Failure as fuel

What if your worst business moments could be alchemised into your greatest competitive advantage?My biggest and most successful clients have one thing in common: they've normalised failure and learned how to use setbacks as rocket fuel to power their next audacious move. In this episode, I share my catalogue of business failures, a cancelled California retreat, a mid-air hijacking on the way to a teaching gig in Kuala Lumpur, $30,000 in face-to-face bookings wiped out in a single week in March 2020, and a life-altering misadventure overseas at age 21.You'll hear:Why I love when prospective clients share stories of struggle on sales calls and why this hints at their being a coachable clientThe crucial difference between business owners who use failure as fuel and those who let everyday setbacks spiral into identity crisesThe danger of circumstances that are too comfortable (and how comfort kills motivation)Why reliving your wins somatically is more important than intellectually acknowledging themDolly Parton's immortal words on keeping yourself in the game.

The last quarter of the calendar year is the biggest for many professional services businesses. A good final quarter pulls the business into the next year. So how do we map our final push for the year with launches?Launching makes possible what one-to-one selling doesn't by reaching strangers, selling through your content, creating urgency and making offers without relying on one-to-one sales calls. Launching isn't just for people with group programs, masterminds, or big leveraged offers. It can be used to sell almost anything, including one-to-one done-for-you services. The end-of-year frenzy is coming. Black Friday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, holidays so how could you use the final quarter to create your biggest revenue quarter yet? If you're keen on a big final push for the year, this episode is for you.You'll learn:Why most business owners have been creating new offerings upside down and back to front.Brook's litany of spectacular flop launches, including the one launch she ghosted in favour of a worthy fascinating side quest involving a spreadsheet, a very full car, and an absolutely enormous amount of furniture.That horrible, barren wasteland in the middle of a launch when nobody seems to be buying? It might feel like failure. But what if it isn't?There's one thing you need to believe before you launch because secretly expecting your launch to fail is a bit like driving with the handbrake on.The uncomfortable lesson about success that capitalism and patriarchy has taught us that is massively hindering our launches - and what to do insteadWhat it actually means to reach through screens to pluck the heartstrings of strangers, selling directly through your contentHow to make your offer relevant to what's happening *right now* and the question Brook always asks about her ideal clients when creating launch marketingThe difference between an audience and a community - and why it mattersWhy your launch strategy isn't a content calendar.Want to turn your launch into a genuine strategy rather than just a vibe and good intentions? This episode is invaluable.Join Brook on September 24 for her free workshop, The Final Push: Map your Launch. We're getting stuck in together, to get all the important pieces down on paper, including your timelines, financial goals, audience-building, live experiments and everything that needs to happen before launch day.Nab your spot now: https://www.hustleandheart.com.au/launch-season/

'Love what you do and you'll never work a day in your life' the saying goes. Sounds good, yes? But for far too many small business owners, investing time, effort, energy and money into building your business often tips into workaholism. You're telling yourself that these hours are well invested, as you're building your own asset. Until it tips into routinely working weekends, ruining family holidays, hiding from friends and family when you should be out there, socialising, and living, breathing and sleeping work.In this episode, I get brutally honest about the holidays I've ruined through my work. This episode is a confession, a diagnosis, and an intervention all at once, unpacking the addiction hiding inside "hard work" and "passion" that so many self-employed people will never admit to out loud.You'll learn:Why the holiday that "should have been spectacular" still gives me a tinge of sadness — and what I'd do differently if I had my time overThe paradox of the profit and loss statement: why working flat out often means your business goes nowhere at allA specific cognitive performance statistic that explains why you can't think your way out of burnout using the same brain that got you thereSix warning signs about your productivity — including one about sitcoms which might hit uncomfortably close to homeWhy "rest as a reward" is one of the most damaging beliefs a business owner can carry, and what to replace it with instead.If you suspect you might have a problem working too hard, this episode is the key to unlock less stress, more focus, and far more fun.

With 20/20 hindsight, perhaps we might all act differently? What would you say to your younger self if you could? In this reflective episode, I write a letter to my younger self: the ballsy, overthinking, self-conscious, occasionally reckless young woman who survived an ordeal in Sri Lanka at 21, was in Vietnam lead tours just one year later, and later navigated two babies under two while building a business in nap times, daycare, grit and pigheadedness.You'll hear:Why regretting what you didn't do is far more costly than regretting what you did.Why the poverty mentality so many of us carry is a psychological hurdle, rarely a financial reality.The biggest thing I would tell my younger self to take far more seriously (hint: it's not marketing).A simple thing on my desk that feeds my self-compassion so I can take bigger risks, with bigger payoffs, in business.This episode is for anyone who's feeling like a failure, like a fool, like the boat has sailed, and they're too late. We can always have a re-do.

If business feels especially hard for you right now, it's time to turn this attitude upside down and inside out.In this episode, I draw on Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, as well as 18 years in self-employment, with a hefty dose of unhinged dose of perimenopause-fuelled candour, to offer you something far better than toxic positivity: hard fun. You'll hear:How to turn "it'll get easier" into what's actually trueA gloriously honest list of what is genuinely hard about self-employment, from having your prices negotiated by strangers, to being shut out of rooms where decisions are being made, to psyching yourself up every single morning to believe this whole thing is a great ideaThe compounding long-term payoffs of staying in business that nobody talks aboutForget consistency, instead we examine why agility of mind is the key thing that keeps you in thriving, profitable business for years to come.If business feels hard right now, this episode reframes what that actually means. Your deposit hasn't yet reached maturity, that's all. Keep going.

Australians suffer from two different, but related phenomena: tall poppy syndrome and underdog worship. These are especially harmful for business owners' growth and happiness. This episode pulls apart what happens when Australia's egalitarian instincts curdle into a culture that punishes ambition, using Pauline Hanson's "cattle class" jet stunt as the case study in performative humility. We explore why moaners aren't underdogs, how jealousy is actually useful data, and has joy is the antidote.You'll learn:Why tall poppy syndrome isn't just a vibe – it's something 1 in 3 Australian workers can name happening to themWhy nearly 70% of ambitious Australians won't say the word "ambition" out loud – and the one-word swap that I use that gets around thisThe Pauline Hanson jet story, broken down flight by flight — and why "I flew cattle class" might be the most calculated line in Australian politics this yearWhat happens when you combine tall poppy syndrome with underdog worship (hint: it's a marketing weapon, and you've definitely fallen for it)Why jealousy isn't a character flaw – and the one question that turns it into your most useful business intelThe line between sharing a genuine low and performing victimhood for reach — and why most "vulnerable" content on your feed often fails that testOur most popular Momentum Mastermind channel – and why it's full of dogsIf you've ever wanted to celebrate a massive milestone in your business before realising that you've got nowhere to do so - this one's for you.

What if more revenue, more clients, more team, more growth are actually making your business worse?In this episode, I discuss something I see constantly but rarely hear discussed in public: business owners who've hit impressive milestones but somehow have less money in their pockets and less joy in their days.You'll hear:Why profit is a more honest metric than revenue, and how you can have a million-dollar turnover and still not be able to pay yourself properlyThe three types of profit margin and which one actually mattersWhy cost-plus pricing almost always leaves money on the table (and the $4,000 five-minute favour that proves it)Eight questions to ask yourself when your business has become too heavy, too complex, and too far from what you actually wantIf you've ever looked at your growing business and felt a creeping sense of dread instead of pride, this one's for you.Outgrown your marketing message? My Ignite Visibility Accelerator is where you learn to be seen, be heard, and get paid: https://hustleandheart.com.au/ignite

What if the thing you're most tempted to hide is actually the reason people choose to work with you?If you're suffering from imposter syndrome, need more business confidence in your personal branding, and sometimes feel like you have something to prove, then this is the episode for you.Small business owners, soloists, freelancers and entrepreneurs are often confusing their weaknesses with what could be their biggest branding advantage. Your credibility and authority isn't determined by your credentials; it's about something way more nuanced.In this episode, we explore why self-doubt, imposter syndrome, and business insecurities aren't necessarily problems to overcome. Sometimes they're the very things that make your work more human, more memorable, and more valuable.We unpack why trying to look professional can quietly become a form of self-censorship, why some business owners stay stuck despite having all the right qualifications, and how changing your environment can completely change the way you see yourself.You'll learn:How to turn your insecurities into a genuine competitive advantage.Why imposter syndrome may not be the problem you think it is.How changing your environment can instantly change your confidence.Why business owners often stay stuck by comparing themselves to people in the wrong arena.Why I no longer worry about not having formal marketing qualifications.What I mean when I say "business is a verb."How trying to sound professional can weaken your marketing.Why authenticity creates stronger marketing than perfection.The hidden power of vulnerability in sales, marketing, and leadership.What the Strengths Paradox is—and how your greatest strengths can become your biggest blind spots.Why people connect more deeply with humanity than polished perfection.One simple challenge that will change how you think about your own insecurities.We talk about marketing without using marketing jargon, the Strengths Paradox, authenticity in business, vulnerability and trust, real confidence versus performance, personal branding and business mindset.If this conversation sparked something for you, I'd be so grateful if you left a quick review. Reviews help more values-based business owners discover the podcast, and they're one of the best ways to support the show.Outgrown your marketing message? My Ignite Visibility Accelerator is where you learn to be seen, be heard, and get paid: https://hustleandheart.com.au/ignite

If you're feeling stuck, fed up, or perhaps even ready to throw it all in, this episode is for you. I'm pulling back the curtain on my eight most recent sales, where each client came from, how long they'd been in my world, and what actually moved them to buy. You'll hear:What my results say about where you should be focusing your marketing and sales, to sell more, more oftenHow the offerings ecosystem model works, and why the old-school ascension ladder is brokenThe magical effect of compounding efforts in our marketing and why bright, shiny distraction is costing you more than you thinkWhy consistency is overrated and how to get obsessed once again, when you've lost that loving feeling in your business.This one is the counter-narrative for every business owner who's feeling frustrated, stuck, or convinced that everyone else has a secret golden lead source they're not telling you about. They don't. And this episode proves it.More info and to register for Bingers to Buyers, my online session on June 24: https://www.hustleandheart.com.au/bingers-buyers/

What if everything you're waiting for, everything you're wanting, every dream that feels audacious to even entertain, is within your reach — if only you had the audacity to ask? Because telepathy is not a reliable marketing strategy and manifesting is not a sales strategy.One short, sharp email in 2020 inspired one of my most popular programs – my free Life's a Pitch!® party. Are you overcomplicating your business development? Because one-to-one pitching is the fastest, simplest, most human way to grow your business, with or without a marketing strategy, a website, or even a business name.In this episode, you'll learn:Why the spammy, automated pitchers clogging your inbox every morning are actually very good news for youThe counterintuitive reason why saying something people expect to hear means they won't hear it at all — and what to do insteadThe one mental shift that makes walking into a room full of strangers feel completely differentThe thoroughly modern strategy to get your time back by stopping procrati-research, so you can pitch far more peopleThe sneaky way most people sabotage their pitches before they've written a single wordWhat the big online gurus conveniently left out of their courses about building powerful professional relationshipsResources mentioned:Life's a Pitch!® Party — RSVP at https://hustleandheart.com.au/pitch