Are you a lifelong learner? I am! Learning comes with success and failure and, in small business, it comes from listening to others’ experiences. In this episode I open up about some of my learnings and challenges to date. I hope it helps - even if it just validates some of your challenges. You’re not alone! Mentioned in this episode www.business.gov.au This episode is the last of this series and I’ll be back in a few weeks. Make sure you follow or subscribe so I pop back in when I release the next fabulous interview. Erika McInerney is the founder of Mac&Ernie - specialising in social ..read more

This week I’m talking about passion. How to find it when you’re feeling stuck or how to know what you could or should be doing. I give you a few thoughts on how being passionate about your business can backfire and some tools to try and prevent that. Passion is an incredible foundation for a business and is absolutely essential if you’re working or volunteering for a community organisation. I hope this episode helps you find yours and keep it going. Thanks for listening. Mentioned in this episode was Ness from Business Together. Find them online or on Instagram. Erika McInerney is the foun ..read more

Purpose-driven, for-purpose, heart-led, social-enterprise, profit-for-purpose… There are a lot of ways to describe businesses that have a purpose or a mission, but there’s also a common misconception that business that have a purpose, or are driven by advocacy for example - shouldn’t be ‘for profit’.  Today’s episode is about how possible (and awesome) it is to be a business that contributes to a cause or charity with the win-win of it contributing to your own bottom line or brand awareness. I talk about how to choose what organisation you align with and why you might choose it. How to ..read more

Alex Thomas is a rural health and safety specialist and advocate for safety and wellbeing in regional and rural areas - especially on farms. In this episode she tells us her very personal ‘why’ and why she’s so passionate about this topic. She has chosen women to help her in her mission through her organisation ‘Plant a Seed for Safety’ and campaign #SaveALifeListenToYourWife and it’s such a great story, I’m sure you’ll love it! Make sure you go and check out what she’s up to on her website or follow along on Instagram and Facebook. You can book Alex to run workshops in your town, grab the ve ..read more

Sometimes to make a treechange you have to leave your career behind and start something new. There are so many pros to building a local business - especially to support your lifestyle or family goals, if commuting back and forth to the nearest City just isn’t possible. In this episode, I take some of the tips I’ve gotten from other local businesses, to help you start something before you’ve even left your City home. What steps can you be taking right now to increase your chance of starting your new business from a position of strength? To have customers lining up before you open the doors. To ..read more

There’s a lot that can be said about family when it comes to business, especially small business. It’s very hard to run your own business without involving your family - whether directly or indirectly. Setting boundaries and having clear intentions can all get a little blurred when you don’t have that distinction between work and home…I should know. This episode gives you five thought-starters to help get you working better together in your family business. I hope it helps you! In this episode I mentioned Google Keep, it’s free and super easy to use. I also read an email from a listener - S ..read more

Kristy Plumridge is the owner of Greenhills Farm and The Ridge House in Yarragon, West Gippsland. She and her husband Neil made a treechange from Melbourne in 2015 but they did it a little differently - pretty smartly I think. They bought a farm with no experience BUT rather than taking their inexperience in farming and jumping straight in, they have built up multiple businesses over the years on the land slowly and carefully. They have come in and out of Melbourne, learning, growing, collaborating and immersing themselves in the local Yarragon community. Now they are almost ready to move full ..read more

Even though I believe there is usually a place for social media in your marketing, I will rarely encourage anyone to JUST focus on it. Having a healthy spread of promotional and marketing activity allows you to reach a broader audience and mitigate any potential disasters - like getting locked out of your social media accounts. Which happens a LOT. So today I’m going to talk about three ways to promote your small town business or brand that complement your social media activity and help you to build strong connections with your local community and local markets.  Erika McInerney is the f ..read more

Authenticity is such a slippery little sucker. We know it’s important, but what does it actually mean to be authentic when it comes to your business or your social media and marketing? In this episode I reflect on my conversation with Doug in episode 8 and I’ve pulled out five thought starters on what I think authenticity means and how you can look at what you’re doing and maybe tweak a few things to get you feeling more like you and then…more confident in what you’re doing. I hope it helps you! Join the Small Town Business conversation on Instagram or Facebook or visit us online. The Small T ..read more

How much time and effort do you spend working on your business’ social media? Is it at the expense of other media? There’s increasing pressure from all around us to believe that social is the only way you can build your business or promote yourself, your business or brand but there are options. Great options… In this interview, Kimberley Furness from OAK Magazine and I talk about media from all angles. Even though we are both social media trainers, we agree that media has a greater role to play both in our business and yours. Kimberley is based in Bendigo in North Central Victoria. She is an ..read more