When was the last time you took time away from your usual environment? With COVID having put the brakes on any major travel, many business owners have been working harder than ever without a break.

With so many working from home, it means that you're in the same environment day in, day out. This COULD be stifling your creativity and ability to have breakthrough ideas for your business.

Some of my most productive creative writing, content creation and breakthrough ideas come to me when I spend time away from my desk. I'm often surprised by the bolts of clarity that come to me when I'm on the beach, in the shower, or out running or walking.

Being in a new location is a different experience to moving my laptop, say, from my head office (a brick-and-mortar office) to my home office. Or moving from the dining table to the kitchen bench to work. Working from a whole new environment seems to have my brain functioning in different ways.

I'm writing this as I'm seated at the dining table looking out at sunset through the glass doors that look out to the back of the house that I've rented for 10 days.

And, while today I've had multiple meetings and handled quite a few communications and tasks, my workdays this week will be topped and tailed by a walk on the beach.

It's HEAVEN for me, an inner-city dweller ;-) to walk on the sand and hike on the local trails morning and night. I'm inspired to stay outdoors. And, throughout the day, I find myself giving myself permission to take short breaks.

To sit in the sun with my lunch.

To take 5 mins away from the screen to stare at the ocean or pat the dog.

Only a few days into this break, I started to feel re-energised. I can feel the ideas for my new marketing project brewing... waiting to spill forth when I sit down for a day of planning later this week.

I share this with you to encourage you to find time to take a break away from your routine. Because there is great power in pausing.

Like Thomas Friedman quotes in his book, Thank You for Being Late.

When you press the pause button on a machine, it stops. But, when you press the pause button on human beings, they start. You start to reflect, you start to rethink your assumptions, you start to reimagine what is possible and, most importantly, you start to reconnect with your most deeply held beliefs."

Here are some popular recent episodes:

• Why You SHOULD Work on Tasks You Can’t Invoice
• A Case of the “I Don’t Want Tos”
• Sit Your Butt Down On a Chair and Get Unstuck
• 3 Ways to Get a Steady Flow of Referrals
• The Energy That Makes Things Happen

HerBusiness Facebook Page: https:/facebook.com/HerBusiness/

HerBusiness Network for Women Business Owners: herbusinessnetwork.com

Today I have a VERY special treat for you.

Maybe you’ve noticed...
... membership and subscription businesses are thriving.

Even in the midst of a massive pandemic, companies worldwide are having to shift and adjust to the new economy. And those who have incorporated subscriptions and membership business models are seeing massive growth.

Why? It’s actually quite simple. Because a membership business model establishes predictable and reliable income month after month, regardless of a shaking economy. And right now… who doesn’t need that?!

If you want the blueprint for how to create a membership business of your own, then you’re in the right place. Because my special guest today is membership site expert, Stu Mclaren of the TRIBE Experience.

In this interview, we talk about how you can get clients paying you every single month. When you create a membership inside of your business you create reliable revenue every single month... and the best news is that you can build a successful membership business around what you already, know, love, and do! And you can do it whether you sell products or services... and, whether you have low-cost offers, or high-priced consulting.

I’ve had a membership-based business for over 25 years and I swear by this business model, beyond any other (and I’ve had a few), because it makes for a more predictable income.

Every. Single. Month.

Stu McLaren is well known around the online business industry as the leading membership expert (he’s also been a mentor of mine for the last four years).

I am a big fan of Stu’s because not only is the go-to guy for savvy business owners who want to launch a successful membership… even if they are starting from scratch.

Stu’s strategies and insights are proven and have helped thousands of people — including many of HerBusiness Network members — helping them to jumpstart thriving memberships across thousands of different niches.

As you’ll hear in this interview, the best part of growing a membership is that you don’t need a big email list to achieve success with a membership.

You don’t need to be super-savvy with tech. And you don’t need a huge social media following either. All you need is passion and motivation to serve a specific group of people.

With Stu’s teachings, you can leverage your passion and the experience you already have to create steady and predictable income every month.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Turn What You Already Know, Love and Do into a Profitable Membership

Here are some popular recent episodes:

• Why You SHOULD Work on Tasks You Can’t Invoice
• The ‘Back-Of-The-Napkin’ Marketing Plan
• Risk Forward: Embrace the Unknown
• 3 Ways to Get a Steady Flow of Referrals
• Sit Your Butt Down On a Chair and Get Unstuck

HerBusiness Facebook Page: https:/facebook.com/HerBusiness/

HerBusiness Network for Women Business Owners: herbusinessnetwork.com

“My biggest challenge is finding the time to market and pitch myself outside of paid projects.

I know I need to do it to ensure a consistent pipeline of clients in future, but I can't shake this weird feeling of guilt and worry when I'm not working on tasks that I can't invoice.”

I loved this question from HerBusiness Member, Brittany, because it’s a trap that we can ALL fall into.

We sell something and then we spend time delivering it. And that delivery time can be really intense, especially if you’re a solopreneur.

While you’re busy making "the thing", delivering the training, doing the consultation, presenting the brief, doing the copy-editing, designing the website etc. etc., you have little time to focus on getting new clients.

Clients want their jobs. And they want them now. And there’s just you, doing all the things.

Maybe there’s someone helping you, but the responsibility of delivering the product or service is still squarely on your shoulders.

Meanwhile, the pipeline of potential new clients isn’t being filled and you can find yourself in a cash flow crisis and with lumpy cash flow.

So, how do you move away from good months and bad months to also working on projects that don’t immediately put money in your pocket?

In this episode, I share the three areas that we focus on to ensure that we are at all times attracting, converting AND keeping our ideal clients.
It’s a simple, yet powerful way to think about your business.

Mentioned in this episode:

• Episode 174 - Your Back of the Napkin Plan
• HerBusiness Free Community for Women Business Owners

Here are some popular recent episodes:

• A Case of the “I Don’t Want Tos”
• Sit Your Butt Down On a Chair and Get Unstuck
• 3 Ways to Get a Steady Flow of Referrals
• The Energy That Makes Things Happen

HerBusiness Facebook Page: https:/facebook.com/HerBusiness/

HerBusiness Network for Women Business Owners: herbusinessnetwork.com

If it ever feels like you have too many promotions to focus on and share and market, it might be time to simplify your marketing plan.

What I’ve found is that MORE promotions don’t necessarily lead to better results.

When we analysed our marketing activity, we found that some of our seemingly successful promotions didn’t deliver the RIGHT results.
On the surface, they looked great.

But when we dug in, we could see that they didn’t do the main job they were meant to, which was to sell our Core Offer.

We know that marketing and marketing campaigns take ENERGY and EFFORT. There are landing pages, copywriting, emails, automation, lead boxes, popups, website banner, social media copy and images, printing, internal systems and procedures, scripts and videos and Facebook lives etc.

And more often than not, all the effort doesn’t translate to sales or conversions.

In this episode, I introduce you to the 3-part “Back of the Napkin Marketing Plan”, a simple but effective template that helps you decide which marketing activity to keep and what you can let go of.

Listen to discover:

• How to create a one-page “Back of the Napkin” marketing plan
• Which marketing campaign to cut and which to keep
• Why knowing your Core Offer makes it easier to know how to attract more of your ideal clients.
• How a Back-End Upsell becomes easy when you focus on aligning your high-end products and services with your Core Offer
• Why freeing up your time to focus on a few things will give you a greater return on investment

Here are some popular recent episodes:

• A Case of the “I Don’t Want Tos”
• Sit Your Butt Down On a Chair and Get Unstuck
• 3 Ways to Get a Steady Flow of Referrals
• The Energy That Makes Things Happen

HerBusiness Facebook Page: https:/facebook.com/HerBusiness/

HerBusiness Network for Women Business Owners: herbusinessnetwork.com