Business Brain Food

This week we delve deep into the inspiring story of Pauline Nguyen, who overcame some incredible adversity to become one of the most revered restaurateurs in the world (her Sydney restaurant, The Red Lantern, is the most awarded Vietnamese restaurant in the world).

As a young child, Pauline was smuggled out of Vietnam on a boat and survived squalid conditions in a Thai refugee camp before eventually ending up in Australia. She had a seriously tough upbringing, with her father regularly beating her and then forcing her to work in the family businesses from the age of 7.

 

Eventually Pauline ran away from home and put herself through uni, and so started the journey of monumental success that led her to writing a book and becoming a much-in-demand keynote speaker.

Pauline shared with us some great life advice that she has learnt along the way:

**“Persistency is the new currency: the universe rewards the unreasonably determined”

**By being creative outside of your business, you can prevent yourself from being bogged down in the day-to-day running of it.

**Other businesses on the side can fulfill you better than just blindly sticking to one.

**The moment Pauline’s life as an entrepreneur improved was when she realised there was no way to get her deeper message out there if she was stuck in a restaurant 24/7.

**Don’t micromanage – employ members who treat the place like their own.

**“In our world ‘the obstacle is the way’ – the universe will only hand to us what it thinks we can handle”

**“Those who don’t take action are the most confused”

**“Look after your health – you will feel you have more time if you look after your health”

 
In this episode of Business Brain Food you will learn:

**Pauline’s incredible story

**How food can be a catalyst to learn life skills

**The power of building a community with your business

**How to find the right team

**How Pauline rode out the GFC

**Is there a right time to give up?

**The definition of courage

**Emotional mastery

**The power of a pier group

**The value of meditation

 
Resources mentioned in this episode:

**Pauline’s Book – Secrets Of The Red Lantern buy link

**Red Lantern Restaurant site

**Book Pauline as a public speaker here

**Pauline’s self-help resource can be found here

**Facebook: facebook.com/businessbrainfood

**Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/businessbrainfood

**Twitter: https://twitter.com/bfewtrell

**Subscribe to BBF on iTunes: http://actioncoachanz.com/itunes

**Subscribe to BBF on Stitcher: http://actioncoachanz.com/stitcher

 
Pauline’s story is very inspiring. If you listen to just one of her pearls of wisdom, you’ll set yourself up to be way more successful!

Also, if you are enjoying these Business Brain Food podcasts, then make sure to share them via social media sites or email the links to family and friends. A lot of time and effort goes into producing each of these podcasts with the goal in mind of the more people we can inspire about business the better. You can help us do just that!

Until next time, have a profitable day.

Cheers,
Ben Fewtrell
(02) 9111 5000


On the show this week we’re paying special attention to service businesses. Our guest has been there and done it with her own service business, and now she advises other service businesses how they can grow. Her particular area of expertise is in the online sphere, more specifically Facebook and LinkedIn groups, so we picked her brains for her insight on those.

 

Having worked with a whole host of companies ranging from seven-figure online businesses right the way through to the very biggest Fortune 500 companies, Brittany really is worth listening to. As well as social media groups, Brittany gave some great advice about scaling a service business in general:

See below for some top tips on how to use social media groups to scale your service business:

** Don’t get too hung up on the ‘elevate phase’ of online marketing. Yes you need landing pages etc. and an online presence, but once you find your leads, the ‘engage phase’ is more important.

** Try not to send mass messages to Linkedin contacts.

** When in a group on any social media, always be of value to others and help people where possible.

** Think of group interaction as being like a real offline relationship, i.e. don’t just go steaming in there and start selling yourself!

** Give yourself permission to abandon a strategy that’s not working.

** Create a wishlist of people you most want to connect with and set a plan to connect with them.

 
In this episode of Business Brain Food you will learn:

** How to get leads from online social media groups

** The elevate phase

** The right amount of time to spend working the groups

** How to find clients in groups with no-advertising rules

** How a service business can scale

** Feast and famine cycles

** When to say no to clients

** How best to hire for a service business

 
Resources mentioned in this episode:

** Brittany’s company site: http://www.scoopindustries.com

** Brittany’s favourite book for time management: https://12weekyear.com/

** Facebook: facebook.com/businessbrainfood

** Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/businessbrainfood

** Twitter: https://twitter.com/bfewtrell

** Subscribe to BBF on iTunes: http://actioncoachanz.com/itunes

** Subscribe to BBF on Stitcher: http://actioncoachanz.com/stitcher

 
Brittany has proven just how simple it is to scale up a service business. Listen and learn!

Also, if you are enjoying these Business Brain Food podcasts, then make sure to share them via social media sites or email the links to family and friends. A lot of time and effort goes into producing each of these podcasts with the goal in mind of the more people we can inspire about business the better. You can help us do just that!

Until next time, have a profitable day.

Cheers,
Ben Fewtrell
(02) 9111 5000


We’ve got a serious branding expert on the show this week, and what enthusiasm she has for the whole process. So much great insight here!

Nicole Ertas has been in the business for over 20 years and has worked with some massive global brands along the way, including Wrigley’s, Jim Beam and Nestle. She’s also written a great book called Freerange Brands which explains how the big brands are currently being challenged by the more flexible, dynamic, ‘freerange’ brands.

Nicole shared with us some great tips about how to build a successful brand, and also gave us a sneak preview of her easy-to-understand audience theory:

** A brand’s audience can be split into four sections: the ‘lords’, the ‘lovers’, the ‘hackers’, and the ‘hawks’. Any successful brand must pay regard to each of these different factions.

** The lords – These are the modern-day influencers, the people who have some kind of a following. The challenge for the brand is how to get their product talked about in the everyday environment these influencers inhabit.

** The lovers – These are the people who really want to connect with the brand and the shared values of the community.

** The hackers – The hackers want to participate and interact with the brand.

** The hawks – The hawks are there to strike if your brand lacks transparency or lets people down with their customer service experience.

** Before any kind of brand planning, first you must define your obsession: who are you and what do you do?

** Then from there you need to express why these values are different to the rest.

It’s all about translating these values into a customer experience and making your customers think about more than just price when they see your products. Values and experience are vital.

In this episode of Business Brain Food you will learn:

** How Heineken got it right with the repositioning of their brand

** The dangers of only talking about yourself

** How Urban Outfitters uses controversial tactics to succeed

** How to find your brand purpose

** Examples of the best brand experience

** How to measure ‘experience’

 
Resources mentioned in this episode:

** Nicole’s site: http://www.freerangebrands.com

** Nicole on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/freerangebrands

** Nicole’s book on Amazon here

** Facebook: facebook.com/businessbrainfood

** Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/businessbrainfood

** Twitter: https://twitter.com/bfewtrell

** iTunes: http://actioncoachanz.com/itunes

** Stitcher: http://actioncoachanz.com/stitcher

 
As Nicole says, “the best brands in this day and age are designed for unpredictability”

Also, if you are enjoying these Business Brain Food podcasts, then make sure to share them via social media sites or email the links to family and friends. A lot of time and effort goes into producing each of these podcasts with the goal in mind of the more people we can inspire about business the better. You can help us do just that!

Until next time, have a profitable day.

Cheers,
Ben Fewtrell
(02) 9111 5000

Direct download: BBF130_Turn_your_Brand_Equity_into_Brand_Currency_with_Nicole_Ertas.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00pm AEDT

It’s very easy to get stuck in the habit of spending hours and hours writing your own content, but this week’s show is a great reminder of how you can feed the machine just as well by using other people’s content and save yourself a load of time while you’re at it.

 

This week’s guest is Scott Scanlon: founder and owner of the Curation Suite app. Scott was kind enough to share with us some great tips on how to find and to share content to keep in touch with your audience:

** Content curation is the easiest type of marketing you do. It’s basically being a reporter for your market.

** Content curation is the number one way of getting started with social media.

** Make sure you add your own thoughts to a story.

** You can do 5 pieces of curation in the time it would take to do a typical blog post.

** If you’re already doing content, adding curation is easy.

** Keep your blog or site as simple as possible and focus on your CTAs.

** Concentrate on one path of conversion.

 
In this episode of Business Brain Food you will learn:

** The difference between curation and creation

** The inner workings of Curation Suite

** The definition of ‘fair use’

** How frequently you should share curated content

** How to find content to create

** How to use tools to find trending content before your competitors

 
Resources mentioned in this episode:

** Business coaching with Ben for less than 10 AUD per day – go to maxmyprofit.com.au

** Scott’s book, ‘Content Curation Secrets’ free download here:https://curationsuite.com/content-curation-secrets-v2/

** Curation Suite site: https://curationsuite.com

** Business Brain Food Website: www.businessbraingood

** Facebook: facebook.com/businessbrainfood

** Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/businessbrainfood

** Twitter: https://twitter.com/bfewtrell

** iTunes: http://actioncoachanz.com/itunes

** Stitcher: http://actioncoachanz.com/stitcher

 
If you’re struggling to find the time to create your own content, listen to Scott and get on the curation train!

Also, if you are enjoying these Business Brain Food podcasts, then make sure to share them via social media sites or email the links to family and friends. A lot of time and effort goes into producing each of these podcasts with the goal in mind of the more people we can inspire about business the better. You can help us do just that!

Until next time, have a profitable day.

Cheers,
Ben Fewtrell
(02) 9111 5000

 

Direct download: BBF129_Secrets_to_Curating_Content_so_you_get_noticed_with_Scott_Scanlon.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:00pm AEDT

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