5 hot tips from 2018’s most popular Flying Solo articles

Tip 1: SQUEEZE PAGES: Replicate designs from big business

As Nick Brogden explains in his article, a squeeze page is like your ‘online salesperson’, encouraging visitors to buy something or take a specific action, like sign up to a newsletter.

The best squeeze pages are simple and concise with: compelling and click-worthy headlines, images that highlight the offer, and optimised and personalised calls to action.

Nick also makes the following suggestion: “A growth hack I recommend is to look at what major players in a similar industry are doing. Simply take their design and put your own spin on it. Large companies have big marketing budgets, so you can safely assume experts are split testing all their landing/squeeze pages to find the best performing layout. Essentially, you could bet that their designs will convert better than the ones you come up with yourself.”

Tip 2: Move out of your comfort zone! Andrew Griffiths did, like, literally, and he’s loving it!

After 30 wonderful years living in Cairns, Andrew packed up decades worth of belongings and memories, and moved down to Melbourne. Although he’s achieved great success as a bestselling international author and a global speaker, he felt there was still so much more to do, and to do it, he knew he had to move out of his comfort zone and embrace change.

He encourages all of us to challenge our own thinking by asking some hard questions:

Am I doing what is easy?
Am I firmly entrenched in my comfort zone?
Am I hiding from change?
Am I really living the life I want, with the business I want, or am I settling because it’s easier to do?

Tip 3: Don’t wait for the perfect life, enjoy what you have now.

Amanda Vanelderen poses that the Work-at-Home-Mum has been swindled into believing she can have it all, when in fact, she must do it all (run a full-time business, organise the family, look after the home) because she works from home. This “poison chalice of flexibility” can lead to a sense of overwhelm, exhaustion and sometimes resentment.

But her secret weapon is LOVE: “I cannot be broken. I may bend like a willow in the wind when I need to, and creak when it’s going to rain (dodgy knee), but I will keep finding a way forward every day. I will whinge, I will wish for more hours in the day, I will question every choice I’ve ever made. But I’ll also run a thriving business, keep my kids happy and healthy and laugh every day with my husband. Turns out, this isn’t a pity party, or even a cry for help. It’s just my truth. And I’m not going to wait for a perfect life to enjoy what I have now.”

Tip 4: Love your business. Live your life.

Robert Gerrish worked with an architect who, after two decades in her business, was starting to hate every aspect of it. Robert did an exercise with Gina to find out how much of her life was dominated by work. Turns out, it was a LOT – hence the hatred.

Although Robert understands that work takes up a big chunk of our lives, he believes problems arise when there’s little opportunity for balance.

In order to achieve balance, Robert believes we must give time and attention to the following:

Personal creativity: Feed your creative soul
Community: Spend time with the people you love to commune with, as opposed to the ones your business needs
Health and wellbeing: Refresh and recharge as often as possible
The people who matter: Give time to your life partner, family and friends
Learning and growing: Improve and develop professionally
Adventure and travel: Get out of your comfort zone, whether that’s leaving the country or leaving your home office
Philanthropy: Give back and promote the welfare of others
Dreaming: Think about where it’s all heading, and plan for your future

To follow the exercise Robert did with Gina, head to his article on having your cake and eating it.

Tip 5: Believe in yourself. Back your business. Invest in your business.

Fiona Harmann was terrified of investing in equipment and expensive essentials for her business, but a close friend told her to back herself. She did, and as a result, her business grew five-fold in three years and her productivity soared.

Fiona’s advice now?

“While it is tempting to try and run your business on a shoestring, and invent homemade solutions like McGyver, once you back yourself, believe in your ability and invest in the tools you need for your business, you can take it to the next level – both in terms of productivity and profitability.”

Five small business tips for a top new year

It’s little wonder the above articles were the most popular in 2018. Perhaps the authors’ inspiration and wisdom will help you have your BEST year yet!