Hey there, my friend, welcome to episode 317 of the Small Business Made Simple Podcast.

Thanks for leading me your ears right now – I know you have lots of other things you could be doing or listening to – so I appreciate you.

Today we are heading back to the beginning – yep, the very start. If you had to start your business again today or tomorrow, what would you do? What would you do differently? What would you do the same? Let’s chat about that!

But before we get into that, did you have a chance to listen to last week’s episode? My guest was Lisa Hawkins from Life Balance Essentials, and I loved her advice around life admin – I am sure you will too! Take a listen to episode 316 on your favourite podcast app or here: www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/316

Also, have you grabbed yourself a copy of my book Small Town Big Impact with 107 Simple Marketing Strategies for Regional Business Success. If you haven’t got a copy yet, go to www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au and get a copy. It is available on Amazon – so you can get a kindle or hard copy there too – but I’d prefer you get it from my website! I have just picked up the next print run of the book – which means, holy cow, that’s there are already a thousand copies of my book out in the big wide world (and some have even gone overseas!).

And today for my Throwback Thursday part of this pod, I’m throwing back to episode 227, which is titled ChatGPT – Technology that is going to change your life (it’s from 2023, but it’s 100% still relevant. You can find the episode here: www.socialmediaandmarketing.com.au/227 Oh and that reminds me I have a Women in Business Get Shit Done Retreat happening in December that will help you with your 2025 focus – come the show notes for the link: https://bit.ly/2025retreatjenn – only a few spots left!

Okay, let’s get into today’s episode.

If you were going to start a brand new business, but with ALL the knowledge you have now, what would you do differently?

Here’s what I would do ….

Some obvious answers are

• identify a niche with high demand and low competition – take the temperature of the market and if it’s not niche, it’s not low competition, work out what makes you different! Podcasting might seem “normal” now, but 6 years ago, when I started, not so much. That was my “how am I different” way back then.
• decide on your goals – all of them – financial, marketing, personal etc
• Do a swot analysis – S – Strengths, W – weaknesses, O – Opportunities, T – Threats – you know I NEVER did one of these until more recent years and it was am-az-ing for my thought process and business model. I highly recommend you do one – get ChatGPT to help you.
• do research on what people REALLY want. Spend time looking at your ideal client’s language, phrases, what they delight in, what they complain again – get crystal clear on who that person is and where they hang out. Look honestly, if everyone did this, either when they are starting out or really just today, no matter where you are in the business journey, business would be soooo much simpler for you – pinkie promise.
• Have a minimum viable product – not perfect just viable. I guess, my Ready, Fire, Aim! Just launch/release the thing and then fix as you go.
• Decide on a business model. Map out the income streams, the product architecture (what products you are going to have) and how that all works together to create the business you want.
• Have a plan – a strategic plan.

Then there’s some “Jenn” obvious ones:

• Start an email list – first marketing job, hands down.
• Claim your business name – all the bits – socials, website, business name etc – protect your business.
• Create a website and niche down on having a google presence
• Remember that everything is figure-out-able.
• Start networking – online and offline to start fostering partnerships with those people who have your audience but aren’t your competition.
• Make yourself easy to buy from. Stat.

Then, of course, there’s content you need to develop.

• Pick a platform – a single one – and go all in. Pick a theme, product or service and again, go all in. Be so good at that, that they can’t ignore you. Get famous for that “one” thing.
• Do more video. Come on, you knew it was coming, no?
• Show up – as you – warts, beauty and all – yep you saw that one coming too, I bet! Bugger stuffing around doing 20 posts on Canva, just hold the camera up and say something. Be brave.

I asked ChatGPT what Richard Branson would do, and it was pretty interesting …

• Prioritise brand over product – oooohhh that’s good yeah? Build a brand that resonates emotionally with its customers. The brand it’s just about problem solving, it’s about creating identify and lifestyle that people want to be apart of. Honestly, this is pretty much how my Buy From a Bush Business grow to almost 400,000 so quickly. People want to belong to something … it’s human nature.
• Obsess over customer experience. I think we all know this about the Branson brand – he has a long-standing obsession with delighting customers.
• Be willing to take big risks …. Mmm that’s easy for a billionaire to say … but it does go well into my Ready, Fire, Aim philosophy.
• Empower employees and foster a strong company culture – even if you don’t have employees, you have culture, and your community is very aware of it.
• Challenge the status quo – I really want to get better at this. My people pleasing skills need to have a rest and I need more of this in 2025 … watch this space!
• Have fun and make the business personal – alleluia – yes, yes, yes – exactly! The Richard Branson brand is probably more powerful than the Virgin Brand. People want to be around him, near him, buy from him. You might not have this scale, but you do have the same advantage – you! Personality marketing.

What would you do differently? What would you do the same?

Let me know in the Like Minded Business Owners Facebook group your thoughts and feelings on what’s you’d do or what I have mentioned that resonated the most with you? You can join here, if you haven’t already:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/LikeMindedBusinessOwners

Otherwise, that’s all my chook. A few lessons in there for all of us, me thinks!

If you loved this episode and found it valuable, please take 30 seconds out of your day to leave me a rating and review if you want where you are listening. And do you have a friend who might like to listen in too? Can I ask a favour, and have you share this episode with them? I’d love that and appreciate it SO much.

See you next week on the podcast for episode 318.

But in the meantime, let’s hang out on social and get social on social – you’ll find me on Instagram, Facebook, and my fav LinkedIn.

But whatever you do,

…….. remember small business peep, as my opening song says, there’s no point in dreaming small!