All Posts

Sanity stats are useful, but there is something that is even more important. Clarity. Do you know how your business actually works - can you map out the full journey from stranger to paying client? Most entrepreneurs can’t. And I truly believe that is at the absolute core for why so many entrepreneurs feel lost, confused, busy but aimless. Calm requires clarity. Lacking clarity feels like you’re constantly doing things - posting, replying, tweaking your website, launching off

Almost 50% of all internet traffic now comes from bots , and that share is growing. It used to be that traffic meant customer interest. Not anymore. Bots don’t buy. At the same time, AI is changing how search engines work . Even if you rank #1, expect traffic to drop. SEO isn’t what it used to be. But here’s the real issue: traffic was never the point. When I started my first business I made a common mistake - I obsessed over numbers that looked good but didn’t actually help

"A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush” - Proverb It is simpler and more profitable to capitalise on your existing opportunities than it is to create or chase new ones. This is something I see entrepreneurs get wrong ALL THE TIME. They chase new clients, when retaining their current clients would be far easier and more profitable. They put off improvements to wait until their plans are perfect. Plans are never perfect, get it done now. They ignore their email list to fo

I strongly believe it is better to create rules than to simply complete tasks . I have multiple rules I try and live and do business by. However, today I broke one of my rules. And for good reason. One rule I try to live by states that I don’t miss twice; If I miss on a habit I do by darndest to make sure it doesn’t happen twice in a row. Another rule is that I should always respond to current clients first. This is the second time in a row that I’m late sending WSW out. I mi

This week I've been helping a lot of people to hone in on their target audiences. A question everybody asks is “how do you know when your audience is specific enough?”. I have an easy answer: you know your audience is specific enough when you can find 10 highly-qualified leads within 2 minutes. If that sounds unrealistic to you, I'd suggest you start with the following method: Go to ChatGPT Type in “Create a Google Xray search for (enter what you know about your target audien

"Situations can initially be perceived as zero-sum are actually win-wins when you expand the horizon.For example, talented people are attracted to those who care about them. When you help someone get promoted out of your team, it’s a short-term loss, but it’s a clear long term gain. It’s easier to attract people, because word gets around that your philosophy is to help people” - Chris Granger The same is true for your business. When you zoom out (here is how to zoom out ) yo

Talks have worked well for me, but that doesn’t mean I always recommend doing them. Last month I gave a short talk at The New Monday in Leeds, UK. The talk lasted 10 minutes, I was at the whole event for about 90 minutes in total. Here’s what happened: Results: 52 leads captured from roughly 70 attendees. 69% of leads downloaded the lead magnet, 38% joined my newsletter, 31% followed me on LinkedIn. Many did a combination of these. I’d label 11 of the 52 as “hot leads”, peop

Not all offers need to drive profit in order for them to be profitable. One of my client's most profitable offers is something that makes a loss. Doesn't seem to make sense, right? Let me explain. My client Jen helps female BIPOC PhD students to complete their PhD dissertations . Jen is excellent at what she does, and retention is high. However, there is a natural break in the process mid-way through the time she works with the client that we cannot directly affect. Unfortuna

Positioning. Messaging. Copywriting. Same thing? Not quite. They’re related, but confusing them is a common (and costly) mistake. Here’s the quick breakdown: Positioning = where you fit and why people should care Example: you’re writing a book, positioning is your genre. Messaging = what you say and how you say it Example: In your book, it is the big idea behind the story Copywriting = the words that bring it all to life Example: In your book, the words that make you want to

Strategic risks are critically important to your success, both as a person and as a business. You have probably already taken some strategic risks before - strategic risks are the difference between people who merely talk about starting businesses vs people who actually successfully start businesses. But for some reason, entrepreneurs either forget how important it is to take a chance - or worse, they forget to make the most of their wins. To get around this problem I like t

I like to think about my business in two “seasons”. We can’t give 100% all of the time , we are human, and we need to both rest and recharge properly . Energy ebbs and flows. I find it useful to think about what kind of “season” I am in: 🌱 Spring - I am in a high growth period. I am excited to try new things. 🍁 Autumn - I am in maintenance mode. I am stabilising the business. I don’t need to try new things right now, I just need to keep things working smoothly. I will note

If I give a piece of advice to Coca-Cola that takes me 1 minute to share but saves them $20m per year is that advice only worth 50 cents? If I can create a website or logo in 1 hour that would take you 50 hours to do at the same quality, is my work worth 1 hour of my time or the 50 hours it saves you? Both of those examples sound ridiculous, but that is exactly how most people price what they do. It doesn't matter if the work only took 10 seconds. The amount of time it takes

I have worked with professional-services businesses like coaches, agencies, photographers, freelancers, and accountants for a long time now. Bad clients exist in every industry, but they always share the same problem patterns. Some clients are a dream to work with. Others… not so much. Here are 13 red flags that should make you think twice before signing a client: 🚩 Misses payment deadlines – If they delay payment before you even start, expect more excuses later. 🚩 Vague a

People often preach that you should “never leave money on the table”, that you should grab every penny. I fundamentally disagree. You absolutely should leave money on the table. You want money left on the table. If you’re not leaving money on the table then there is something very wrong with your business. Let’s explore why. Let’s start with a thought experiment: If I earn $200 per hour, should I spend 5 hours of my time chasing an additional $10 sale? No. Obviously not. We

I have shared insights about the power of positively surprising your clients a few times (like with monthly habits and fun goals here or service delivery systems here ), now I am going to provide some snippets on the power of NOT surprising clients. This is something I don’t see other people talking about: tell people in advance when you’re going to sell to them. In fact, proactively tell people when there is any change that will affect them. For example, last week I had to

YouForm - the tool I now use for lead magnet quizzes. Over the last year or so I have had a lot of people coming to me who know they need help, but not why they need help. They know that they are overwhelmed by their business, but they aren’t sure why they feel overwhelmed or why their productivity is lacking. As I always say, awareness is the first step towards a solution ( 1 , 2 , 3 ). So I made a quiz to help people identify their productivity problem. Making the quiz wa

When your work and life are in balance, you find that you seamlessly transition between different speeds for different situations. For most people home life may feel slower, and work often feels a little quicker. But work also needs to have different degrees of speed. Most people struggle with sales because they rush to move forward too fast. You, the seller, feel ready because you know what to expect next. However, for your customer, this is a new world. They need to adjust,

People like and trust people who are similar to them. People buy from people they like and trust. A relatively easy way to invoke this feeling of similarity (without doing anything sleazy like lying about your hobbies) is to match your client's pacing. If someone responds to messages in two minutes, then make sure you respond in two minutes. If they take 30 minutes, then you take 30 minutes. If they take two days, then you take two days. If you respond too quickly you seem de

This post by Chris Do expertly outlined the difference between entrepreneurs and “wantrepreneurs” . It is a great example of a “vision post”, outlining how life could be different for your leads if they make the positive change you help with. TL;DR: Focus on value and ROI, not cost Spend money to save time Hire help, especially experience Trust abundance Compete only with yourself Keep learning Think long term Take calculated risks Take action Take responsibility A slide from

One of my acquaintances from my university days recently posted a complaint online about how he was hardly earning anything by teaching English as a foreign language. He seemed to think it was impossible. Not only have I previously ran a language business myself, I have helped multiple others start and grow successful language businesses. It is absolutely possible to earn good money working few hours as a language teacher. If I started a language business today here is what I