The Kate Toon Podcast

0 The new series of the Kate Toon Podcast is launching soon. Learn how to attack your fears and become a happier and more successful business owner.   “Do sharks complain it’s Monday? No, they’re up early, biting stuff, chasing stuff and being scary. Reminding everyone they’re a fucking shark.” Source – Unknown. Why is it that some people do all the things?     While you’re doing sweet FA?     How do other people find the oomph to challenge their fears and push themselves in business while you’re busy hiding under the bed covers.     Starting, failing, succeeding, we’re scared of all of it.     Networking, speaking, events, yep, they bring us out in a cold sweat.     And don’t get me started on ‘putting yourself out there’, scaling, managing money and dealing with people online who just randomly hate you.     We’re scared of EVERYTHING.     So, instead of fulfilling our business dreams, we procrastinate and watch as others reach their goals and leave us in their wake.     In BE MORE SHARK, Kate Toon shares her tried-and-tested, true-life, business fear-facing tactics.     She tells her stories, and those of successful business owners, about managing fear and keeping on keeping on.     She also has some seriously solid advice from psychologists and brainy humans around Australia on why we’re fearful, how it manifests and how to handle these challenging feelings and situations.     Be More Shark is the ultimate business self-help guide that will help you understand, wrestle with and master your worries. Teaching you how to use your terrors for growth and action.     How to look your fear in the face and smile back a toothy grin of bravery.

I was in the car listening to podcasts. (It’s what I like to do.) And on my favourite show Reply All, P.J. and Alex were talking about COVID-19 (episode 159) and interviewing people from around the world. And it struck me. Why don’t I do a show like that? I launched the first season of The Kate Toon Podcast when I was publishing my first business book, Confessions of a Misfit Entrepreneur: How to Succeed in Business Despite Yourself. I’d been planning a second series for my new book. But life got in the way, and it never happened. So that day in the car I decided to go for it – a daily podcast where I’d talk to friends and business owners about how they were handling COVID-19 and how it was affecting their businesses. Easy right? Well, no. It was a totally dumb idea. (And also a totally brilliant one.) In this podcast, I’m going to explain how I did it, the challenges I faced, and how it rocked me to my core and ultimately led me to make some seriously tough business decisions. Let’s get started.

So for my final proper episode of the podcast, I wanted to choose a really special guest.Someone who I look up to, admire, someone who has guided me through this strange world.My confidant and best friend.MY MUM! My Dad was on the first series of the Kate Toon podcast, and it's one of the most popular episodes so now we’ll talk to my mum. I’m nervous, I’m sure she’ll say something that will embarrass me but hey, who cares.We’ll be chatting about motherhood, parental guilt, family ties and also if she ever wishes I had a real job!This is a super personal episode that I'm a tad nervous to share, but here goes nothing!

Today’s episode of TOON IN DAILY is now live!   TID29: Why we can’t all be entrepreneurs  (Guest Sharon Chisholm) I see it every day online.  The entrepreneur dream being packaged, preened and pedalled for the paltry price of a $27 bundle.You too can be a 7 figure business owner. You too can work from home in your pants.You too can have the course, the book, the podcast, the membership.It’s easy.But it’s not.  Not for most of us. And if we don’t enjoy the struggle, if we don’t have the motivation and the mindset to see it through, trying to have an online business can be soul-destroying and exhausting.Today I’m talking with Sharon Chisholm about her business journey and about how both of us are getting ever closer to understanding the true “why” behind our business goals.

Okay I’ll be honest. Even though I’ve been doing this “running a business” thing for a while.Even though I make a sufficiently impressive lump of cash. Even though I’ve done all the things.I still don’t feel like a real business human. I’m still playing.Because I don’t have a giant team, an open-plan office, a ping pong table and a company culture document. All the things that make me feel like a real boss.But I know someone who does. Marieke Van De Rakt is CEO of Yoast - the super famous WordPress SEO plugin. In today’s episode, we’re going to talk about what it’s like to be guiding a company through stormy times. And if being a boss is really all it’s cracked up to be.

I’m so old I remember when email came into being. At my first job we used to pass memos around in an envelope and sign our name on it when we’d read them.Then came email - and one of the first ones I sent was to my boss, by accident, calling him a fat little shit. Fun times. But email was so new I was able to pretend it was an IT error and got away with it. Sorry Andrew.Since then I’ve been an EDM Producer O2, worked on countless email campaigns for big brands and developed my own email list.I’ve used a fair few platforms, set up automations, sales funnels, campaigns and killer conversion emails.And today I’m going to share a few tips, along with my guest EDM specialist Jennifer Gale, and ecommerce store-owner Celeste Robertson.

TID26: Are Facebook Groups good for business? (Guest Kara Lambert) I run four different public Facebook groups.Two free.Two as part of my paid membership. And over the years I’ve learned a thing or two about making them work for me. But it hasn’t been easy. And pretty much every week I toy with trashing all my groups (especially the free ones) because they can be such a headache. But I don’t, cos they work! Today I’m going to be giving my tips on how to run great Facebook groups: how to create them, get engagement and keep them enjoyable, profitable and manageable.I’ll also be talking to my special Guest Kara Lambert, who’s an expert in the psychology behind using social media for engagement and biz success ( why it drives so many of us round the twist.)

In the last few days, I’ve been meandering around the web and I’ve been overwhelmed by the amount of free content out there.It’s enough to make you wonder why anyone pays for anything.Free content in the form of podcasts, blogs and articles.Free checklists, courses and ebooks.And now during Corona - the big brands are giving away their big stuff for free, which makes it super hard for the littler business humans.So what are the pros and the cons of free?How can you make free work for your business?I’ll be chatting all this and more on today's podcast with Louisa Dahl.

So this week I did an evening podcast, because my guest Steve was (and still is) in the UK. We didn’t have a theme, no lofty business lesson, it’s really just a chat between two business buddies about how things are going during the crisis.Steve is a freelancer with a small team - same as me.He’s a parent - samesies.He’s incredibly funny - blush, me too!And just an interesting and cool dude. So enjoy listening to us talking about banana bread, bird song and all things British.(I even howl at one point.)

We're talking relationships on the podcast today. Bit of a change of tack, because frankly, I’m bored stupid of talking about businessy stuff. Are you struggling to live harmoniously with your partner? Are you separated from your partner due to Covid19? Has your dating life gone on hold since the pandemic started? And has the being together sparked some steamy loving or storming rows? In this episode, we’ll be talking to relationship expert Isiah McKimmie about relationships, love and sex and how it’s all changed since the big C19 has arrived.

I’ve created a fair few communities in my time. Starting way back in 2011 when I set up a small group on Google Plus for Copywriters. That grew into the Clever Copywriting community - a paid group And my support group for the 10 Day SEO challenge, which is now a nearly 10k-strong free group. I’ve learned a thing or two over the years about keeping online communities engaged and making them profitable. But also the value of those communities when things get tough. Today I’m going to share some of my tips on how to run a successful membership or community and I’ll be chatting with Tracy Harris from Mums with Hustle to nab her tips too.

Staying healthy when the world is falling apart around you can be difficult. Getting your yoga kit out, or making a green smoothie feels like the least of your priorities when you’re struggling to home school, save money and make sense of this crazy world we are living in.So in this episode, I want to share some of the ways I’ve been trying to stay healthy, laughable though they are, and talk to two of the healthiest, merriest people I know, and get their tips on staying healthy when everything is a little bit crazy.

These days if we’re not being told to pivot, we’re being told to scale.A thousand brush script font memes bleat at us that bigger is better, dream big, don’t think small.But what’s wrong with small?Is the disease of more really just creating an ‘all stick no carrot’ approach to business?GIving us summit after summit to reach. And a mountain of achievements that we’ll never ever scale.In this episode I’m talking about how I’ve scaled my business without really scaling it at all, and talking to my special guest entrepreneur Tina Tower, about her approach to scaling.0

I try to be a positive person. But it doesn’t come naturally to me.Firstly I’m British and we tend to have a dark sense of humour.I was raised on a diet of The Smiths,  bleak winters, and sarcasm. Snide is my natural state, and I’ve spent a lot of this crisis period expressing myself in the form of snarky memes. But today I feel an overwhelming blurt of positivity. Of seeing the good in all this badness. And I wanted to share that with you today dear listeners.

I’ll be honest, I’ve never been particularly good at self-care.I’m a burned chop kind of person - even though I’m a veggo. Everyone else comes first. Many a well-intentioned plan to head to the pool has been hindered by a sad-eyed dog wanting a walk.That meditation time is often swapped to help one of my Facebook group members.And my green smoothie is brown and full of caffeine.And now it’s even worse. The few self-care options I loved, pool, massage, cinema, have all gone out the window, so today we’re chatting about how to look after yourself in a crisis.

My episodes so far have mostly been about businesses.But the truth is many of us are now juggling business with a whole lot more parenting than we’re used to.   With school shut, we have to not only plan our busy day but plan stuff for the kid or kids too. And it’s hard.Managing your emotions, dealing with their disappointments, finding endless activities, grappling Google Classroom, possible partner pissedoffidness and just generally trying to stay positive when you feel like sticking your head in a bucket of wine. Today I’ll be sharing some of my experiences and the ways I’m coping, and talking to my expert Jodie Thornton to get her expert tips on parenting during tough times.

I still consider myself a freelancer. But maybe I’m not.I looked it up. First definition: a person who works freelance. Essentially, a freelance job is one where a person works for themselves, rather than for a company.  So even though I have a company, I’m the only employee, and I’m therefore self-employed?Confused? Yep me too. But I identify as a freelancer.I spent the hard years working to promote my business and getting tumbleweeds. Riding the rollercoaster of feast and famine.The sheer joy of winning the job, the sheer horror of having to do it. The PITA clients, the late payers, the panic at tax time. The loneliness, the comparison, the endless need to motivate yourself. Add all that to Covid19 and well it must be a bit shit.So today we’re talking about overcoming freelancer fears. And I have a special Guest Bek Lambert, the founder of the Freelance Jungle to help us find our mojo and maintain a vaguely positive mindset.

Some of us have a little extra time on our hands right now. (In truth, some of us have eff all time but let’s not focus on that.) While you’re waiting for the world to reboot, perhaps you could spend some time focusing on your biggest business asset: Your website. I’ve reviewed nearly a thousand websites in my time as a digital producer, copywriter and now as head Google Licker at The Recipe for SEO Success. And I see the same issues coming up again and again. In this episode, with special guest Australia’s favourite WordPress Developer (Tony Cosentino), I’ll share my top tips.

Whether times are good or bad, there’s one thing that always comes first in business.Your customers. And the ones that matter most are the loyal ones.When times get tough it’s more likely that the long term customers will stick with you, the ones you’ve nurtured and built a relationship with.In this tricky time, winning new customers isn’t going to be easy (although of course it is possible).So our attention should focus on our existing customers.In this episode I’m going to ask, how can we give back to our customers, support them, reward them and encourage them to stick with us.And how can we do this without bankrupting ourselves, or burning out. I’ll be talking to my business hero Rand Fishkin in the USA to find out how he’s coping with the crisis and get his thoughts on great customer love.

We’ve all seen the meme, you don’t need to be super productive during a pandemic. But the truth is, we kind of do. My working time has been cut down by half, if not more. But now more than ever I need to hit my financial goals and keep my business ticking. In today's episode, I’m going to share my productivity methods - they’re not hacks, cos hacks kind of implies something a bit dodgy these days. They’re tried and tested ways I’ve managed to squeeze all the juice out of the day. And I have a special guest Faye Hollands from Busy Business Women who is going to be sharing her tips too.