The Small Business Big Marketing Podcast with Timbo Reid Tim Reid

Canva's Melanie Perkins. From her parent’s lounge room in 2013, 32 year old Melanie Perkins invented Canva; an online design tool with a mission to empower everyone in the world to design anything and publish anywhere. In 2023, Canva has just been valued at 25.5 billion dollars! It’s a rags to riches episode 652 of The (14 year-old, award-winning) Small Business Big Marketing podcast.

A little more about Canva founder Melanie Perkins ...

In 2006, Melanie Perkins was a troubled 19 year-old teenager. Not by the usual stuff that troubles most people of that age. Oh no … something much more serious.

Melanie was troubled by the fact that desktop publishing software (like Adobe, CorelDraw and Photoshop) was complicated and hard to use. So, like any smart, young entrepreneur, she came up with a simple, elegant solution … starting small by launching a business making high school yearbook design easy.

It was a huge success, and following an unexpected meeting with a venture capitalist, she found herself able to pursue her original idea and the chance to take on the software industry giants of the desktop publishing world.

Fast forward to 2023, and Melanie’s online design platform Canva, has recently been valued at $25.5B, she employs over 2,500 staff who have no working hours or dress code, Canva has over 135 million active users … and here’s the interesting bit … Melanie thinks she’s only just scratched the surface of what’s possible.

This interview is from 2019 when I caught up with her in Canva’s new inner-Sydney 7-story office which resembles something more of an oversized cubby house for millenials, complete with a very cool rooftop garden, full commercial kitchen pumping out two home-cooked meals a day, a very funky, well-stocked bar, and all types of meeting booths and rooms and pods full of young folk getting stuff done.

I started off by asking Melanie what it feels like to be the founder of a company that (at the time) was valued at a tiny $3B?

Oh, and here's the transcript of my interview with Melanie Perkins of Canva.

 

Businesses that make this podcast possible

StudioHawk - No generalists, just a damn good SEO agency (award-winning actually!).

 

Patreon - Join Timbo's Business Owner Membership and take control of your marketing.

 

Book Tim Reid - Keynote or conference emceeing.

 

As always, thanks for your support. May your marketing be the best marketing.

Timbo Reid
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How and why a small business should design a category and own their niche with Christopher Lochhead. If the idea of standing out, for all the right reasons, in your crowded marketplace appeals (and why wouldn’t it?!), then it’s time you became a category pirate! Arrrrrrrrr, it’s episode 651 of The (14 year-old, award-winning) Small Business Big Marketing podcast.

A little more about Category Design expert author Christopher Lochhead ...

If you’re a regular listener of this podcast, you’ll have heard me bang on about the power of owning a niche an inch wide and a mile deep.

Well, you no longer need to take my word for it, as we’re about to hear from a world-leading expert on this exact topic or as he likes to call it …. Category Design.

Christopher Lochhead is a dyslexic paperboy turned three-time Silicon Valley public company CMO and investor / advisor to 50+ startups; however he’s best known as the Godfather of Category Design, having written numerous best sellers including Niche Down, Play Bigger and The 22 Laws of Category Design; he publishes a newsletter on the topic, plus he has a podcast called Follow Your Different.

Get ready for a captivating conversation on how to think differently and why seeing the world through a category design lens can change the course of your business and your life.

And just a reminder that all Silver Members of my Small Business owners Membership can watch the full video of this interview over at Pateron.com/MarketingPodcast. There’s a free, no-obligation 7-day trial, then it’s 47 tax-deductible dollars per month.

Righto, here’s Christopher explaining what category design is and how it differs from niching.

 

Businesses that make this podcast possible

eBusiness Institute - Watch eBusiness Institute's free 90-minute Masterclass on how and why to buy, renovate & sell content websites.

StudioHawk - No generalists, just a damn good SEO agency (award-winning actually!).

 

Patreon - Join Timbo's Business Owner Membership and take control of your marketing.

 

Book Tim Reid - Keynote or conference emceeing.

 

As always, thanks for your support. May your marketing be the best marketing.

Timbo Reid
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Goal setting in business. Long time friend of this podcast Steve Sims, AKA the man that can, whose clients include Elton, Elon and Sir Richard, has one piece of proven advice for all of us … Go for stupid. Ignore it and you and your business is destined for a life of mediocrity. Listen to it, and you just may achieve the ridiculous! It’s a strategically stupid episode 650 of The (14 year-old, award-winning) Small Business Big Marketing podcast.

A little more about Go For Stupid author Steve Sims ...

Steve Sims is the visionary founder of the world’s first luxury concierge that delivers the highest level of personalised travel, transportation, and cutting-edge entertainment services to corporate executives, celebrities, professional athletes, and other discerning individuals interested in living life to its fullest. He is also author of a fantastic book on how and why to set ridiculous goals, aptly titled Go For Stupid: The Art of Achieving Ridiculous Goals.

Previous interviews with Steve Sims:

A simple referral marketing technique | 236

How to get Elton John as a client | 452

Steve teaches you how to ignore what everyone else thinks and go for big, stupid, ridiculous goals. From organising a private dinner in front of Michaelangelo's David to securing a tour of SpaceX led by Elon Musk himself, his accomplishments always start with the same questions: How far can I take this? What would make this a stupid achievement?

You’ll also discover:


How to get out of your own way
The right questions to ask when starting a new project
The habits of highly successful people
Plus Steve describes his Speakeasies that have had him take paying clients into the world's most famous brothel and a level 4 high security prison.

Oh, and one last thing. Despite Steve’s pommy accent and a network of people any of us would kill for, he looks like he’s just stepped off a Harley and is ready to rumble!

I started off by asking Steve why he loves to be laughed at!

 

Businesses that make this podcast possible

eBusiness Institute - Watch eBusiness Institute's free 90-minute Masterclass on how and why to buy, renovate & sell content websites.

StudioHawk - No generalists, just a damn good SEO agency (award-winning actually!).

 

Patreon - Join Timbo's Business Owner Membership and take control of your marketing.

 

Book Tim Reid - Keynote or conference emceeing.

 

As always, thanks for your support. May your marketing be the best marketing.

Timbo Reid
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Here's some B2B sales tips for small businesses. Afterall, B2B selling can be tricky. Even trickier if you’re selling a complex product or service to an infrequent buyer.  Today’s guest is confronted with both these challenges on a daily basis. Poor him, but lucky us as he’s about to share how he does it. It’s a businessy episode 649 of The (14 year-old, award-winning) Small Business Big Marketing podcast.

 

A little more about BindiMaps Co-Founder Mladen Jovanovic ...

So I know I’ve set up today’s special guest Mladen Jovanovic of BindiMaps, as a B2B sales expert. And he is; and you’re going to love the tips he shares including a super simple formula for ensuring your prospects feel understood, and why focussing on your staff first is also good for B2B selling.

Buy Malden's B2B Sales Tips Training Course here.

But Malden is also the co-founder of a very unique business. Called BindiMaps, think of it as Google Maps but for the indoors. That’s right, BindiMaps starts where Google Maps finishes. It maps large buildings, shopping centres, hospitals, sporting venues and so on, and delivers these maps via an app. I do love the never ending ways people make money!

Launched in 2019, the business employs 19 staff, has offices in Sydney and Melbourne, and has mapped indoor locations across Australia, New Zealand and Europe.

So lean in as Malden shares the BindiMaps origin story, why the original target audience quickly changed once they went live, and how they’ve gone about selling a complex product to an infrequent buyer.

And just a reminder that all Silver-arma Members of my Small Business owners Membership can watch the full video of this interview over at Pateron.com/MarketingPodcast (in fact, it’s been up there for a week). It’s 47 tax-deductible dollars per month, and you can trial it free for 7-days.

Righto, let’s go meet BindiMaps co-founder and B2B sales expert Malden Jovanovic …

 

Last Week's Episode of The Small Business Big Marketing Podcast

Old School Marketing Strategies Built This Rock Solid Stone Empire | 648

 

Businesses that make this podcast possible

eBusiness Institute - Watch eBusiness Institute's free 90-minute Masterclass on how and why to buy, renovate & sell content websites

StudioHawk - No generalists, just a damn good SEO agency (award-winning actually!)

 

Patreon - Join Timbo's Business Owner Membership and take control of your marketing

 

Book Tim Reid - Keynote or conference emceeing

 

As always, thanks for your support. May your marketing be the best marketing.

Timbo Reid
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Old-school marketing strategies. If you’re interested in building a business with rock-solid foundations that’s primed for growth, then you’re in the right place. Not because today’s special guest owns Australia's largest, family-run stone business; but because he’s doing it in a way that ensures steady, long-term growth that avoids the painful peaks and troughs. It’s a not-so-rocky episode 648 of The (14 year-old, award-winning) Small Business Big Marketing podcast.

 

A little more about Gitani Stone Owner Jason Gittany...

As an immigrant tiler, Jason Gittany’s father started Gitani Stone in 1974. At the time, it was a modest business providing exceptional supply and installation of marble stone bench tops and other stone products to homes across the Sydney metropolitan area.

Fast-forward to 2023, and Jason’s now running the business, having taken it from a modest one man show, to now one of Australia's premier, family-owned stone suppliers and installers, employing 60 staff, and turning over $40 million annually. They even own their very own Australian quarry, whilst still importing from a quarry outside of Florence, Italy where Michaelangelo once acquired his own stone for the likes of creating David and other famous works.

In this candid chat, Jason shares what he calls his steady strategies for growing the business to where it is today, how he builds loyal, trusted client relations, and how he targets both B2C and B2B customers, each one requiring something just a little bit different.

I started off by asking Jason what the most extravagant project Gittany Stone has ever delivered.

 

Last Week's Episode of The Small Business Big Marketing Podcast

AI For Small Business: A Beginner's Guide with Dr Catriona Wallace | 648 

 

Businesses that make this podcast possible

eBusiness Institute - Watch eBusiness Institute's free 90-minute Masterclass on how and why to buy, renovate & sell content websites

Patreon - Join Timbo's Business Owner Membership and take control of your marketing

Book Tim Reid - Keynote or conference emceeing

As always, thanks for your support. May your marketing be the best marketing.

Timbo Reid
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

AI for small business. Thanks to ChatGPT launching in November 2022, AI (AKA artificial intelligence) is now on the lips of every small business owner. To find out how we can use AI to our advantage, world leading expert Dr Catriona Wallace joins us to share the good, the bad and the downright ugly. It’s a no holes barred, slightly scary, and definitely artificially intelligent episode 647 of The (14 year-old, award-winning) Small Business Big Marketing podcast.

 

A little more about world-leading AI expert Dr Catriona Wallace …

In October 2022, we were all happily going along running and growing our precious businesses. Writing copy, creating content, SEOing, PPCing, recruiting, targeting, selling, pricing and so on. Then in November, ChatGPT launched and AI became the most talked about thing since, well … the Internet itself!

But what really is AI? What types of AI are there? How do they work? Can they be trusted? How can they help your business grow? Should you be scared or excited? Or both? How can you use ChatGPT to your advantage? And what other AI applications are out there? So many questions!

Fortunately, today’s special guest, Dr Catriona Wallace is a world-leading AI expert. She’s also a Shark on Network Ten’s hit series Shark Tank. She’s LinkedIN’s top voice on Technology. She’s Chairperson at BOAB AI, a VC firm investing in AI startups. The author of the best selling book Checkmate Humanity. Founder of the Responsible Metaverse Alliance. An advocate for the psychedelic renaissance. And she’s the mother of five.

You honestly could ask for a better person to help us navigate this brave new artificially intelligent world.

For those of you who are silver or gold Members of my small business owners Membership, you can also watch the video of this full interview. It’s been up there for a week. If you’re not a Member you can become one in less than 30 seconds over at Patreon.com/MarketingPodcast.

I started off by congratulating Dr Catriona Wallace on her Shark Tank success.

Last Week's Episode of The Small Business Big Marketing Podcast

How (& why) to target small compounding growth initiatives not short-term sales with Ferndale’s Leigh Edward | 646

 

Businesses that make this podcast possible - Please support them ...

Watch eBusiness Institute's free 90-minute Masterclass on how and why to buy, renovate & sell content websites

Join Timbo's Business Owner Membership and take control of your marketing

Book Tim Reid to speak or emcee at your next business event 

 

As always, thanks for your support. May your marketing be the best marketing.

Timbo Reid
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.