Friends with Business Benefits Charlie Swift & Franky Shanahan: Creative business owners
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Friends with Business Benefits hosted by Charlie Swift and Franky Shanahan is a podcast for creatives who crave connection, understanding and support.
Hello, we are Charlie and Franky, two self-employed business owners living in Bristol in the southwest of England.
Franky runs a copywriting business called Love Audrey, helping brands and creative businesses find their voice and tell their story online. As a business mentor to creative mamas, Charlie supports women to build their businesses alongside raising a family.
For the last 5 years, we’ve been meeting for regular co-mentoring sessions. Working for yourself can be lonely at times, but through our monthly meet-ups, we’ve found the support and accountability we were craving in our working lives.
Through our podcast, we hope to continue these conversations, share what we’re learning and also learn from you, our listeners.
Business Mentoring for Creative Mamas: https://charlieswift.com
Copywriting for Creatives: https://www.love-audrey.com
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Ep. 103. Overcoming Creative Blocks on Instagram
Are you feeling overwhelmed by Instagram? Are you overthinking your content and struggling to show up? Franky was. Having spent the last couple of years hiding on Instagram Stories and rarely posting to the grid, she finally realised something had to change. Luckily, her co-mentor happens to be an Insta-expert who gives excellent creative pep talks!
Listen as we discuss how Franky’s been feeling about Instagram, why she wanted to change her relationship with the app in 2024, and the advice Charlie gave her to get unstuck and start showing up. We recorded this episode in early February and since then Franky’s stuck to her posting schedule and even had a reel go {a little bit} viral! If you’d like to move past the overwhelm, stop overthinking and start taking action, the tips in this episode can help.
Links and Further Reading
Book an Instagram Audit with Charlie
Overcoming Instagram Stumbling Blocks
Embracing and Creating Video Content
Work With Us
charlieswift.com
love-audrey.com
Find Us On Instagram
@loveaudrey83
@_charlieswift
Franky’s Mailing List
Charlie’s Mailing List -
Q1 Reflection, Q2 Intentions (2024)
In this chatty episode, we’re looking back on the first three months of the year and ahead to Quarter 2. Find out what felt good, what didn’t and what we’ve learned in the process.
We discuss how Franky has been showing up on Instagram and her brush with having a Reel go viral, and also talk through Charlie's relationship with consistency in content creation in this season.
We also chat about our words of the year and how they’ve been showing up for us so far, plus we dig into our plans for Q2 and discuss what we’re both hoping to achieve before the end of June.
Links and Further Reading:
www.instagram.com/rachaelrenae
Work With Us:
Book an Instagram Audit with Charlie
charlieswift.com
love-audrey.com
Find Us On Instagram
@loveaudrey83
@_charlieswift
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102. How to Sneak More Creativity Into Your Daily Life
In this mini episode, we’re sharing ideas and inspiration to help you sneak more creativity into your daily life, especially if you’re short on time and/or caring for small children.
From finding the magic in the mundane to portable crafts you can do in front of the TV, there’s a mix of practical advice and gentle encouragement, all based on personal experience and our belief that creativity can be a powerful form of self-care.
Work With Us
charlieswift.com
love-audrey.com
Find Us On Instagram
@loveaudrey83
@_charlieswift
Franky’s Mailing List
Charlie’s Mailing List
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101. How We Are Showing Up on Substack This Year
This week we're revisiting the topic of Substack. We disscuss whether or not the platform is a part of our content plans in this season, and what we're feeling called to consume and create there.
Charlie shares how she is showing up on Substack this year and Franky touches on creating for the platform as a copywriter.
We also breakdown the differnt ways you may engage with Substack content as a reader and talk about the various features and models the platform has to offer.
Charlie's Substack: 'Intentonal Creatives'
Sparkle on Substack resources and membership -
100. Our 100th Episode Content Q&A LIVE on Instagram
We celebrated 100 episodes of Friends With Business Benefits and five whole years of podcasting by going live on Instagram to record this episode.
Having hit such a big content creation milestone, we made that the focus, answering listener questions about creating and sharing content for your business. We cover podcasting, productivity, brainstorming ideas and more! Whether you’re an OG listener or a newbie, thanks for supporting our podcast!
Links and Further Reading
Watch the live episode here
Our most downloaded episode
Trello
Work With Us
charlieswift.com
love-audrey.com
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99. 24 for 2024
Inspired by Gretchen Rubin, we’ve both adopted the habit of compiling a list of aims at the start of a new year. There’s no right or wrong way to do it, but for us it’s never a business-focussed list. Instead, we both include fun, playful things we want to prioritise. We’ve found it’s a great way to identify what we want the year to hold. In this episode, we’re sharing our ‘24 for 2024’ lists in the hope that it will make you want to compile your own.
Links and Further Reading
Gretchen Rubin’s 24 for 2024 Trifecta
Work With Us
charlieswift.com
love-audrey.com