ones you dislike or aren’t very good at?

In this podcast episode, time saver and productivity expert, Khadirah Muhammad shares how she helps clients get their business processes documented and under control so that they can then be automated or handed off to someone else.

We also talk about:

• Why Khadirah decided to start her own business after graduating from university, rather than going the usual route of working for someone else … you might be surprised at the reason
• What can happen when you don’t have your processes nailed down and the time that can waste
• The trouble with expecting people to be mindreaders ...
• How Zapier is like a translator and can help save time by getting different types of technology talking to each other, plus some examples of how it can be used
• Khadirah’s biggest tip for getting out from under those 3000 hats

There’s gold in what Khadirah has to share because her method can be applied to businesses of any size.

And there are some interesting insights into the world of work and how it is changing for young people.

Have a listen to the episode.  I’m confident that you’ll take away some useful insights into how you could start saving yourself some time.

P.S.  And did you know that using a quiz in your business can also help you save time?  Download my quiz creation checklist to see what’s involved

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There are many different kinds of courage and courageous acts.  But our whole concept of what courage is can change when we think of it in terms of starting and growing a business.

In this episode, Online Business Launchpad Podcast host, Trudy Rankin, shares stories and questions about courage and how it applies to small business owners, entrepreneurs and startup founders.

Stories about picante sauce.  Riding solo down the length of South America.  And more.

And she talks about how James Clear’s concepts (from his book Atomic Habits) can help develop habits that make it much more likely to act courageously when it comes to building a business.

So what does picante sauce have to do with courage?

You’ll have to listen and find out.

And if you're interested in starting your own online business, we can help.  Go to   https://onlinebusinessliftoff.com/coaching-and-community/

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Quizzes are a great way to help you grow your business.  And we’re not talking about the kind of quiz where you’re trying to figure out what kind of Disney princess you are.  

We’re talking about quizzes that help people understand more about themselves and their business so they can achieve their goals.

The brilliant thing about quizzes is that they are not one-size-fits-all.  You can use quizzes in so many, many different ways.  In fact, one of the best quiz creators I know often says, “you’re only limited by your imagination”.

In today’s episode, host Trudy Rankin shares 5 examples of fun ways that you can use a quiz in your business.  Trudy has lost count of the number of quizzes she has built over the years and has had fun experimenting with many different quiz types and approaches.

So if you’re interested in learning more about how quizzes could help you grow your business, have a listen.  And see if it sparks your imagination.

And if you’re interested in learning how to choose which type of quiz to use for your business, go to https://onlinebusinessliftoff.com/generate-leads-with-quizzes/ 

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If the past year has been a weird one for you, you’re not alone.  And if you’ve been struggling with trying to find the energy to do things that were once a breeze, then you’ll know that burning out or getting close to burnout can really knock you on your backside.

In this evergreen podcast episode, Trudy interviews Counselling and Clinical Psychologist Katrina Streatfeild about what to do AFTER you’ve hit burn out and are trying to pick up the pieces.

We talked about:

• Beyond normal - all the things happening in the world right now
• How old coping mechanisms might not be enough anymore
• Long term stressors, stress hormones and our ability to cope
• How do we get off the hamster wheel?
• The impact on others when we are compassionate for ourselves
• The necessity of acknowledging that the world has changed
• A process for reimagining our future
• What to do if you don't know what success looks like any longer

So if the thought of facing an unknown future has you feeling a bit exhausted, you are not alone.  Have a listen and try the process Katrina is suggesting.  It may help. 

Check out our other episode on Burnout as well.

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As a small business owner, do you cringe at the thought of having to sell in your business? Are you just not into sales and don’t like to be pushy with people? 

In this evergreen podcast episode, Trudy interviews Nikki Rausch who has a strong background in sales, with many years of experience.  Nikki started out working in male dominated industries and didn’t feel comfortable using their traditional sales methods.  So she figured out her own way of selling … a way that didn’t include any of the typical characteristics of a pushy salesman.  

Nikki was very successful.  And when she realised that other women business owners just weren’t comfortable with sales, she wanted to use what she’d learned to help them.  Because if you don’t have sales, you don’t have a business.

Nikki now teaches women entrepreneurs how to sell effectively in ways that work AND that they are comfortable with. 

This episode originally came out a couple of years ago.  And it's one that's worth listening to again and again so I decided to reshare it with you.  So whether you're heard what Nikki has to say before or it's new to you, you're going to get good value from listening in our conversation.

In this podcast Trudy and Nikki talk about - 

1. The importance of building rapport with potential clients
2. The role of scripts and how to tailor those scripts so that they feel comfortable to each individual
3. The role the mindset plays in sales 
4. Tips to get going with sales when you’ve started to build confidence in your business
5. How the Sales Maven Society can help your business 

Have a listen and a think about how you can apply the principles that Nikki shares for your own business.

If you’d like regular notifications when podcast episodes go live, as well as tips and techniques for growing the online part of your business, you can sign up here.

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Do you care deeply about what’s happening to our planet?  

Probably you’re into doing what you can to minimise impact.  But sometimes it can feel like the difference that makes is just a drop in the ocean, because you’re just one person.

And the things we, as a society, are able to do at scale, might not always be the right things in the long run.  Sometimes there are unforeseen consequences.

But change is being forced on us, whether we like it or not, and we are going to have to adapt.  We have to do something….but what?

My guest for this episode is Grant Symons, from Transition HQ.  Grant has years of deep experience in leading and managing change at scale.  And he reckons that the old way of doing “change” just simply isn’t cutting it.  

We have to do things differently.  So he's set up a business that uses proven change management techniques in a new way, to help participants become more impactful and effective.

In this episode we talk about:

• Two completely different ways of managing change projects and which one works better
• How and why Grant become interested in large scale transition projects
• The difficulty of creating a new product for a new market and why that requires new ways of thinking and doing
• What it's like as a consultant to add an online component to your business
•  The importance of community and community input in developing a new program
• The two most difficult things about going from concept to new online offering
• Thought leadership and what it really is
• Advice for people leaving corporate to become consultants about getting part of their business online
• Why relationships really matter
• What Circle is like as a community management tool for a startup

Whether you agree with Grant or not, I think you’ll find what he has to say thought provoking.  Have a listen and then decide.

If you’d like regular notifications when podcast episodes go live, as well as tips and techniques for growing the online part of your business, you can sign up here.

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If you’ve ever worked in partnership with another entrepreneur, you’ll know that sometimes it isn’t easy.  Different visions, different values and different styles can often cause misunderstanding and conflict.

In this episode, Jo Raydan and Vicki Williams from Two Natural Ladies, share their secret for success in running their eCommerce business as partners..  They have been friends for over 30 years and have worked together as business partners for many of those years.

In the interview we talked about:

• How Jo and Vicki got started working together
• Their secret for being able to keep working together no matter what
• Their “Why” and what their business model looks like
• Why personal interest, passion and aligning with natural values matter in achieving business success  
• Their approach to marketing and how they use social media (hint, it’s not for selling)
• Why ongoing personal development really matters
• The logistics side of an e-commerce business
• What to do and what to avoid when starting an e-commerce business

If you’re interested in partnerships and/or eCommerce, have a listen.  There is a lot of lived wisdom here.

Click here to discover my other podcast episodes.

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