Heart-Centred Business Podcast with Tash Corbin

Show notes can be found at tashcorbin.com/218 In today's episode, I'm going to be telling you to stop wasting money in your business. I'm going to help you with five ways that you're potentially wasting money right now, just so that you can be aware and make the decision of whether or not it's time for you to stop that wastage. Let's dive in... These days there are so many opportunities to buy solutions, buy courses, and invest in ways to grow your business. It becomes really difficult to tell if what we are investing in is the right decision for our business. There are so many investments that have a potential return (that may not be there) or that feel like they're a good idea but you're not sure if you should be investing your money there right now. There can be a lot of wastage in our business expenses in particular. That is why I'm here to give you five ways that you might be wasting money so that you can keep an eye out for these things. Something might jump to mind for you as you read along and you can sit down and really assess whether it is the right investment for you right now. Here are five ways in which you may be wasting your money: 1. Buying courses This is particularly prominent in self-study courses when what you actually need is a mentor or a team member to outsource to. I made this mistake several times when I was starting out. I bought a course on how to create a website when I should have just paid someone else to build me a website (which I ended up having to do anyway). Even though I knew enough about Facebook ads that I could have hired a Facebook Ads Manager and known basically what it was that they were doing and what they were talking about - but would have been able to tap into their expertise and have them managing everything - I paid for a course. I should have outsourced Facebook ads stuff way sooner, but I did TWO separate courses on it. For a lot of us, we look to courses when it's actually not a skill we need to be learning. It's usually not something that's going to be in our wheelhouse, it's something that we should be getting someone else to do in our business. Buying a self-study course when what you really need is someone to have a look at what you're already doing in your business is definitely a big one where people are wasting money in their business. I see this a lot when people are launching. They think that they need to do launching courses and all of the different bits that go into launching, such as how to: Run a challenge Do high conversion webinars Structure a launch Systemise a launch Do ads for launch Do freebies for launch They spend money on all of these self-study courses when working with a launching mentor would have been a way smarter investment of both time and money. Buying courses when you need to have a mentor or outsource it can be a really big source of wastage in businesses. 2. Investing in reach when you aren't getting great conversion I see this one with a lot of people. They'll do their first launch of a course or program, and when it doesn't particularly convert well, they blame it on the fact that they didn't get enough leads or enough reach. Then they stick $10,000 in Facebook ads behind it, get 10 times the leads but still get really low conversion. I would not be investing in something that's giving you more reach - whether thLet me know your thoughts via our Text FanMail!Join the Progress Art GYM in May and June!Find out more and secure your spot at: tashcorbin.com/gym

Show notes can be found at tashcorbin.com/217 In today's episode, I'm going to show you how to be a go-to speaker and get more speaking opportunities. I know that more speaking gigs is on the list for many of you, so let's dive straight into this juicy episode... Before I tell you HOW to get more speaking gigs, let's look at some of the benefits: Why is it that we should want to have more speaking opportunities in our business? It's really good for your reach. Whether your speaking opportunity is: Being a guest on a summit Being on someone else's podcast At an onstage event Conference Any other kind of speaking event Those types of engagements get you really good reach. We know that more connection equals more conversion, so it doesn't just get you better reach in your business. It gets you high conversion reach. Let's say you go to 20 webinars in a year and you purchase at two of them. Compare that to going to in-person events, speaking gigs, or workshops, where that person is selling something. The odds that you are going to buy from them at the in-person event is going to be a lot higher than the online. If you are working with someone or going to someone's speaking gig online, and you actually get to see their face and hear them present, that is also way higher converting than if you were to read their free ebook or grab a checklist. We know that speaking - particularly video, as well as in-person speaking - is high conversion and is really high-quality reach that you are getting for your business, particularly if it's the right audience for your business. Other benefits include: Networking opportunities The chance to be seen as a PR Being set up as an authority in your area There are so many great benefits for your business, but if we just focus on those two core ones of having better reach and higher conversion, then it's a bit of a no brainer to look at bringing more speaking opportunities into your business. But how do you get more speaking opportunities and become that go-to speaker? 1. Practise It's really hard for someone to select you as a speaker if they've never seen you speak before. If you haven't had that practise, aren't confident, haven't presented or gone out there and got more got speaking gigs before, then you're not going to necessarily be giving off that very confident I've-totally-got-this-I'm-a-go-to-speaker vibe. You need to find ways and opportunities to get lots and lots of practise as a speaker. The beautiful thing with the online business world is that there are endless opportunities for you to practise being a speaker. There are so many ways that you can practice presenting a particular workshop, giving a signature talk, dealing with Q&A's and all of the other things that come with being a speaker in your business. If you're thinking that you just need to be picked and then you'll be a speaker, I just want you to stop and look for how you can get more practise FIRST. Practise is such a powerful way of getting more and more opportunities. It creates this amazing snowball effect for you. 2. Choose yourself Stop waiting for other people to choose you as a speaker... choose yourself as a speaker. My first speaking gigs in my business were me offering to do goal-setting Let me know your thoughts via our Text FanMail!Join the Progress Art GYM in May and June!Find out more and secure your spot at: tashcorbin.com/gym

Show notes can be found at tashcorbin.com/216 In today’s episode, I’m exploring how to tell if your niche is narrow enough, and what signs and pieces of information to look out for that will help you tell whether your niche is actually narrow enough or if you need to do some refinement. Let’s dive in because this is a really practical one. First and foremost… what is your niche? Your niche is the specific group of people that you focus on when you are marketing in your business. A lot of people get very confused about niching and they mistake their niche for their modality or specialist area. But your modality and specialist area are not people so they’re not niches. A niche is the specific group of people that you’re focusing on. The other thing that I see people do is that they try and articulate their niche as all the people that could benefit from their services. I understand that we do have very broad groups of people that could benefit from our services and the transformation that we facilitate. But that doesn’t help you when it comes to getting specific in your marketing. We want to make sure that when we select a niche, we’re not just selecting who you could help, but in fact, who you are focusing on when you market your products and services. Your niche actually is the foundation of your business that informs the other critical decisions that you need to make. For example, your: Messaging Value proposition Offer – how you package up your products and services Marketing strategy Channels that you select If your niche is narrow enough, it’s much easier for you to make those decisions and answer the questions: What does your message need to convey? What should your offer be? How do you talk about the value proposition of that offer and the problem that it solves? What channels should you be focusing on when it comes to marketing your products and services? What marketing strategy is going to be most effective for those people? As you can see, by just making that one critical decision – that foundational decision of who you’re focusing on when you’re marketing – you can therefore inform all of the other really important decisions that you have to make as an entrepreneur. That actually gives you a clue on how to tell if your niche is narrow enough. I have three key areas where you’re really going to struggle if your niche isn’t narrow enough. If you’re struggling with any of these areas, my number one piece of advice is to review and nail your niche. 1. Your messaging Can you articulate your tangible and practical value proposition? When I say tangible, I mean can you talk about the transformation that you facilitate, the intangible ways that impact on me (your client) today? A great example of this is doing an energetic clearing. Whilst it might be really lovely that you are able to do an energetic clearing, and it makes me feel better, if there isn’t a very real and measurable difference to my life today, then you’re going to struggle to have me convinced that I should be giving you money for that particular outcome. You want to be able to really clearly define what it is that you stand for, what the core meLet me know your thoughts via our Text FanMail!Join the Progress Art GYM in May and June!Find out more and secure your spot at: tashcorbin.com/gym

Show notes can be found at tashcorbin.com/215 In today's episode, I'm going to share with you what I would do differently if I had to start my business over again. I've done this type of podcast episode every year since I started my business and it is so much fun to look at what I would do if I was starting a business from scratch today. Let's jump in... I absolutely love doing a fresh version of this podcast every year. The reason being that the online business world is changing rapidly. When it comes to starting a business, if I were giving you advice based on what I did when I first started my business back in 2013 without taking those changes into consideration, then I wouldn't often be giving you very good advice. A lot of the core marketing and messaging strategy has been particularly similar, and I would still give the same advice to this day when you're starting a business. But there are many things that I would do 100% differently. I want to make sure that I'm upfront with you about what I would do differently if I were to start my business all over again today... 1. Look for ongoing mentoring When I first started my business, I signed up to work one-on-one with a business coach on a VIP day. All I had was six hours. In those six hours, we did a lot of amazing theorising, and we came up with some great models and ideas. But ultimately, when I went out to implement some of the things that I had learned, a lot of them didn't work. I had no one to go to to get insight and feedback on why it hadn't worked for me and what I was supposed to do now... How do I continue to get out there and find new clients? I invested US$4000 when I first started my business in that one VIP day, and I would definitely not do that again. Instead, I would look for either a group program or an ongoing mentoring package. Then I could work with someone, go out and do homework, do some work behind the scenes, and then come back and get feedback on what I had done. I could also get redirection if something I tried didn't necessarily work. Due to the fact that I did all of my coaching and mentoring with a business mentor when I first started my business in one go, it was all based on theory. My mentor wasn't familiar with the type of people that I wanted to work with in the online business world and she didn't have a lot of experience or connections in that space. This meant that when I tried some of the strategies that she had recommended, they didn't actually work. I can see upon reflection why they didn't work. Over time, I learned what was going to work for my target market and my ideal clients, but I didn't have the benefit of having ongoing check-ins with a mentor over an extended period of time. That would have made such a difference to my first six months in business. 2. Don't DIY your website I say this every time I do this type of podcast episode, but it was such a silly idea on my part to initially DIY my website. Granted, back then we didn't have a lot of the awesome tools that we have these days. Squarespace wasn't a thing and we didn't have the tools that you could use to DIY your website. Even now, if I was starting my business from scratch, I would not get behind the scenes of my website and try DIY it. I would just wait until I could put aside enough money from sales in my business to build that websiteLet me know your thoughts via our Text FanMail!Join the Progress Art GYM in May and June!Find out more and secure your spot at: tashcorbin.com/gym

Shownotes can be found at tashcorbin.com/214 In today's episode, I'm going to be sharing with you how to articulate your unique value proposition in your messaging and marketing. This is going to be really helpful for those of you who struggle to talk about what you do in a way that has your ideal clients saying "Yes, that's exactly what I need." So if that's you, jump on in and let's get started with this episode. It is such a common issue for women entrepreneurs, in particular, to struggle with how they sum themselves up, sum up their business or portray their value quickly and easily. The term 'unique value proposition' is often thrown around as one of those special secret keys to helping you get your business really thriving and getting your messaging clear. This helps people know very quickly, "Are you for me or not? Should I work with you or not? How do I work with you?" The thing is that there's not a lot of great advice out there about how you actually do that. How do you start to really articulate your unique value proposition in a way that's meaningful for your ideal clients? In a way that portrays your value quickly and easily, and helps you build messaging that you can use in your business on all of your different platforms? I've come up with six tips for you on how you can really get good at articulating that value proposition, and how you can incorporate that into your messaging and marketing. 1. Stop playing the Highlander game. If you're not familiar with the movie Highlander, what I'm saying with this is that it's very easy to think that your unique value proposition or your messaging in your business should be this one catchy phrase. That it should be this one catchy statement, tagline, or a couple of sentences that you just have to learn off by heart and if you say them over and over and over again, people will start getting it. But that's actually not really helpful. If you think about it, there are two ways you could craft that phrase. Either you craft that phrase using really common words and language that people actually understand - but then if you do, you're going to sound like every other person who works in your industry. Or you could use really unique words. Some people make up their own modalities and they make up all these words that they think have really special meaning, but that may be open to interpretation. So if you use those unique words - I call them 'sparkly words' - then often when you say that statement, the first thing people say is, "What does that mean?" or "I don't quite get it. I don't understand. Is that me?" And that is the last thing you want when people are first finding out about your business. So if you play the Highlander game and just keep looking for that one phrase to rule them all, chances are you'll either create a phrase that makes you sound like everyone else that isn't unique, or create a phrase that's unique, but no one understands. That's why we need to let go of that belief system instead. 2. See your messaging as an ecosystem. We want to see your messaging as an ecosystem. Your blog posts contribute to that messaging, the posts you put on Facebook contribute to that messaging, the words on your website, the words on your banners, on your Facebook page, all of those words and the posts that you do, are actually all part of the one ecosystem. So that's why it'sLet me know your thoughts via our Text FanMail!Join the Progress Art GYM in May and June!Find out more and secure your spot at: tashcorbin.com/gym

Shownotes can be found at tashcorbin.com/213 n today's episode, I'm going to share with you five ways to increase your business income quickly and easily. Sound good? Of course it does! Let's get started. When it comes to increasing your business income, it doesn't have to be hard. For most of us, the biggest issue that we have around increasing our income quickly and easily is the mindset of 'If I'm going to make more money, I'm going to have to work harder. If I want to get more clients, I have to do more marketing. If I want to have more profits, I have to make more sales.' So for most of us, there's mindset stuff we need to unpack first and foremost. We need to embrace this idea that it can be easy, fast, lazy and fun to increase our income in our business and make more money. But what are some of the strategy options that are available to us? If we are clear that it's not a mindset issue, we just don't know how we're going to bring more money into our business. 1. Increase your prices. For so many people, increasing your prices is something that you need to do as quickly as possible. You're undercharging. People tell you you're undercharging, and you keep telling yourself: "No, no, I'm about in line with industry average." "No, no, people won't pay any more than this for me and for the services that I provide." "No, no, I just need to get this qualification first, or I just need to do that first or I just need 20 clients first, or I just need this first." So for a lot of people, increasing your prices is a really good way to start increasing your income and it's quick and easy. One thing I will say is that giant leaps in prices can sometimes be disconnecting for your audience. So if increasing your prices is something that's important to you and if it's something that you would like to explore, make sure you read about how to increase your prices first because it's a whole strategy in and of itself. 2. Launch and relaunch. Even if you're just selling VIP services, you can launch them. Even if you are you've got a course and you've already launched it, you can relaunch it. Even if you've got a membership and it gets a few new clients or a few new customers every month - but you want to really bump up your business income - you can relaunch it. For a lot of people, they don't take a launch mentality with their business. They don't realise that more and more you can take people through that launch process of getting to know you, getting some quick wins, getting an outcome, and then presenting them with the next logical step of working with you in a different way, in the next program or in working with you as a VIP. That launch process is really powerful for getting that income, growing your business and growing that business income quickly. I know myself that when I first launched my Take Off program, I made the epic mistake of not relaunching it pretty quickly afterwards. If you have already got courses, programs or VIP offers, and you don't have enough clients in those things yet, I would 100% recommend you focus on launching and relaunching what you already have. Don't build new things - building Let me know your thoughts via our Text FanMail!Join the Progress Art GYM in May and June!Find out more and secure your spot at: tashcorbin.com/gym

Show notes can be found at: tashcorbin.com/212 In today's episode, we are going to explore how to be creative in business without throwing away structure, planning and routines. Now before you click away at the mere MENTION of structure... I want to show you in this episode how systems, structures and routines are actually the keys to more creativity and freedom in your business. If you are someone who craves creativity and freedom, I want you to stick with me and listen along, because this is such an important episode for you. Why do we resist structure and systems? I see so much resistance in the online business world to the systemised structured parts of being in business. So many people don't want to niche because they want to work with a range of different people and have this creative freedom and difference in their business. They want their business to be interesting. This means that niching is going to take away that interest if they really focus down, so it creates this nice resistance. I see people resisting structure in their day because they want to go with their intuition, follow their gut, go with whatever creativity unfolds, and be really flexible. People often resist systems in their business because they want to do everything bespoke. We want to be really giving to our customers. We want to treat everyone as individuals. Creatives can resist adding routine, systems or planning in their business because they want to stay flexible. See how the week unfolds. But I want to pose this little question to you and plant this small seed today: What if a lack of structure is actually stifling the freedom and creativity in your business? Let me explain this one: Imagine you're sitting down to work on something in your business that requires you to be creative, intuitive and flexible. You've got a couple of hours free in which you can work on this. Maybe you're doing some cost creation, mapping out content ideas, doing some graphic design, some artwork. You're doing something that requires you to be really creative, flexible, expressive, tapped into your intuition and able to go with the flow. You've only got a couple of hours to get it done. Imagine the difference between you spending that couple of hours free of any burdens and just totally in the moment. Or that couple of hours being spent with you having a to-do list of 30 things rolling around in your head. Feeling guilty that you haven't done your newsletter this week, pretty sure you haven't followed up on that invoice that was supposed to be paid. Not being 100% sure what your day looks like after this couple of hours, and carrying around a bunch of things in your brain. So many people live like this every single day in their business - their entire existence is a stress bed of to-do lists and reminders and worries and concerns rolling around in their head. How creative can you be with that burden on your shoulders? How creative can you really be if you don't have the freedom of knowing these two hours are actually free time to get creative? So many people don't ever get to experience true creative, intuitive freedom in their business. Why? Because their business feels like a giant, unending list of things to do. And because they haven't got the structure, systems, processes and plans in place, it haunts them 24/7. Let me know your thoughts via our Text FanMail!Join the Progress Art GYM in May and June!Find out more and secure your spot at: tashcorbin.com/gym

We all know how yucky it feels to be spammed... but are you accidentally a spammer yourself? In today's episode, we're going to figure it out. You might not even know that you're being spammy, so I want to share my experience of social media etiquette, and how I ensure I don't create a spammy feel. Want to learn more? Watch on below! What makes for spam on social media? First and foremost, what is spam? At its core, spam is unwanted marketing. In most cases, when we think of spam, we think about unwanted emails. The first iterations of spam were all of the unrequested emails promoting products and services straight into our inbox. When I first started my business, most businesses didn't even ask for permission in order to send you emails. You could actually buy lists of email addresses from companies and just cold spam a bunch of people. We've come a long way when it comes to protecting our inboxes from unwanted marketing emails and protecting them from spam! We also have a really great filters these days (sometimes they’re even a little too good at their job). But these filters take what looks like spam or unwanted marketing material and puts it into a separate space for us to go and check it out if we want to, without cluttering things up. Whilst email is so much more protected and looked after these days, we can also be quite spammy on social media. Social media is another space where you can unintentionally be putting your marketing material in front of a bunch of people who didn't ask for it. And that can feel really spammy. We want to be mindful that on social media channels, we have the appropriate permissions to send people information, and that we're not coming across as spamming the internet with unwanted marketing materials. How do you know how much is too much? Well, lucky for you, I've got four key things for you to look out for! Be mindful of the space you’re in. The posts you put on your Facebook page are quite different to promoting your products and services in Facebook groups, and still quite different to reaching out and private messaging someone to tell them about your products and services. Just be mindful of the permission level you have for promoting your products and services in that space. For example, on your Facebook business page, it is entirely reasonable for you to promote your products and services quite consistently. In fact, for most women in business, I would say they under-promote their products and services in that space.  Your Facebook business page is one place where you have a free ticket to promote as you like. When it comes to understanding what's too much, and what's unsolicited, think about the space.  I like to keep a ratio of five non-promo posts to every one promo post for my audience so that there's a great balance between promoting things and giving tips, advice and information for free. That's the ratio that I like to keep, but you can 100% have just promos on your Facebook page if you want to.  It's your space. It's your decision. The second space to be mindful of is when you're in other people's Facebook groups. In most cases, they have guidelines around how often you can promote products and services.  For example, in my Facebook community, the Heart-Centred Soul Driven Entrepreneurs Facebook Community, we have "market day" for promoting paid offers, and on "freebie day" you can promotLet me know your thoughts via our Text FanMail!Join the Progress Art GYM in May and June!Find out more and secure your spot at: tashcorbin.com/gym

In today's podcast episode, I'm going to be answering the question: “Is it really easier for extroverts to succeed at online business?” This is a common reason people give for not growing their business as fast as other people or for struggling with some parts of online business and marketing. I want to address this because I think it's a really important one to unpack, and I hope you'll find this really helpful.  Let's jump in!   This topic arises as a common reason why some people say they can't grow their business faster, and is also given as a reason for wanting slower growth or for not reaching goals as a business owner. Many people I speak with say things like, “Well, that's all well and good for you Tash, you're an extrovert, you're a skilled speaker, but I'm an introvert so I can't do what you do.” In other cases, they may say they can't do the specific things that are needed in order to be a successful entrepreneur online. As a result, they believe they just need to expect slower growth because of being an introvert.  So I think it's a really important conversation for us to have. Yes, I am an extrovert and I'm wayyyy over in the extrovert side of being an extrovert. But I also know many of the things I do in my business are more suited to introverts than extroverts. It's not that extroverts have different or better skills. Instead it's about understanding what extraversion and introversion really mean, and whether it truly impacts your ability to grow an online business! Let's get clear on what introversion is. It's actually about energy. It's not about skills. It’s not about speaking skills. It's not about social skills. It's not about being an exhibitionist or being on stage. I know a lot of exhibitionists that are also introverts. Introversion versus extraversion is about your energy. As an extrovert, I get energy from being around others, and I recharge by being around others. I get depleted when I'm on my own too long or spend too much time solo.  When I don't have other people around me, I can feel quite low on energy. That's why I often say when I take a week off from my business, whether it be after conference or after a big launch, sometimes it feels like it's a punishment rather than a reward, because I actually do get depleted if I spend too much time solo without other people. If we look at extraversion versus introversion based on energy, then extroverts want to be surrounded by people. That's what actually energises us.  But Introverts are energised by alone time and are depleted by time surrounded by lots of other people. So that let's get clear on what introversion is, because a lot of people say they're an introvert, and therefore they can't be a public speaker. And those are actually two very different issues. By lumping them all in together, you're creating labels and boxes and pigeon holes for yourself that aren't helpful. The internet was built by introverts for introverts. A lot of the things I do online, like recording this podcast, are solo activities.  I'm here on my own.  I'm speaking into a little yellow light on my laptop. For me, I actually need to visualise other people listening to this podcast when I'm putting togetheLet me know your thoughts via our Text FanMail!Join the Progress Art GYM in May and June!Find out more and secure your spot at: tashcorbin.com/gym

Hello, amazing entrepreneur.  It's Tash Corbin here and welcome to another episode of the Heart Centred Business Podcast. This is episode number 209, which means all the relevant links and show notes can be found at tashcorbin.com/209. In today's episode, we're going to answer the question ‘Can launching ruin your business?’  And the answer is actually yes. But here's how to tell whether it's going to ruin your business specifically.  Let's jump on in!   It can be so alluring to leap into selling group programs, courses, memberships, and doing big launches… We hear things like “stop trading dollars for hours,” and there's so much messaging out there that tells us the only way to scale your business is to do big launches, sell group programs, use high ticket sales amounts, or invest tens of thousands of dollars in Facebook ads to get really high numbers of people joining your programs. The sad truth is that while it can be really fun and exciting - and launching is one of my favorite things to do - for many businesses, it can also be very derailing. For some people it has actually marked the end of their business. One failed launch has put them at the point where they need to go back and get a job or find other means of supporting themselves financially, because the launch wasn't successful enough to sustain their business. We want to make sure that your business is ready for launching, to ensure that it's not going to ruin your business. And I know I'm using very specific and direct language here. But I have seen way too many women go from having a “sort of” sustainable business income to completely decimating themselves financially, all by leaping into launches way too soon. I want you to make sure you are feeling very confident that launching is going to be the right decision for your business, and that your business will be able to survive the launch process as well. Here are four key things I think you need in order to be ready to launch and if you don't have them specifically, some backups you might be able to have instead. Your business needs to be financially viable, even if the launch flops. One example I have is from a person who wasn't a client of mine, but I knew her in the online space. She was making 3 to $4,000 a month by selling her VIP services. And she really wanted to launch a $2,000 group program course, similar to what the “big names” are doing out there. She had hired a launch specialist for four and a half thousand dollars, and they had come up with a launch budget of $15,000.  So they were going to spend $15,000 on Facebook ads management as well as the setup of the online course and all of the copywriting and editing for professional videos - a proper big launch. Sadly, only three months later, that beautiful friend of mine had a $20,000 credit card debt and no income in her business. She no longer had any VIP clients because she had spent so long selling her group program.  After investing all of that money and time, even with a launch specialist working with her, she only made four sales of her program, which was $8,000 - not enough to recoop even the slightest part of her costs. She then had to go back to working in her regular job while supporting those four clients through a group program that was designed to have 50 to 100 clients in it. So youLet me know your thoughts via our Text FanMail!Join the Progress Art GYM in May and June!Find out more and secure your spot at: tashcorbin.com/gym