Your Lifestyle Business

Returning guest Dan Worthington updates us as to his ecommerce progress having moved from Amazon to his own store on Shopify in the last year.

Working with influencers and now creating celebrity collaborations all over the world Dan is on a meteoric rise with his brand, and the future looks so exciting.

I managed to catch up with Dan at a little marine cafe not far from my house here in Phuket, Thailand where we have an in-depth chat about why he moved to Shopify, how he’s grown his brand, how to approach influencers, a crazy exciting surprise he didn’t tell me about before the podcast and what’s next on his journey both for his business and his travel plans.

A very inspiring talk with a true action taker!

I hope it puts a fire in your belly!

Find Dan here - https://instagram.com/wanderingworthy

Dan's Store on Shopify - https://www.craftamo.com/

What a year it has been! It's certainly been a challenge for many around the globe.

It's been an interesting year for me personally with regards to starting and growing a new business and in todays episode I'm sharing my 12 biggest lessons, not just from the last year, but what I've learned about myself in preceding years and how I'm now growing my business to both meet the needs of my customers and to ensure I'm putting my lifestyle first!

I'm hoping this both inspires you to action and reduces the chances of you making some of the silly mistakes I have!

Happy New Year! :)

Welcome to the final episode of my blogging series.

Part 1 - How to Make Money Blogging

Part 2 - How to Setup Your Money Making Blog

Part 3 - Essential Pages & Plugins

Part 4 - Your Money Making Blog Content Strategy

Today I'm going to share with you the strategies I'll be using over the next 12 months to 100x my traffic!

Yep, my goal is to get to 100k sessions by August 2021, up from 1000 in August 2020. 

Here's how I'm going to do it;

1. Massive Content

2. Guest Posting

3. Networking (Dream 100)

4. Link Building

5. Social Media

6. Reviewing Priorities 

7. Experimenting

8. Email List

Listen in to hear how you can incorporate these strategies into your own blogging business.

Links Mentioned in Todays Podcast;

Welcome to Part 4 of my blogging series.

Ep 78 - Part 1  - How to Make Money Blogging

Ep 79 - Part 2 - How to Setup Your Money Making Blog

Ep 80 - Part 3 - Essential Pages & Plugins

Today we're going to start creating the content for your money making blog!

Listen in to discover;

How to get clear on your long term goals and how these will determine the kind of content you create

How to ensure the content you create is precisely what your audience is searching for

How to do some basic keyword research to ensure what you create can rank in the search engines

The basic rules for creating content that both meets the needs of your audience and ranks on google.

Lots to get through!

Links Mentioned in This Episode

Welcome to Part 3 of my blogging series!

See Episode #78 & #79 for parts one and two; How to Make Money Blogging and How to Set up Your Money Making Blog.

Today we're going to run through the essential pages & plugins you need for your money making blog.

Essential Pages;

Recommended Plugins

Last week we discussed how to make money blogging. In this weeks episode, I'm walking through in detail how to set up your money making blog.

I'm covering;

1. Choosing Your Money Making Model

2. Picking Your Blog Topic

3. Researching Your Topic

4. Picking a Name & a Domain

5. Choosing Your Hosting Package - (I’ve been researching this a lot over the last few weeks for my own site and have some very interesting findings!)

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Welcome to the first in my blogging series!

This is what I love about podcasting, the opportunity to share my own journey with you and right now that journey is in growing and monetizing my website.

In this first episode I'm starting with the end in mind and exploring all the various ways you can monetize a blog as you grow, including digital products, physical products and services.

By choosing what you'd like your outcome to be, the path to get there becomes infinitely clearer!

So make a decision this week as to how you think you'd like to monetize your website and next week we'll start building your money making blog!

Links Mentioned

Are you holding yourself back from starting your online business because you just can't decide what niche you'd like to pursue?

Perhaps you've got your business off the ground, but have found your niche is so broad you're not sure where you can compete.

If either of these scenarios run true or you're unhappy with the niche you've chosen and want to make a switch, todays episode is for you.

Here are 7 steps to get the creative side of the brain working and give you inspiration towards choosing your perfect niche. 

Complete with examples of various niches and how to grow/monetize, by the time you've finished listening you should be ready to get started building your ideal business!

I hope it helps!

Links Mentioned in Todays Podcast

I wish someone had sat me down 10 years ago and said 'Jo, if you do anything, do these two things. If you focus on these two strategies and do them well, your chances of long term success are greatly increased'.

Not that we haven't had success over the years. We've had some great successes, but what I'm talking about here is setting up your business so it stands the test of time. Creating a lifestyle business that once you've put the hard work in up front pays you over and over again for years to come, without having to be on Instagram or TikTok 24 hours a day.

No matter what niche you're in or what business model you're pursuing (including selling physical products or building a business on Amazon or Etsy, etc,) if you truly want to set up an online business that funds your lifestyle without eating into all of your time then master and focus on these two strategies. I promise you, you'll thank me later!

Welcome to Part 4 of my 3 part email marketing series.

Welcome to Part 3 of my 3 part email marketing series.

Part 1 - 6 Steps to Building a High Converting Email Funnel

Part 2 - How to Create an Irresistible Lead Magnet: 6 Types

Part 3 - 6 Ways to Engage Your Email Subscribers

It's all good and well building a fabulous lead magnet and a high converting funnel, but what happens once someone signs up?

How do you keep your subscribers engaged; consistently opening and consuming your content and clicking your links?

That's what today's episode is all about. Here are six ways to ensure your subscribers not only love receiving your emails but look forward to them! (ok ok a bit far fetched but you know what I mean) 😁

1. What's your objective?

2. Be human

3. Add value

4. Test & Measure

5. Show up

6. Share scars not wounds

I'm also giving you 8 email types you can start sending your subscribers today;

1. The Relationship Builder

2. The Expert

3. The Value Added Offer

4. The Link Roundup

5. Purely for Fun

6. The Reviewer

7. The No Sales, Sales Email

8. The Combo

Links Mentioned in Todays Episode

Welcome to part 2 of my 3 part email marketing series.

Last week I walked you through the 6 Steps to Building a High Converting Email Funnel.

Today we're looking at how to create a lead magnet people can't help but sign up too!

I'm going to demonstrate six different types of lead generation offer, how you create each one and then where and how to upload to make it easily available to your brand new subscriber!

Here's what we're covering;

1. How to create an eBook or PDF

2. How to record and upload an audio course

3. How to create a mini video course

4. The benefits of creating and scheduling an email course and some best practices

5. How to add some fun to your list building with quizzes

6. How to create and deliver attractive and relevant contests

The good news is that all of the above are far easier to put together these days, so listen in to today's podcast and get your list builder in place today!

Links Mentioned in This Episode

You may wonder in the instant messaging, social media world we live in now, whether building an email list is still worth it.

The resounding answer is YES!

As fabulous as social media is, building an email list means building a database of very targeted subscribers.

Anyone who’s willing to trade an email address for your information is someone who’s very interested in what you have to offer. It doesn’t get much more targeted than that.

In todays podcast I’m walking you through the 6 Steps to Build an Email List of Subscribers who Love to Hear From You!

In fact this is Part 1 of what will ultimately be a 3 part podcast series.

In todays episode I walk you through the 6 steps to getting your email funnel setup;

In Parts 2 & 3, we’ll look at how to create a lead magnet and how to nurture your audience and keep them engaged in your content.

So without further ado, let’s make it happen!

Links Mentioned in This Episode

Wouldn’t it be awesome if on any given day you could choose to work from anywhere? Your favourite coffee shop, your kitchen table in your PJ’s, a beautiful beach. 

Well, that’s why we start lifestyle businesses. So we have that kind of choice. 

This week I decided to head down to my local beautiful beach here in Phuket for the day & record today’s podcast! I felt recording on the beach would highlight the benefits of what I’m talking about nicely! 

If you’re looking to build a small side income and would love to sell physical products without any upfront investment todays episode is for you!

Wouldn’t it be awesome if there was a way to create almost instant authority & credibility to our brand. A way to help us stand out from the crowd, get noticed and create opportunities we might not otherwise have!

Well, I’m happy to say there is. It involves a little up front work but according to todays guest it doesn’t have to be hard, it doesn’t have to take longer than a few days and once it’s live & published you can use it as your business card and extended marketing tool!

Sandra Spence and her business partner Sigrid de Kaste wrote the book ‘Build a Book to Build a Business’ to teach business owners how to create instant authority by publishing a book that showcases you as the expert in your niche.

Links Mentioned in Todays Episode

Cambodia is one of my favorite places in the world.

I was especially excited therefore to interview the awesome Roaming Rebels who at the time of interview were locked down in Cambodia due to the Covid 19 outbreak!

Barbara & Louis (aka Roaming Rebels) decided to pack up their lives in South Africa, reinvent themselves at age 50 and go traveling around the world on motorbikes!

Louis is the motorbike guy, for Barbara its been a new and interesting experience!

Along the way they’ve built a fabulously engaging Instagram account with almost 6000 followers already (they only set out last October) and hundreds of comments per post and do weekly travel videos on their YouTube channel.

I managed to catch up with them in the hotel they were staying in and find out;

An upbeat, inspiring, engaging interview with a beautiful couple living the dream!

Links Mentioned in Todays Episode

You can find the Roaming Rebels here:

In 2015 my husband & I started selling on Amazon. Within 12 months we'd grossed 1.2 million dollars with one product! It blew our minds.

We continued to grow our business over the following years topping $3 million (per year) with net profits in the region of 15 - 18%, until we sold it in early 2020.

That little business set us up for a good many years and taught me, in particular, the power of a loyal audience and a strong trusted brand (i.e, Amazon)

When we started in 2015, we invited members of my community to watch over our shoulders as we built the business. Two such members were Dan Worthington and his Mum Sue, who after 3 years growing their Amazon brand started traveling the world full time in 2018. You can find Dan and track his adventures @wanderingworthy on Instagram.

In Feb this year, they came out to Phuket, Thailand for my wedding, and as Covid struck decided to stay here for a while. In today's podcast episode Dan & I got together in the garden of a villa they were renting here to go through the process of starting and growing a successful brand on Amazon.

Please excuse the Cicadas in the background - Tropical Life! :)

If you’d love to feel more confident building your business, more productive during your week, understand how to create an automated funnel that makes money while you’re doing important jobs and work from home so you can spend more time with your loved ones (phew, that’s a lot). Then todays episode is for you!!!

Pam is a total badass!

Her brand and business is for female warriors who would love to build a business from home so they can be there for their teens.

As a specialist in education and working with teens, Pam brings years of experience into helping women the world over create businesses and family lives they love.

Links Mentioned in Todays Episode

I loved this interview with Julie! (I know, I know, I love them all).

But I particularly love interviews that inspire me to action. I have been meaning to start my book for a long long long time now, but for whatever reason it just gets pushed to the bottom of the pile.

But after this interview I immediately set about completing my outline and have set myself a deadline for getting the book done!

As both a published fiction and non fiction author Julie knows a thing or two about the process and today you’ll learn;

An enlightening and informative chat which I’m sure will spur you into action!

Links Mentioned in Todays Episode

I started a little commerce store last year as a bit of an experiment and along the way hired the lovely Helen Lindop to organize all my email campaigns.

She did a fab job and is the founder of her own email marketing agency helping clients the world over organize and manage their email clients, platforms, and campaigns.

I asked Helen to jump on a call with me to have a chat about email marketing in 2020. Particularly taking into consideration social media and instant messaging that seem far more prevalent than email these days.

During our far-reaching conversation Helen & I discussed;

How she started her own agency and some of the struggles she had to get off the ground

What it was about email marketing that particularly caught her eye

Why email marketing is not dead and why it's still such an important part of your marketing strategy

Why email marketing is harder and what you need to consider to ensure it’s effective in 2020 and beyond

How to get started building an email list

How to create engagement from the get-go

How to re-engage your list after a period of absence

Some key points to know about GDPR

The best email clients online today

Links Mentioned in Todays Episode

I recently did a 10 Day FB Live challenge. The goal being to get my head around how lives work, the best software to use, ideal length, how to engage an audience etc.

I’m not going to lie, I was nervous! I haven’t done a webinar in years, I’m used to editing mistakes out of my videos and I don’t know what it is, but anytime we actually have to show our face in a video makes the whole thing far more nerve wracking! (Is that a girl thing?)

Anyway, it went really well. I found I really enjoyed doing lives, even more so than recording and editing videos.

It’s a fast, easy and super convenient way of creating valuable content.

I loved it so much that it has now become an ongoing and very regular part of my content strategy moving forward.

Todays episode was actually Day 10 of my FB Live challenge and I walk through the 16 lessons I learned during the 10 days.

Links Mentioned in Todays Episode

There isn’t any one magic secret that leads to all success in business, but there are a few big ones which if you get right will have an exponential affect on your efforts.

This is one of those ‘big ones’.

What I mean by platform is the place from which you will build your audience. Where you’ll post the bulk of your content, create the most engagement, showcase your expertise and become known for what your business does.

The challenge is that when we start out, we measure our beginnings with other people’s journeys and those people may have been building their business for decades! We tell ourselves that we need to be everywhere to be seen and the feeling is exacerbated by experts telling us we need to be everywhere to be seen, when those very experts started in one place & grew from there.

The truth is when we’re just getting started we don’t have the time or the money to be everywhere (although there are some hacks we can adopt to help us seem as if we’re everywhere).

In todays episode I’m giving concrete examples of some of the most successful names & brands in the online business space today who started with just one single platform, built a huge audience and grew from there.

#startwithone!

Links Mentioned in Todays Episode

Who doesn’t love the thought of speeding through your tasks and ticking off your to do’s with that gleam of satisfaction you feel as you mark each job - DONE!

Truth be told, I sometimes add a task to my to do after I’ve done it just to cross it off!!! (Come on, I know you do too!)

When I first started online back in 2010, FB pages were all the rage. In fact I made my first 6 figures off the back of becoming an expert on how to launch and grow your FB Business Page.

These days it’s all about groups! FB want more close and personal relationships and so are propelling groups to the forefront of their platform along with their chat apps.

So how do we grow a group? It’s a question that’s been plaguing me for a while, as my group while over 1000 members is growing too slowly!

So here are some of the strategies I’m going to be putting in place over the coming weeks and months to grow my group.

Hope they help!

Imagine flying into a country you’ve never visited before for a friends wedding and then getting locked down there for over 4 months!

This is exactly what’s happened to my good buddy Dan & his folks.

They flew over to Phuket for my wedding at the end of February and as I write this mid June they’re still here!

Unfortunately Covid hit the world within a week of our wedding and shortly after airports, land and sea ports all closed locking the Worthingtons firmly in situe!

But that’s ok because they are full time travelers anyway. In fact following the wedding they were due to head off to the US for the summer.

So how does Dan, aged 29, originally from Wigan in the UK fund his lifestyle of international full time travel?

That’s what todays episode is going to tell us!

Listen in to find out how Dan built a business which funds his lifestyle and what his plans are from here!

Links Mentioned in Todays Episode

Do you ever get stuck wondering what content you should create to resonate with your audience?

Even when you know your niche super well it can be challenging to constantly think up new and engaging content ideas.

The trick is to get inside the mind of your target audience and find out what they’re thinking.

Luckily for us clever tech people create social networks, websites & platforms trying to figure out how to do this and we get to tag along and use their apps and programs to help us do the same!

In todays episode I’m walking you through 10 ways to find fabulous content ideas your audience will love.

Links Mentioned in Todays Episode

I loved this chat with Leanne!

I must admit I have a love hate relationship with content.

I so want to create lots of valuable information and share other awesome content I find online, but it’s also so easy to get completely overwhelmed with the sheer amount of stuff you could share that you end up sharing nothing!

That’s why today I decided to break down the content strategy that I recently started using to part the trees and give me some clarity on my most valuable and important topics I want to share.

I hope this helps!

Links Mentioned in Todays Episode

I love today's episode!

Earlier this year my husband & I sold our Amazon business and started to buy small e-commerce businesses with growth opportunity.

We came across an EarPod business and fell in love with the founder more than the business!

Peter Samios is 14 years old and spent 18 months building Fuzepods, an e-commerce store selling wireless EarPods (I can’t call them AirPods as that’s Apple’s product but that’s pretty much what they are).

He decided to sell his business primarily because his parents told him he needed to focus on his studies, but also as he revealed to me in the podcast he had become a bit ‘bored’ with the business and wanted to look at new opportunities!

I'm so passionate about todays topic. I honestly believe this is the magic ingredient to ensuring your uniqueness no matter who you're up against in your niche or industry.

If you can clearly define the higher purpose of your business, the whole reason for it's existence and how it impacts your potential audience and customers and then communicate that through your brand, your content and your entire business ethos, no-one else can touch you!

You will shine like a beacon through all the noise online and easily attract the very people you want to resonate with.

Also because you're so clear about what you stand for you'll find it easy to create content and dominate your online communication channels.

In today’s episode I'm highlighting some incredible brands who epitomize this strategy and giving you 5 key questions to ask yourself so you can get absolute clarity over your brand ideal. I dare you not to get super excited about your business and brand after this episode!

So you’ve got as far as knowing you want to run a lifestyle business. You may even know that you definitely want to be a blogger or an affiliate marketer or sell products or services online.

But what ‘business’ are you actually in?

Perhaps you haven’t quite defined the niche you want to go into, maybe you’re unsure what your passion is, or perhaps you have so many ideas you just don’t know which one to choose!

Maybe you’re scared to miss out on opportunities if you single out just one business idea.

I feel you! I understand how important it is to start a business that suits you, your personality, your passion, your gift!

In today’s episode, I’m walking through the 5 steps you can take to get absolute clarity on exactly what business you are in, so you can get started on your journey to ultimate freedom with confidence!

How much money do you actually need to live your ideal lifestyle?

Do you know?

Have you worked it out down to the penny or are you plucking a number out of thin air?

Have you even thought about it? Perhaps instead you simply say to yourself ‘I want to make more money’, so I can; travel the world, pack up my job, spend more time with family, X (you fill in the blank).

Until you know exactly what it is you actually need to pursue your goals and dreams how can you know how to get there?

In todays episode I’m walking you through the 3 steps to planning your ideal lifestyle budget and creating a strategy to get you there!

Clarity is power my friend so listen in and do the exercises I recommend. It will pay dividends in the long term I promise you!

An online lifestyle business is a business that funds your lifestyle.

Not a million dollar VC funded startup, or an idea that requires a trip to the bank with a business plan.

This is about creating something, preferably from a passion you already have, that you can run totally remotely from anywhere in the world.

In todays episode I'm walking you through the 5 key steps to starting your online lifestyle business.

Whether you want a 6 figure, 7 figure or even an 8 figure business is up to you, but todays episode will start you on the right path.

“It's really all just one big mind game. Which can be frustrating until we understand how liberating that really is. Within our thoughts, we have the power to achieve anything we're willing to work for, if we only have the discipline to control our thoughts towards the goals we have.”  Nick Peroni

In today’s episode, I'm joined by Nick Peroni, the founder of Ecom Empires and the Worldwide Ecom Tour. Nick has spoken in over 20 countries, worked in multiple verticals, and helped thousands find success with eCommerce.

Tune in and find out how Nick started Ecom Empires, why he offers his courses for free, how he developed his mastermind sessions, why mind game is Nick’s key to success, and much more!

Overview of Episode:

· 00:00 - What you can expect from this episode

· 03:42 – Who is Nick Peroni?

· 06:52 – How Nick started his company, Ecom Empires

· 10:21 – Why content is king

· 12:30 – Why Nick didn't make a shift from free to paid courses that he has made

· 16:56 – What piece of advice Nick has for newbie entrepreneurs

· 20:58 – The importance of sharing knowledge and following your passion

· 24:09 – Nick’s greatest passion and the biggest lessons he learned on his eCommerce journey

· 29:56 – What to do when you are at the beginning with your business and “it’s not happening”

· 35:53 – How Nick monetized his website with a free membership

· 38:43 – How Nick developed his mastermind sessions

· 40:46 – Two important benefits of partnership

· 45:21 – Curating other people’s content and time effectiveness

· 48:28 – How to generate funds quickly with your business ·

· 51:35 – All you need to know about Nick’s public speaking and Ecom Empires

· 56:11 – Nick’s explanation of an introspective post he wrote on Facebook

· 01:01:34 – What’s in the future for Nick

· 01:04:04 – Is dropshipping still a thing?

Episode Links:

How Mom & Daughter are Helping Change the World with Ecommerce

“You really need to know where your products are coming from and we think that every purchase should have a purpose.” Christine Sacramone

This Monday, I interview Mum and Daughter duo Christine and Madison Sacramone, founders of High 5 Humans, an eCommerce store specializing in Fair Trade & Handmade Fashion Accessories. What is special about this duo is that they work with organizations all around the world who in turn work with women and people in developing countries who make their handmade products. Therefore, Christine and Madison through their enterprise actively help women in third world countries to grow their business and income, thereby transforming their lives, lives of their families, and their villages.

In this episode, you will find out how Christine and Madison find their artisanal suppliers, how they manage their stocks, how they advertise their products, and why telling a story is more important than selling a product. Furthermore, you will learn how to start a similar business on a budget!

Are you aware of how powerful & unique you are, just as you are?

How many times do we second guess or doubt ourselves. Maybe we stop ourselves from doing things we know would take us closer to our goals because we're worried that maybe we're not as good as we think we could be or we're worried about what others may think or say.

Perhaps we believe somewhere deep down we don't have the skills required to make 'it' work, or we're not as good as someone else in our niche so why try to compete?

You, beautiful lady. Yep you, I'm talking directly to you, are amazing just as you are and have everything you need within you right now to create the life you truly want to live.

It's time to find that voice within you and get out there and OWN IT! Let's go...

There is nothing worse than feeling tired, sluggish & desperately lacking in energy, particularly if we’re trying to build the business & life of our dreams and even more so when we want to go bounding around the world exploring new places & cultures.

It’s easy to simply say eat more fruit & veg, drink more water & do more exercise but as someone who’s been on a long & arduous health journey myself the last few years I’m not sure it’s that simple.

I’ve recently increased my own productivity beyond measure. I’m getting more done in a day now than I used to in a week, sometimes even longer. I’m no longer spending my days thinking or planning or getting distracted on social media. I’m just ‘doing’! And the great part is I’m loving it!

There is no need to be in a constant state of stress or overwhelm my friend. Life is far too short for all of that.

I have made some very specific changes to my life to create this shift and in todays episode I’m excited to share the key steps I have taken to get more done and create so much more enjoyment in my working life!

Recently I have once again been exploring the world of SEO.

I say once again because I have periodically dipped my toe over the last 10 years determined to get my head around how it all works, only to give up after a week or so because it’s so bloody complicated / long winded and frankly boring.

Clearly I am not a ‘devil is in the detail’ person. It’s a weakness.

But as one of my main goals over the next few years is to grow my site I felt it only right to give it a go once again.

Here’s the thing though, in my niche, ‘building a lifestyle business’, the keywords I would like to rank for are so ridiculously competitive it seems like a pointless task to even try.

My logic is backed up by all the SEO blogs I read who say anything with a keyword difficulty over about 20 is not worth competing with and as most of my keywords are 50+, case closed.

In this instance the advice is to use long tail keywords and sure enough - ‘Build a lifestyle business you can be proud of and that will change your life and that you can do while watching TV & picking your nose’, isn’t too competitive! So I can see where they’re going with that.

But seriously, how important is it?

Should we care enough about SEO to devote some of our precious time towards it?

That’s what I’m exploring in todays podcast.

For the last 10 years my small family & I have been traversing the seas chasing the sun around the world!

In order to do so we had to make some money along the way and so between us, my hubby & I, we built two very successful, life changing online businesses.

Businesses which gave us the freedom to live anywhere, work anywhere, for me to pack up work for a couple of years and also for us to start to build a nest egg and make our money work for us over the long term.

Whilst I’d love to tell you we did all of this while sipping cocktails on a beach that is only partially true!

I say partially because there have been plenty of times we have been toiling away on our computers while sipping a bottle of chang by a pool or by the beach, such is the nature of working from anywhere!

But there have also been many many times I have watched the dawn break over the top of my computer screen as I realize I’ve been at it all night or we’ve holed ourselves away somewhere for days on end to just work our butts off to make things happen.

Many frustrations, lots of tears, a bit of burn out at times and more moments than I care to admit when you ask yourself whether just going home and getting a job would be easier.

But overall it’s 500% worth it.

The lifestyle we live, the freedom we have, the experiences we have been afforded and can continue to expose our daughter too.

I wouldn’t give up what we have in a heartbeat and to be honest right now I feel a huge second wind coming and the next few years are pure excitement to me!

But before I get carried away, let’s have a look at some of the key lessons I have learned along the way.

Lessons I hope will inspire and help you with starting and running your own lifestyle business.

10 years ago, we sold everything we owned in a 5-day gumtree sale (the UK equivalent of Craigs List), generated a princely sum of £900, jumped on a plane with our 4-year-old under our arm and haven’t looked back since!

Since that day we have visited and lived in over 30 different countries and have plans to experience many more, however, it’s not all chocolate and roses, especially with a child.

We’ve had our fair few challenges along the way, have learned a lot and have made plenty of mistakes, however, it’s quite possibly been the most interesting, eye-opening and mind-broadening 10 years I’ve ever had - particularly seeing my hubby in a pair of cut off women stockings acting as a pair of knick knack paddy whacks in a massage parlor!.

Here’s what I learned...

So last week a good friend and member of the YLB community contacted me with a conundrum.

He has a full time job and needs to replace his income within the next 3 years or so. He’s been working on 2 or 3 online business ideas but is unsure which one to pursue.

Should he do the one he has some experience with and kind of got started a while ago but was thwarted by platform updates. (I’ve been there many times, hence why I don’t publish social media courses anymore!)

Should he go with a dream of his he’s had for a while or should he go with a business he’s already invested into quite heavily with his partner, but is mainly his partners dream.

Hmmm, decision, decisions.

But you know, its decisions like this that hold us back from getting out there and living the life we dream about, so in todays episode I’m going to talk about why starting a lifestyle business is a lot like getting married and how this can help you finally make that all important decision.

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.” Dr Seuss

I love to read. I so enjoy hearing about other people’s journey’s, thoughts, opinions, learnings etc. In fact if it weren’t for books, I may never have become an entrepreneur in the first place.

With that in mind in today’s episode I thought it would be fun to give a summary of the 10 top books that have had a huge impact on my life this year and that I believe are an awesome read if you’re wanting to expand your knowledge, build your business, grow your confidence and become an awesome action taker!

To quote one of the authors 'if you want to walk around so lit up that you shoot sunbeams out of yer eyeballs', then listen in to today's episode my friend!

Back in 2015 my partner & I started a business selling products on Amazon. Kitchen products to be precise.

Within one year we had grossed over a million bucks with just one product.

In the following years we grew our product line and our revenues so much so that I packed up work for a couple of years to focus on my health & my daughter.

However after two years of lunching & brunching I realized this was not my destiny and earlier this year relaunched my Jo Barnes Online brand as Your Lifestyle Business.

My mission is to arm action taker with the tools, strategies and inspiration to build a business you can run from anywhere in the world whether that be your kitchen table or a beach in Fiji.

To that end I am about to launch my first experimental ecommerce store using Shopify. The goal being to build my own store and educate the members of my FB group as I go with over the shoulder videos, posts, and lots of discussion.

In todays episode I’m walking through my 12 step plan to get it off the ground.

Over the last 10 years we have had the fortune to live in or visit over 30 different countries.

We have traveled with wild abandon dragging our little daughter with us for the most part, slowing only when it was clear that school agreed with her & she should stay in one place for a while to make the best of it.

We still go away every holiday & I continue to travel at other times through the year.

This has only been possible because we started a business back in 2010 which we could build & manage completely online. Since then we have gone on to create two life changing businesses and have plans for many more.

In last weeks episode - ‘What Business Should I Start?'

I shared with you the different types of lifestyle businesses & how to decide what business you should start if you’re currently unsure in which direction to go.

Today we’re going to explore the 10 steps to building your lifestyle business no matter the model you choose.

Do you know you want to start a lifestyle business but are stuck for ideas? Perhaps you’re low on cash, time, self belief? Whatever it is one of the issues facing us in this day and age are the sheer amount of opportunities now available to us.

Where do we start?

In todays episode of Make It Happen Monday, I’m answering an email I received from a lady called Sarah who asked this very question - What business should I start?

Here are my top 3 tips for hacking away the jungle of information surrounding you and making your way out into a sunshine filled clearing with decision and precision in mind!

Do you ever find yourself thinking that you’re just too old for all the change in the world and that the online world particularly is for the ‘young’uns’ nowadays? 

I’m not going to lie, as someone hurtling towards 50, I have my own moments of doubt. 

But this morning a beautiful quote popped up on my computer screen & I wanted to share out with you. 

Enjoy, I hope it inspires you to take action today! 

So what do you do if you suffer with crippling self doubt? 

So much so, that it’s stopping you in your tracks. Stopping you from getting out there and truly being who you want to be and doing what you want to do? 

That was the question in an email I recently received from a member of the YLB Community. 

In this weeks episode I’m giving you three tips you can start to practice today to eradicate or at least minimize your self doubt and start taking action on your dreams. 

Are you stuck for content ideas for your service based business?

Perhaps you’re a social media manager, run FB Ads, build websites or manage email marketing and communications for clients and you’re just not sure what kind of content to create to offer value, grab their attention or grow your audience.

The truth is it doesn’t matter what business, niche or market you’re in, you can find an endless supply of content ideas at the end of your fingertips!

Here are my 7 top ways to ensure you never run out of content ideas again!

Are you a little (or a lot) intimidated by video?

Does the thought of getting in front of the video camera leave your palms sweating & your pulse racing?

I’m fairly confident when I say you’re not alone in this. The No 1 fear above death is public speaking so it makes sense that video (which in it’s own way is a bit like public speaking) would move even the most confident person a little out of their comfort zone.

And when the face staring back at you on the video is not representative of the 22 year old inside your head, that’s when it can get really tricky.

In todays episode I’m going to walk you through 6 steps to make getting in front of the video camera easier & more comfortable even if you’re not feeling like a spring chicken anymore!

Do you ever find yourself sitting in front of a blank screen or scrolling through Instagram, Facebook or YouTube doing ‘research’ trying to get inspiration for the content you’re going to create? 

Perhaps you’re so unclear about what you should be posting, you don’t post anything at all? 

In todays episode we’re going to knock that out of the ball park. No more listless scrolling or whiling away the hours watching videos and getting ideas but never actually creating anything yourself. 

Today I’m going to walk you through 6 steps to a super simple content strategy. 🙂 

Links Mentioned in the Video

Welcome to another Week in the Life of a Travelling entrepreneur. This weeks episode is coming from Hawaii! 🌺 Happy 4th July my friend! 😀

Do you find you're doing things online that you don't nececessarily enjoy doing, but believe it's what you're supposed to be doing to grow your business?

Todays episode talks about being authentically you, doing what you love and also what I've discovered this week about effective posting strategies on Instagram.

Enjoy & have a great week! 😀

I hate the term ‘Make Money Online’.

I’ve always said that the phrase is a misnomer as your business is your business and the internet or ‘online’ is simply a tool to amplify your business.

However, there’s no denying that the internet makes it possible these days for us to grow a huge global brand from home.

A few weeks ago, I received an email from a YLB community member asking how I made my money.

I decided to share my story briefly in today’s video and focus on all the ways you can generate an income using all the online tools at your disposal in todays fast moving day and age.

I hope this helps! 🙂

Wouldn't you love to be getting hundreds of thousands of views every time you publish a video on YouTube, or a flurry of activity & new followers on Instagram each time you add that same video to IGTV? Me too! In this weeks 'Week in the Life' we're discussing the challenges of getting those views, an app to help make video making & watching easier and why it's so important to build consistent habits.

Please excuse the very throaty episode, I have been struck down by the common cold this week....

Do you find yourself procrastinating on getting your Lifestyle Business off the ground? 

Does it seem there's always something more important to do?

Perhaps the task at hand seems too overwhelming and so your primal brain is working overtime to keep you from focusing on what you really want to!

Welcome to the audio version of my weekly video show - Make It Happen Monday.

In today’s episode I’m asking you to answer 3 key questions to help you obliterate any fears or stories that might be holding you back.

I have recently asked myself these very same questions with spectacular results!

Listen to the episode, take action on the questions and set yourself free to really grab life by the balls and Make It Happen!

Do you think too much? Sometimes so much you don't actually do? Well you're not alone. In this  weeks episode of a 'Week in the Life of a Traveling Entrepreneur', we're talking about fueling your mind for action, getting intimate, priorities, tools to make life easier and much more. It's been a big week!

Is it primarily a female thing? Is it mainly us girls who aren’t keen on promoting ourselves? I guess some guys will empathize also, but I do think it’s one of the reasons so many women won’t fight for their seat at the table. I mean think about, who are some of the greatest self promoters in the world? Trump immediately comes top of mind, followed closely by Hitler and fully encompassed by the Kardashians. Is it any wonder we feel self promotion is a negative thing! 😂 But if your business, brand, product or service is fronted by you, then you better believe you need to become pretty good at self promotion. However, you can of course do it in such a way that you love it, your audience loves it and its total win win. Here’s 10 ways to promote yourself and thoroughly enjoy the process! 

In a few days, I’m off on a 5 week travel adventure! 12 days in Borneo, followed by Nepal, India, Sri Lanka & the Maldives! Pretty darn sure I’m going to have lots of interesting stuff to share but, I don’t want to take my computer. Particularly on the Nepal, India trip, we’ll be traveling light with one 7kg backpack each. So, over the last few weeks I have been playing and testing and getting to a point that I can do everything I want to do on my phone including blog posts, podcasts & videos! Here’s how I’m going to be managing it.

Links Mentioned in Todays Episode

Achieving your goals and dreams can become infinitely harder if you don’t have the support of the people around you. Well meaning family & friends can quickly bring us down and make us believe we can’t do it. In todays episode I talk about the importance of surrounding yourself with people who will build you up and make you believe with no uncertain terms you can do it! 

Thanks so much for listening! If you like this episode, please subscribe to ‘Your Lifestyle Business’ and rate and review wherever you get your podcasts. Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify. Also, come and find me on Facebook & Instagram.

Links Mentioned in Todays Episode

“SEO is about being awesome” “That’s your niche - your audience” Have I got an interview for you today! If you are a blogger then this is absolute gold for you. Dan Morris has been teaching students how to launch & grow their blogs & businesses for many years holding events across the world under his brand Blogging Concentrated. I was fortunate enough to get him on an interview a few years back and having listened back to the whole interview again just this week, I was reminded what an absolute hive of actionable information this was. If you’re looking to grow a successful blog and are sometimes confused by all the things you ‘should’ be doing - length of posts, SEO information, back linking etc., then this interview is an absolute must! You will walk away with a completely new mindset & pages of notes so to make your life easier I’ve also included a downloadable transcript of the interview for you to refer back to later in the show notes. Enjoy! 

Andrew Hackett has more than 20 years experience helping people think outside their limitations to move beyond their fears so they can accomplish amazing things in their life, business and relationships. Andrew is an Author & Transformational Trainer who works with individuals and groups in a holistic mind, body and soul approach, through various workshops & speaking events all over Australia and soon in America. Andrew has a passion for writing as he believes it is a wonderful way to get his message shared across the world, and loves enabling others to get the very best from their lives and as a result after publishing his first book ‘Free From Fear’ he has been signed up to a Five Book series deal with Holland House Publishing, New York. In this episode we discuss how you can eliminate or at least calm fear ins your life. What to do if your expectations of live differ from your reality and whether or not you’re born with a single life purpose (we had opposing views on that one!) Also learn why I’ve decided to call my ego Bob and pretend it’s a minion! Yep a bit of a interesting chat, hope it inspires you to chase away any demons holding you back from achieving your goals in life!

Jennipher Walters is the creator of Fit Bottomed Girls a health & wellness site focusing on a fun, fresh & no-diet approach to being healthy. Jenn and her good friend Erin started the site in 2008 which now reaches millions of women (and men) every month. Having expanded into speaking engagements, retreats, brand consulting, product endorsement and online coaching Jenn & her now business partner Kristen were named as one of The 100 Most Influential People in Health and Fitness by Greatist in 2016 and 2017. Join us in todays episode as we explore how Jenn got the business off the ground, challenges she experienced along the way, the growth & monetization of her site and why it’s so important to find your voice and never give your power away! A fun fresh & inspiring chat with a very energetic and knowledgeable lady. Enjoy! :) 

Liz Melville is a bonny lass from Scotland, UK. As well as giving warm hugs, paddling barefoot in the sea, building Lego castles and eating Nutella off a spoon, she can also help you fill your webinars, sell out your online courses, and explode your personal brand! You see Liz is a facebook ad funnel strategist and works with online coaches, course creators & experts either doing their campaigns or teaching them how to do their own. Either way she’s in the facebook ad platform every day creating, split testing and measuring what facebooks up too these days with your brand. No mean feat I can tell you! In todays episode we explore the power of video, facebook messenger and how to get started with a small budget. I hope it helps! Jo :) 

What if you could travel the globe and see and experience some of the most amazing places in the world for less than $2000 / month? What if you could travel from place to place staying in fabulous apartments, houses and locations without forking out top hotel prices?? Well, this is exactly what todays guest and her husband does and have been doing for the last 3 years. Eden Rudin is the creator of The Social Garden, a social media training business, and a seasoned and experienced house sitter! After getting the travel bug following the sale of their ice cream store in Arizona, Eden & her husband Denny began traveling the globe house sitting, going from the US to Central America, to Europe to Asia and beyond. In todays podcast Eden & I talk through how it all began, where she’s been, how for much of it she only had 2 social media clients and how you could do it to! Dare to dream and listen to todays podcast, it could change your life!

Allen Burt is the founder & director of Blue Stout, an ecommerce consultancy company working with six & seven figure brands to help them identify the levers in their business they can pull on the hardest to have the biggest impact. I worked with Allen last year on my ecommerce business and he proved to be a powerhouse of knowledge plus a super nice guy. In todays episode we explore the biggest mistakes he sees brands making, the critical things you must be doing if you’re running any kind of ecommerce business online, why micro ecommerce brands are the future and he expertly breaks down the keys tenets of an extremely successful 8 figure ecommerce brand. Enjoy my conversation with Allen which gets steadily more energetic as we talk! 

Two Dave Smiths in a row! Totally unrelated by the way, just pure naming coincidence. Todays Dave Smith is a Canadian health & fitness expert and successful entrepreneur. I love his story of how he built his own award winning health business and then went on to help other health & fitness professionals build their businesses. He has an energetic, generous, caring spirit and not only will you discover how to start and grow a successful online business, you'll also discover what you should be doing every day to significantly increase your energy levels! Win Win! Enjoy :) 

Dave Smith is the creator of Spice UK. A popular and well known adult adventure sports & social group in the UK. After starting, building and running his company for 35 years Dave decided it was time to sell and is now building another business renting out beautiful properties on Air BNB. - You can't keep a good businessman down! Listen in to todays podcast as we explore how Dave cornered the subscription model long before Netflix, Amazon & Apple and how he built & sold an extremely successful business created from his passions in life! Enjoy! 

In 2010, my partner & I decided to leave our life in the UK behind and embark on the adventure of a lifetime. With very little money and no functioning business to speak of, we headed off to Cyprus to housesit for 6 weeks for a friend who was going traveling. Since then we have traveled across the globe, built two successful 7 figure businesses and now live in Phuket, Thailand. Here is a brief overview of our story.

Simon Jordan is a branding expert, an author, a speaker, a mountain climber, an adventurer and a downright nice guy! Having worked with the likes of Nike, Coca Cola, Porsche, Sky TV & Wilkinson Sword to name a few, what Simon doesn’t know about branding and marketing isn’t worth knowing. Join us for a varied discussion all about the planet (his passion), overcoming challenges, climbing mountains and of course how to build your profitable and powerful brand that shines and makes a difference in the world. 

In todays episode I am discussing my passion and the reason I started this podcast in the first place - The Micro Angels. A Micro Angel is an investor who funds startups via micro loans (i.e., a lot of people lending small amounts of money). The microloans are typically lent to women in developing countries & low income areas to start and build a business which transforms the lives of their families & communities. As a micro angel you will get paid back, but your money will then be invested in another person in need and another and so on. This is an amazing way to lend a little but help a lot! Listen in to todays episode to find out how you could become a Micro Angel! 

In the last 6 months I have become increasingly interested in something called a ‘micro loan’. This is where you loan as little as $25 to someone from a low income area or developing country and your loan along with similar amounts from other lenders helps those in need start their own business and transform the lives of themselves, their families and their communities. In 2002, a charity called the Microloan Foundation was setup to fund women in Malawe and Zambia. In 2010, a chap called Brian Keen launched the Australian arm of the fund and joined the team to increase the impact already being made in these areas and assist with their successful expansion into Zimbabwe. I had the chance to catch up with Brian, an entrepreneur with 40 years experience in building businesses and 30 years in franchise operations, to talk about the microloan foundation, it’s impact and what it takes to be a successful entrepreneur with the goal of giving back

Do you ever find that you're overcomplicating things? How many times have you wondered how people manage to get stuff done so fast while you're still thinking about it or trying to overcome challenges? If this sounds like you, believe me you're not alone. The amount of procrastinating due to over-complication I have achieved in my own life and business is record breaking! Listen in to todays episode to find out the steps I took to completely de-complicate my life & make it easy to move forward. 

Welcome to this awesome interview with Dr Julie Coffey. Suffering from painful arthritis at a fairly young age and disillusioned with the solutions offered by conventional medicine Dr Julie Coffey set out on a journey of natural holistic health. Finding healthier alternatives to prescription drugs and surgery Julie soon healed herself and became passionate about spreading her natural health message to the world. She started a blog - http://uberhealthblog.com and has since published two books, is regularly featured in publications across the UK and has helped thousands with their health & weight loss challenges. In todays episode we discuss the question of holistic health vs conventional medicine but also dig into how she got her business off the ground and grew her personal brand. A very inspiring, modest and down to earth lady, if you're struggling with time or organising priorities in your business you'll be glad you tuned in.

In todays episode we're exploring, how to build your personal brand and why in todays world, it's such an important part of your business marketing strategy. The great news is that there are a whole bunch of techie gurus out there just coming up with stuff that makes our entrepreneurial lives easier! So I'm talking specifically how you can embrace your celebrity and quickly and easily create a presence online. I hope it helps! :)

Lauren Clemett is an award winning personal branding expert. The creator of http://ultimatebusinesspropeller.com, Lauren works with service professionals the world over to help them become well known, well paid & wanted. Lauren is also a professional speaker, a best selling author, creator of the award winning authority rocket program and a Stevie Award Winning Neurobranding expert. With a background working with world leading advertising agencies including Saatchi & Saatchi, Ogilvy & Mather and Clemenger BBDO, Lauren brings to the table years of marketing, advertising & branding expertise. She is also a great personal friend and has helped me find my 'true north' for my business and brand. If you want to grow your brand, you'll want to listen to Lauren. Enjoy! 

Do you ever wish you had the energy of a child? To be able to jump out of bed, run around and still feel great in the evening as opposed to collapsing into your chair exhausted from the stresses of the day. Wouldn't it be great of we could not only have energy all day but all week, month & year! We all know someone who hardly ever seems tired and appears to cope with everything that life throws at them. What's their secret?? In todays episode I'm giving you 10 steps which has turned me into the daily energetic person I want to be even though I'm hurtling towards my 50's. I promise you, start putting these steps into practise on a daily basis and you will see a huge difference in your energy levels (and it's not just about eating well by the way). Listen in now and live your life with passion & energy! 

Today I'm chatting with my personal health coach Hayden Rhodes. Hayden is a huge proponent of 'holistic health', meaning health isn't just about lifting weights in the gym, it's about your mind, body & spirit. How you feel about yourself, how happy you are, how in tune with who you are, etc, are all things that make up your overall health. Working with Hayden over the last couple of years, I have become, healthier, happier and now have more energy than ever to live the life I want to live. It doesn't matter whether you want more energy to run your business, travel the world, spend time with your family or just get up in the mornings. If we're not healthy, what are we doing it all for? Hayden & I discuss healthy practices, mental health, putting yourself first and much more. Enjoy & take action! 

The term 'entrepreneur' doesn't necessarily mean you have to start and build a multi million dollar company. For some simply supplementing or replacing current income is more than enough. Well the good news is, in todays day and age there are plenty of ways you can start to earn from your own living room right now and in todays episode I'm going to get into 10 of them. Please note with most of these ideas, you can grow them as big or as small as you would like, it all depends on your ultimate objectives. Here's hoping they get your entrepreneurial juices flowing! 

My guest today is a long time member of the JBO community. With a background in corporate training, Tina Sibley works with entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants & trainers to help them construct, refine and deliver their business message via webinars, video, events & speaking opportunities. The best part is she is now traveling and is living proof that you can run a business from anywhere in the world! In todays episode we discuss the ups and downs of starting and growing an online business, some of the challenges Tina has faced and how she has overcome them and of course all the places she has been and is going. Without doubt Tina represents the results that can be achieved through sheer hard graft and a bucket load of tenacity & determination. She's an inspiration to us all! 

From making $27 on my first ever video course to co-running a multi million dollar ecommerce company, todays episode takes you on a journey of my online adventures over the last 8 years. My good friend & business colleague Jared Elvidge interviews me on the biggest lessons learned, the do’s & more importantly do not’s & the future of JBO / YLB. The goal of today’s podcast is to inspire you with my story and give you my biggest takeaways from my experiences over the last 8 years. Also if I started today, would I do it differently? I hope you get some golden gems out of today’s episode. :) 

Chris Farrell has been in the online marketing space for over 10 years and with an extremely successful membership site, coaching program and a few seven figure launches behind him is a leading authority on how to get started building your own online business. Add to that he's an all round nice guy. Todays episode is one from the archives, but don't let that put you off. We're discussing fear, learning new skills, mastering your subject and a whole lot more, as relevant today as it was then. He will also make you laugh out loud with his very dry, very English sense of humour. Enjoy the laughter and the golden gems of information you will get out of this episode.

Links Mentioned in Todays Episode