Heart-Centred Business Podcast with Tash Corbin

In today's episode, we're going to talk about how to make a profit quickly when you are starting a business.  It comes down to finding a sexy strategy that works for you. So let's jump right into it. Ultimately, every business strategy can be boiled down into three core elements: Reach a bunch of people who are potential clients. Convert the appropriate ones into paying clients. Continuously support and nurture your mindset and energetic well-being. A lot of the time our results come down to the fact that we are sabotaging ourselves. Maybe we're not doing the things that we need to do, we may be procrastinating and all of those sorts of things. I truly believe that mindset and energetic well-being need to form part of your core business strategy. If we are talking about the key strategic decisions that you need to make, about how you're going to grow your business and where your profit comes from, most people starting a business think their number one job is to get reach, to get in front of as many people as possible. The more people you get in front of, the more sales you will make, right? But that's actually not where profitability comes from, because reach is actually the biggest expense in your business. Reach is the biggest expense in your business. If you need to reach thousands and thousands of people in order to make the sales that you want to make in your business, then you're going to need to find those people, you're going to need to reach those people. And you will either need to do it through ads or organic strategies. That will either take money or time. Even if you keep doing it purely through organic strategies, you are either investing your own time, which is an opportunity cost, or you are paying for someone else's time, which is also a cost. So if you think about a business that's starting up, and you get in front of 100 people, and you get one sale from those 100 people, would it be smarter to go out and find another 100 people to make one more sale? Or would it be smarter to focus on your conversion strategies and make a sale with the people you already have access to? Now, this might sound counterintuitive, and it might sound like it goes against the grain of what a lot of other experts and marketers out there are telling you. But ultimately, the higher your conversion rate, the less people you need to reach, and therefore, the more profitable your business will be. Because you’re not needing to invest as strongly in that most expensive expense - reach. When people are working with me in startup, a lot of the time they find this really disconcerting. They're like, “No, no, no, no, no. I need to reach more people with my Facebook page. No, I need to reach more people. I need to get more people watching my blogs, I need to have more people visit my website.” Ultimately, yes, for scalable growth in your business that is something that you want, but when you're first starting out and you’re looking to get to profit quickly, you are much, much, much more likely to do so if you focus on your conversion strategies over your reach strategies. So high conversion - how do we get this? How do we improve our conversion? How do we make more sales?  Well, the number one factor in contributing to your conversion is connection. And this is why I think women are so much better at online bLet 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 episode, we're going to be talking about five signs that it's time for you to branch out with your own business. Now first, I want to say before we talk about the signs that it might be time to start your own business - the motivating factor of wanting to run away from something isn't always enough. For example, a lot of people would say that if you're peeved with your job and you don't love your boss, then it's a sign that you should branch out with your own business, and I actually think that's often not enough for sustainability. Running away from something and not having something you're running towards, can be a good motivator to start you off. But it doesn't necessarily help you keep that momentum and sustain what it takes to really grow a thriving business. However, if you are peeved with your boss, you are on maternity leave, you don't want to go back to work, you've got financial issues, you don't want to be lining the pockets of someone else with your efforts… or any other reason for wanting to start your own business right now, then that's a great motivator to get you started. But we want to make sure we're also tapping into what's going to sustain you long term, so here are five signs that it might be time for you to branch out with your own business. You have an epic vision. This was definitely one of the big things for me - my epic vision.  When I first started my business, it was being able to make enough money to live an amazing life of luxury, and have a giant beach house and travel a lot. And also run a not-for-profit that I had a very specific vision about at that particular point in time. My desires and goals and what my vision is has changed a little, not a lot, but it has changed a little, and that epic vision really motivated me, even when I was first starting out in my business. And it allowed me to really tap into the bigger goals of wanting to start a business. I didn't want to just start a business and make the same salary I was making in my day job, which was a very handsome six figure salary at the time.  I didn't want to just replace that income. I wanted to have a million dollar business and a multi million dollar a year business from when I first started my business. Part of the reason was that big epic vision that I had. I had a vision of wanting to change lives, influence people, and really help those who wouldn't otherwise get help and support that they need. And I was sick of relying on the government to do the right thing, to be 100% honest with you.  Young Tash had political aspirations, and business-starting Tash had already decided politics was not the way that I was going to enact the change that I wanted to enact. I started to see entrepreneurship as a pathway for me to create that change. And so that is what really drove me to get my business off the ground. It drove me in those times when I was feeling like, “well, maybe I could just take my foot off the accelerator and just be happy with $75,000 a year,” and then I’d remember, “no, my big vision is epic."  And I want to make sure that I stay aligned with that vision. You have transferable skills and knowledge. This one is really interesting because a lot of people assume that the skills and knowledge they've developed through their career or through their job or through university or wherever, would be thrown away in order for them to start a business because it's completely different or in a completely different space. But if yoLet 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 episode, we're going to talk about where to go to learn the best business strategy. And I've got some juicy options for you. So let's dive right in. When it comes to finding advice on how to grow your business and where to focus your energy first, you have so many options.  Oh my goodness, if another internet marketing expert jumps into the pond, it doesn't even make a ripple. There are so many people out there who want to give you their advice. They want to teach you their special methodology. They believe they've found the juiciest secret, and you have so many options available to you. Now if you were to listen to the advice from some of these online marketers, you would be led to believe that every single person is able to be helped specifically by just one person. But that is never actually the case. What works for someone might not work for someone else.  What works in one market doesn't necessarily work in another. We need different business strategies for different people. We need different business strategies for different target markets. We need different business strategies for different products, different services, different countries, different cultures. So when it comes to selecting someone to tell you what to do with your business, to help guide you to grow your business, here are a few things to look out for. 1. Check Alignment. Does their sales process, ie the way they are trying to sell to you, align with your values? Have a look from an external perspective and take a step back when you're going through this sales process. Look at the steps that they take you through. Does that feel aligned? Would you be comfortable taking people through those steps yourself? How do they make you feel when you sign up for their free training?  Does it make you feel positive and excited and thinking about possibilities, or does it really make you feel panicked and worried and freaking out that you're not going to succeed without them? Chances are if they are using feelings-based and emotions-based strategies on you, when you learn business and marketing from them, they are going to tell you to do exactly the same to your potential customers.  Does that feel like something you would want to be doing for other people?  Is that the way that you want to show up? 2. Examine the Sales Process. Specifically, are there certain things that happen in the sales process that you would never do as part of your sales process?  For example, do they tell you that it's a limited time, once-off offer? And then you see it in several other places online? Are they using misleading information in this sales process?  Are you made to jump through hoops for seemingly impossible reasons? Do they force you to make early commitments when you're not really sure you're ready for it?  Look at that sales process through the lens of whether you would be willing to do that to someone else. Because if you're not, then chances are when you start to work with that person, you're going to feel like it's misaligned. And you're not necessarily going to embrace all of their process in your own business and marketing techniques. A lot of these sales processes require an “all or nothing” approach. I once had a business coach say to me if I was not willing to tell people that my pre-recorded webinars were actually live, then he would not work with me, because that's where his conversion rates and confidence came from. So that was a really big alarm bell for me, and I didn't end up signing up 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

In today's episode, we're going to be talking about how to build your credibility as a business owner and entrepreneur.  I understand that in times gone by, your credibility was measured by the size of the shoulder pads in your jacket, but those days are gone. I absolutely adore talking about this topic. And I'm really excited about this podcast episode as well because it allows me to be talking about something that we see online, and we "kind of" think we need to do it and we're not 100% sure. And I have some very specific advice in this space.   More and more these days online, we hear about this need for credibility and creating "expert status" for yourself. We talk here about social proof and all of the things that help people to make a decision to invest with you. And people want to work with leaders. They want to work with experts. They want to work with people they trust and who are really credible. I totally understand that this can be something that we think is very important when we first start our business. But in today's episode, I want to actually talk about decreasing the need for projecting credibility and expert status and also creating a sense of expert credibility in an authentic, heart centred way. So first of all, let's talk about why we think we need to have this expert status or credibility. Why do people crave it? I find that, particularly for women in the online business world, it's because we don't want to have to sell ourselves. So we actually look to external validation in order to make us feel like we are a trusted source, we are an expert, we are valuable, we are worthy.  But by trying so hard to keep seeking out all of this expert status and proof of credibility, we are often devaluing what we are actually worth. We are devaluing what we have to offer. We are saying to ourselves, the universe, and potential customers and clients: “I'm only valuable and reliable and a valid source for you because I've got this expert status, because of something that's outside of me.” You might feel that same resistance to selling yourself, you might feel that same resistance to just standing in your power, and being yourself and saying: This is who I am and this is what I have to offer you. I understand why that feels like a real safety net to have that expert status, to have that external validation, to have that credibility, and to say, I've got the certificate, or I've got this or I've got that - I totally understand. And there are better ways that you can create that credibility. But I want us to cover that off at the end of this podcast episode, once we have actually reduced the need for it, after we recognize that our desire for that expert status or credibility is just a crutch. It's a sense that because this trusted source says “I'm good,” or because all of these people give you social proof that it means "I'm good." So we're going to actually reduce the need for it first, and then we're going to build your credibility and expert status in a heart centred, very authentic, very connected way. So first of all, let's reduce the need for it. All that I've just explained to you may have worked in the past.  For most people, after they've heard all that they think, "Oh my gosh, I'm totally trying to hide behind my 17 certificates." Or "Oh my gosh, I'm totally trying to use 45 testimonials in my webinars, because I don't 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

In this episode, I'm going to take you through lean startup business basics. Even if you already have an existing business, it's a great episode for you to check in on whether you've achieved some of the key things that prove your business is going to scale and still be profitable. And if you're just starting out, it's a really sexy, really effective business model. That means you can save time and money and also build your business with less risk. Sounds pretty juicy, right?   So what exactly is lean startup? In a nutshell, lean startup is proving your business and your model before you significantly invest time and money. Lean startup, in particular, is focused on saving money. But as a model, it also saves you a lot of time in your business development journey. What we're talking about here is making sure that people are actually going to pay for the thing that you want to sell, and making sure you've got the messaging, the price point, and all of the other parts of your advertising and marketing strategy sorted before you scale to large audiences. So by doing things like small scale testing and getting proof of concept, you are able to ensure that when you do invest money to get large scale reach, for example, that you're giving yourself the best opportunity for that investment to provide a return. This is particularly sexy for online channels because these days, we have access to larger scale audiences organically without having to invest lots of money. We have access to test audiences through social media and other online platforms so we have an amazing opportunity to build lean businesses like never before. Why would you want to build your business using a Lean Startup model? 1. First of all, it is a really smart way of doing business. I actually started my business as a Lean Startup out of necessity, rather than by design. When I first started my business, and I've told this story hundreds of times, I actually quit my job. And then we went overseas for three and a half weeks, and then we came back, we'd maxed out our credit cards, I had no money to invest in my business, and I was sitting at my desk and it was like, Okay, here's day one. Now start a business. And because of that, I needed to learn how to get my products and services in front of audiences without investing significant money. I had to learn what was working really quickly and what wasn't so that I could pivot and adjust and make sure that I was getting profit - scaled profit - as quickly as possible. So I really do believe that I was blessed to have no money to start my business. I am very lucky that that was my journey. I know that if I had a spare $15,000 lying around, I would have bought a a fancy pantsy website that would have been probably quite pretty but not really say anything. And I would have done a lot of work on all of the bells and whistles in my business before I'd actually proven people were going to pay for my services. And actually, on that first day, when I sat down to start my business, I thought I was going to be a career coach for ambitious women in the corporate world. So if I hadn't started my business lean, I would have invested all of that money that I didn't have into a business that ultimately I didn't follow through on. It was after speaking to just three people who were in that target market - about how I could help them and the types of strategies that I could help them with and what the problems were that they were facing - that I realized I had left the corporate world for a reason. I realized I didn't wLet 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

  What is the ONE THING that will really amplify your business? In today’s episode of the Heart-Centred business podcast, we’re going to talk about what that is, so let’s jump straight in!   No matter how many different questions people ask me about their business, there’s one desire that underpins all of them:  how to just speed things up.   We want to amplify our business, we want to get it rocking and rolling as quickly and as easily and efficiently as possible. And we want to get to our destination quickly to amplify not only our results in our business, but also the reach that we have, and the conversion.   So when I think about “amplifying,” I think about wanting to: – reach more people – convert more of those people into paying clients – achieve bigger results like making more money or funding more projects   1. Simplify Services and Products. My number one strategy when it comes to amplifying your results is actually to simplify – Simplify in order to amplify. And what that looks and feels like is, number one, having fewer products. Now I share this very openly that at the start of 2017, I had over 30 different products – 30 different paid ways that people were able to work with me, get support from me, learn business from me – and that was just overwhelming. By keeping my time divided between selling all of these things and also delivering them, I was actually slowing down my business growth and I could see it really clearly at the Heart-Centred Business Conference in September 2017. At that conference, and in the weeks after, I had this overwhelming reality check that I was spreading myself thin – consistently looking for new ways that I could work with people, and new things that I could sell to my potential clients. So in order for me to be able to amplify my results and get my business growing faster, and amplify my reach and my conversions, I needed to simplify my product mix. And I have done that over a period of time. I’ve shut down several courses, I’ve stopped selling books, I’ve stopped selling short term things like short term masterminds and short term planning things, and single paid workshops. I decided to pare it down to my key service offerings. Now I allow myself to play with short term temporary new things from time to time, when those things are working. Even now, I can see that in the times where I’m experimenting with new things, I’m slowing down the growth of the existing things. Ultimately, if I had thousands and thousands of women joining Takeoff and the Heart-Centred Business Academy everLet 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 episode, I’m going to be talking about taking time off from your business. But I want to warn you, I’m not going to talk about it the same way that other people talk about it! Before I talk about how to take more time off from your business, let’s talk about why. Of course, there are all the usual reasons “why” that are touted by so many people, and yet we still don’t listen to them – such as giving yourself an opportunity to refresh, to re-energise, and to get new perspective. Also, we didn’t start this business so that we could work 16-hour days, seven days a week…and totally burn ourselves out. We created these businesses so that we could also achieve our life goals and our lifestyle goals. And there are all of those “normal reasons” for wanting to take time off from your business… It’s really great for your health and well-being. It’s really great for your relationships. It’s really great for those craft projects or that reading project that you never got around to finishing.   There are so many great benefits for you personally, in taking that time out from your business, but also it’s taking out time taking time out for your business, because ultimately you are your business’ greatest asset, and in taking time out from your business, you are actually nurturing its most valuable asset.   We don’t often think about the bottom line of not taking time out…   What is the cost to your business? What is the cost of you continuing this cycle of working long days, not taking breaks, not getting a rest, losing motivation and finding it harder and harder to get back on the bandwagon when something maybe goes awry in your business as well?   Hopefully you understand why it’s so valuable to your business, to yourself, and all the other facets of your life, to take time out from your business.   So first I will give you all of the “normal steps and strategies” to taking time out.   1. Schedule the time in. Pick a time, pick a date into the future, maybe it’s three months from now or six months from now, book a week off or two weeks off – schedule it into the calendar and make sure that everyone knows it’s coming and prepare yourself for it. Prepare your business for it.   2. Systemise things. Make sure that you have the team members in place to keep things going for you.  Prepare for it by preparing your potential customers and existing customers by telling them “I am closed between this date and this date.” Now that is something that I will be doing for my wedding (some of my team members are coming to my wedding!) so there will be an extended period of time this year when I will be taking time out for my business.  Things will pretty much shut down and that is totally okay as well – we will be prepared for that.   3. Take the leap. Just trust that everything’s going to be okay and act “as if” you’re already living that successful multimillionaire lifestyle.  And this is just your “normal” so just act as if it is totally normal and take that leap.   But I also want to talk about taking time off from your business through a different lens: It’s not all or nothing. It doesn’t have to be this big “all or nothing” decision all of the time.   There are other ways to take time 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

In today’s episode, let’s find out if your business foundations are wonky and learn how to solidify them. Show notes and important links at https://tashcorbin.com/191Let 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 episode, let's talk about nailing your business growth by identifying each business stage. Show notes and important links at https://tashcorbin.com/190Let 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 episode, let’s bust some myths about starting your business and finally get it off the ground. Show notes and important links at https://tashcorbin.com/189Let 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