In Part 2 Janet Efere and I take a good long look at something that's critical to business and yet which many people shy away from.

I'm talking about the scary 'S-Word'! All is revealed....

And we also talk a bit about mindset.

Janet has years of successful experience across both small businesses and corporates and is highly regarded in her field.

If you want to know more about Janet and what she does you can find her contact details on the 'Interview Guests' page of the Standing Out website: CLICK HERE

And if you didn't yet listen to Part 1, you can find it along with all the past episodes HERE and on popular podcast platforms.

This is Part 1 of a 2-part programme in which I talk to Janet Efere about a whole range of business topics.  Although the list below might suggest it's only useful for new businesses, there's a lot that could be a helpful refresher for established businesses and business people too, so do have a listen.

• Business success and always doing things right first time
• The risks and challenges facing business start-ups
• Pricing
• Approaching starting a business
• The fear factors that can affect business people
• How a new business can build credibility
• Competing when you're a start-up
• How to promote yourself
• One of the main ways smaller businesses trip themselves up
• Identifying clients and customers

Janet has years of successful experience across both small businesses and corporates and is highly regarded (and award-winning) in her field.

If you want to know more about Janet and what she does you can find her contact details on the 'Interview Guests' page of the Standing Out website: CLICK HERE

And if you didn't yet listen to Part 2, you can find it along with all the past episodes HERE and on popular podcast platforms.

What would be the cost to you and your business if your computer suffered data loss, damage or unauthorised access?

With our regular business focus, in this week’s show the Standing Out Podcast turns its attention to cybersecurity of all kinds.

 My expert guest, Daniel Bryk, shares advice, tips and anecdotes – in user-friendly language - across a wide range of computer security risks. Risks that could end up costing you dearly. 

 In the first half of 2020 alone, data breaches exposed 36 billion records, and businesses of all shapes and sizes paid the price for inadequate security for their systems and data. That includes home-based businesses.

A record statistic you don't want to be part of.

 Among the many aspects of computer security Daniel talks wih me about include:

• Shutting down, sleeping or hibernating - what's safest?
• Physical data loss and using backups
• Cloud storage
• Software updates
• Windows PCs, Macs and phones
• Data encryption
• Passwords - good practice
• Internet security
• Two-factor authentication
• Network security
• Domain security
• Hacking
• Viruses
• Anti-virus software
• Firewalls
• Ransomware
• Suspicious emails

To contact Daniel, you can find his details on the 'Interview Guests' page of the website.

"Handle them carefully, for words have more power than atom bombs."

This quote by Pearl Strachan Heard (1930s British politician) sets the scene for this Standing Out podcast

Words are everywhere – including this LinkedIn post. Spoken, written, printed, online, offline – what would we do without them!

More important is what we, business people and professionals of all kinds, do with them.

Words are essential for getting our messages across, for informing and educating our target audience. But getting those words right, making them effective, attractive and compelling is a skill not all of us have.

In this new episode, I’m in conversation with award-winning copywriter Melanie Silver. You’ll find lots of great advice that you can use to improve your own writing skills including:

• The difference between content writing and copywriting
• How to use 'active voice'
• Why the quality of words matters
• What type of language to aim for
• Why readability is important
• How to use grammar sensibly
• What is meant by 'voice'
• Why layout makes a difference
• How long is too long
• Headlines that attract
• How to approach a writing project
• Calls to action

With some 25 years of experience and a number of awards, Melanie certainly knows her way around words. You can find her contact details on the Podcast Guests page here on the website.

In this episode, my guest Arwyn Bailey tells the story of how a series of events knocked him sideways, affecting both his business and personal life.

Part of our conversation is how he worked through it to come out the other side, but more than that.

Arwyn shares some helpful advice from his own experience and practical things you can do to cope with the problems we all have to confront from time to time, both in business and life.

At one point he mentions and recommends a book titled 'The 4 Money Mindsets' by Karen Sutton-Johal You can find it on Amazon HERE

In this episode, we look at a different kind of working life. 

For most of us, getting up in the morning, getting ready and then either travelling to work or working at home isn’t such a big deal. 

But what if you started feeling things, worryingly, weren’t right physically? You begin to experience unnatural fatigue; your balance is shaky; there are falls…

My guest in this episode, Patrick Burke, literally found himself ‘falling down on the job’ some years ago. 

It ended up with him being medically retired and having to deal with a condition called Multiple Sclerosis. A condition that affects over 110,000 people in the UK, with some 5,200 new cases being diagnosed annually.

However, Patrick is not someone you can keep down for long! 

In our conversation, you’ll discover how Patrick deals practically with the physical effects of MS, but more importantly how he has built an extremely active – if different - working life.

It’s about attitude and determination and how to approach the sometimes major challenges that life can unexpectedly throw in our way.

In the UK there are some 14.1 million disabled people and 19% of working age adults live with some kind of disability. There were more than 4.1 million disabled people in work before the pandemic started to affect the economy in 2020. 

The business-focused social networking platform LinkedIn currently had some 760 million users world-wide, of whom around 260 million are active monthly. Of these monthly active members about 40% log in daily.

If you’re one of the 40% you may be among the many who are not getting much in the way of results or contribution to your business. Your posts may be getting limited views, few reactions and rare comments. Maybe you’re gamely plodding on, although frustrated and disappointed.

I must confess that I was one of the ‘gamely plodding on’ – and then I was introduced to Mac Laubscher not long ago. Mac is unquestionably a professional expert on how to make LinkedIn work, with huge knowledge and experience.

Mac’s initial advice to me revealed just how much I didn’t know that I didn’t know. Not only that, but by implementing just some of the practical things he told me, my results on LinkedIn were seriously transformed. That being the case I knew I just had to invite Mac to guest on the podcast and share some of what he knows. So here he is!

In this episode some the things we cover include:

• What Mac did to become so knowledgeable
• How LinkedIn fits in the world of social media for business
• The mistakes most people make – and what to do instead
• The most important things users need to do
• Whether it’s possible to stand out on LinkedIn
• What’s important in your user profile
• When to post and how often
• LinkedIn’s chargeable options like LinkedIn Premium and LinkedIn Sales Navigator
• Groups on LinkedIn
• What the Linked in algorithm likes and doesn’t like
• How to deal with contact requests
• How to manage a lot of contacts
• How Mac works as a professional LinkedIn educator

Whether you’ve been a user for some time or you’re new to LinkedIn you’ll find much of interest and practical value. Also, I’m sure you’ll enjoy Mac’s enthusiasm as well as his knowledge and advice. Be sure to have pen and paper ready to take notes!

You can find Mac's contact details on the Interview Guests page of the https://StandingOutPodcast.com website and, of course, you can find Mac on LinkedIn.

Business debt has rocketed due to the pandemic - alongside personal and household debt. You or someone you know may be part of the troubling statistics that have led to businesses collapsing or heading for the cliff edge. And there's the human cost of stress and anxiety and the potentially devastating consequences of actually tipping over the edge.

Top accountancy firm Ernst & Young forecast that business lending in 2020 will have grown by 14.4% compared with just 2% in 2019 and will grow further this year. For some, financial support for their businesses has been funded by personal borrowing or savings, contributing to the rise in personal debt. Between September and November last year, available figures show someone was declared insolvent or bankrupt every 4 minutes and 34 seconds.

While being at the cliff edge of debt is a scary place to be, it doesn't have to be all doom and gloom. The chances are you don't know what you don't know about how debt issues can be resolved. There are practical solutions and important things to learn about how the world of debt really works - some of which will probably surprise you.

Which is why I encourage you to listen to my guest in this week's podcast. He's an expert in the field of debt resolution and has helped many businesses and individuals deal who may have thought there was no way out. His extensive experience and knowledge of the finance industry is revealing, and I'm sure you'll discover and learn more than you might think.

So join us on the podcast and discover....how to solve your debt problems without stress or worry....