Small Business Lifestyle

If you’ve ever been too scared to approach someone at a networking event, this week’s guest is going to leave you gobsmacked! Kaley Chu is the founder and author of 100 Lunches With Strangers, a movement she began just a few short years ago in an effort to cure her shyness and take her out of her comfort zone. Since launching, Kaley has had over 350 lunches with strangers, and now works with other people to help them build their confidence, grow their network and unleash their potential. 

Tracey Ezard is a leadership and culture expert with decades of experience. When it comes to identifying the drivers for success, Tracey knows just how important purpose and culture are to the conversation. If you’re looking develop more empathy as a leader, and discover how to cultivate a culture of curiosity, Tracey has some great advice. She shares the three pillars of learning culture and explains why we all need to get beyond the culture of ‘nice’ to one that challenges us instead.  

If you’re tired of putting all your marketing bucks into social media without much success, then today’s guest has music for your ears. Tanya Williams is a marketing maverick whose book, Sales without Socials, rethinks the way you market your business. Tanya has spent years helping small business owners and soloists make the most of their marketing spend and if you’re tired of overcomplicated funnels, expensive software, or fancy tools, Tanya has plenty of tips to help you fight the overwhelm.

Mel Schilling knows a thing or two about confidence - as the resident relationship advisor on Married at First Sight she’s helped guide the show’s couples through some rather rough patches. But long before she became a talking head on TV, Mel spent over 20 years as a psychologist and success coach teaching everyone from CEOs to business owners, actors and athletes how to be the best they can be. Now, she’s put all that advice into a new book, The C Word (Confidence), and she’s here with us today to share her top tips for shushing that inner critic and channelling your superpowers.

Roxanne Calder is an expert when it comes to the future of work. As the founder of EST10 she helps businesses both big and small, find their perfect staff. She’s spent over two decades working in the HR and recruitment space and what she doesn’t know about being employable is not worth knowing. If you’re wanting to safeguard your working future, Roxanne has plenty of great advice on why Australian businesses need to be looking at mature workers, reskilling and upskilling existing staff and keeping an eye out for headhunters. Yes, salary matters but purpose-led work and values are coming up trumps in attracting and retaining talent. Listen now.

Today’s guest is Joanna Oakey. Joanna has more than 20 years of experience helping small businesses grow and maximise their value. She’s the host of popular business podcasts The Deal Room and Talking Law, and the author of the new book Buy, Grow, Exit, which steps business owners through the three critical phases of business - acquisition, growth, and winding up. If you want to avoid mistakes that deplete the value of your business and grow your business with an end game in mind, Joanna has some great advice.

Today’s guests are Marissa McLoughlin and Annette Short, and together they are the mums behind Ugly Swan - a hairbrush range that puts an end to those ongoing screaming battles we have with our kids to brush their hair. The pair started the brand in 2017 with a great idea but no small business experience and today they’re turning over a million in revenue a year. They’re joining us today to share how they’ve grown the business, the role of influencers in their success and the joys of working in a business they believe in.

Donna McGeorge is a best-selling author and global authority on productivity. If you’ve got a hankering to learn more about how to make the most of your day - Donna has plenty of advice. She’s been helping CEOs, business owners and everyday Aussies up their productivity for years and her latest tome, The 1-Day Refund will help you take back time and achieve more by doing less. How good does that sound? So listen up, as Donna is going to share some of those secrets with our Flying Solo audience today.

Shalini Nandan Singh is a small business lawyer, a legal coach and the founder of Love Your Legals. Since starting her practice in 2015, Shalini has helped 1000s of business owners navigate the ins and outs of their legal obligations. Whether it’s providing support, advice, contract creation or templates for entrepreneurs and business owners, Shalini has the know-how that can help small businesses succeed. She joins us today to share some of her own business journeys and gives us her top tips for avoiding typical small business legal pitfalls.

Ian Whitworth, serial entrepreneur, former brand creative director and author of the new book, Undisruptable, stops by to talk risk, entrepreneurship and why we should all think about going into business for ourselves

John Gardiner is a thought leader in the small business space with decades of experience. From consulting to major shopping centres, to operating his own chain of sunglasses stores to starting IT businesses long before the internet was booming. He’s had a lot of success and smidgen of failure but what he’s learned over the years about business is enough to fill a book. So, it’s wonderful he’s finally written one – 3 Secrets to Business Success. If you’ve ever wanted to get a grasp on the fundamentals of business John has plenty of valuable advice to share and he joins us on Flying Solo to chat about all things business, from purpose to needs and wants to learning from failure.

Kaiying Chin is the Team Lead, Global Business Group, of Meta ANZ, which means she’s an absolute expert when it comes to small business in the eCommerce, retail, and consumer goods space. She knows everything you need to know about making the most of Meta’s products for small business. So, if you’ve got Faceboook or Instagram questions – she’s got the answers. She joins us today to share some tricks of the trade and give us the lowdown on upcoming digital marketing trends.

Olivia Jenkins specialises in advising businesses within the beauty, health, and fashion industries on all things strategy and marketing. She’s passionate about eCommerce and has over a decade of experience in helping brands find their feet - whether it’s with social selling or how to nurture their customers. Her client list reads like a who’s who of the wellness and beauty space and she’s here today to share some great advice on how to kick off your eCommerce marketing with a bang. .

Michelle Bowden knows just about everything there is to know about speaking with confidence. When it comes to public speaking, Michelle is a master. She’s an authority on persuasive presentation skills, with over 23 years of experience. She’s a multi-million-dollar pitch coach and her client list reads like a who’s who of international business: She is the creator of the Persuasion Smart Profile®, a world-first psychological assessment tool that reports on your persuasive strengths and weaknesses at work and she joins Flying Solo today to share some of the secrets to persuasive presentations.

Liz Fleming is a business mentor and accountant who knows a thing or two about creating efficiencies. She previously worked for many years as a chartered accountant in the corporate world before ditching the C-suite life to go out on her own as an efficiency coach. She has a knack for helping small businesses understand how to streamline their processes and scale for growth and she hates wasting time. She joins me today to share some of the productivity hacks that will help you thrive.

Today’s guest is Tom Willis. When it comes to marketing, Tom’s a legend – apart from founding Marketing Trends – an agency that specialises in keeping the industry informed on the latest fads - he’s spent most of the past decade helping upskill Australia’s marketers and business owners on digital marketing as a lecturer at General Assembly. Along the way, he also had time to cofound Lawpath where he spends his day to day as its chief marketing officer. He joins us on Flying Today to share some of his secrets to successful digital marketing.

Today’s guest is Helen Baker. Helen is an experienced financial adviser, speaker and author who is absolutely passionate about helping people become financially literate and find financial freedom. She’s the spokesperson for online finance platform Money.com.au and joins us today to share some of her top tips for taking back control of your finances – including some timely advice around Tax Time for our small business listeners.

If you want to know anything about selling online Paul Waddy should be your go-to - He literally wrote the book on it. Paul is the author of Selling Online for Dummies, He’s an Advisory Board Member at the National Online Retailers Association and a Strategic Advisor at Wayflyer. He cut his teeth as the Head of Operations at super popular online fashion store Showpo and has founded serval businesses over the years. He's an eCommerce expert and he’s here to share some tips for small business owners on how to make the most of the online boom.

Simone Milasas is a serial entrepreneur and self-made millionaire. She drops by to chat business bravery. She talks about self-limiting beliefs, why you shouldn’t let your ‘I can’t’ hold you back and how to get back to the joy of business. (She's even written a book about it!). Drawing upon her own experience as a business owner, author and life coach she explains how you can take action and discover opportunities even during challenging times.

Today’s guest is Rowena Millward. Rowena is a personal growth and business expert. And when she’s not busy working with Fortune 500 companies she’s helping business owners learn to reframe their fears to thrive in work and life. With a background in psychology and neuroscience, Rowena has some great advice for what to do when life throws you a curveball – and she‘s here today to share how we can navigate challenges and change as an opportunity for growth.