Indie business club with Barfield and McKinney

This episode is called Flaming Lips, and we’re talking about public speaking as a way to build your profile and attract more clients. We’ve both spoken on large stages, and one of the reasons we wanted to start a podcast was to...

improve our public speaking

get more speaking gigs, both in-person and on podcasts

In the talk we mention Ben’s speaker performances at Creator Day this year and at Copy Cabana in 2017, which you can watch here.

In this episode, Pascalle Bergmans gives us her top tip for people who want to start delivering event talks. Her website is presentales.com.

And as always we have our regular “Your Friend And Mine” feature where we big-up a fellow indie business owner we think is great.

Please follow, like, review, whatevs...

Spotify / Apple podcasts / Amazon Music and AudibleThanks for listening,

Mel & BenFind our producer and theme composer Ant Henderson on LinkedIn and our indie business club page is on LinkedIn.

This episode is called I Bet You Look Good on the Timeline, and we’re talking about everyone’s favourite/most hated social media platform... LinkedIn. In the episode we talk about how incredible LinkedIn and how much Mel (hi) loves it. Ben is... slightly less enamoured.

We went to top LinkerInner and Friend Of The Show Dave Harland for a voice note about the impact a single post can have.

And as always, we shout out a fellow indie business owner we think is top notch. This time it’s Jonathan Wilcock, a copywriter and dungeon master at sowhatif.co.uk.

When he’s not sweating over copy, Jonathan enjoys sweating over his victims, with his series Copywriters On The Rack. We’ve both had the honour of being squeezed for words.

Read what Mel said on the Rack

Read what Ben said on the Rack

Please follow, like, review, whatevs...

Spotify / Apple podcasts / Amazon Music and Audible

If you'd like the transcript (it keeps glitching) you can request it by emailing [email protected]

Thanks for listening,Mel & BenFind our producer and theme composer Ant Henderson on LinkedIn. Our indie business club page is also over there.

There’s so much tech around nowadays, it’s hard to know where to start.

Today’s episode is called Plug In Baby, and we talk about which software we use in our own indie businesses. Safe to say, we aren’t the techiest of bros. Tetchiest, more like.

We’ve got a voicenote from exec VA and all-round processes legend Jo Shock, who talks us through what to consider when choosing your software. You can find Jo here, where she has a free Client Management Journey Checklist: Streamlines Virtual.

In the episode, we cover all kinds of software from financial tools to streaming and client management stuff. Ultimately, we favour simple-to-use analogue tech without too many bells and whistles. Bring back music-only iPods!

Ben’s software TL:DL just make friends with someone who knows how to use Canva 😏

Your Friend And Mine

This time we’re shouting out Jack Chambers-Ward. Jack works for Candour as Marketing and Partnerships Manager and hosts the Search With Candour podcast. He is also a published author and runs a very successful long-running pod called Sequelisers, all about movie sequels. Jack and Mel met at BrightonSEO, where Mel was dumbstruck to hear Jack listens to indie business club podcast. Our first listener in the wild!

Jack lives in Norwich so Ben auto-likes him (kidding, he’s not a fan of ALL Norwich people... but he does like Jack). Maybe one day we’ll get to do a collab / crossover episode.

Quick reminder, we’re both at Cowork Crew Cambridge tomorrow Friday 15th November. Ben’s speaking about how to be your own best customer.

Mel’s at Cowork Crew Northampton next Thursday 21st November, speaking about how to find and use your unique voice.

Annnd find us wherever you get your podcasts, and on the indie business club LinkedIn page.See ya,

Mel & Ben

🎙️ Spotify / Apple podcasts / Amazon Music and Audible

Hi gang, Mel here.

⏰NEXT B&M (on public speaking): Monday 25th March 12:30-13:30⏰

Here’s a recap we recorded just for audio (hence I’m not looking to camera) but then we thought hey, why not throw the vid out too?

All in the interest of oversharing, of course.

I spoke at Digital Women Live on Monday, on the topic of getting over yourself and posting more on LinkedIn. Nagged everyone not to be a #LurkinGherkin.

After my talk, I was asked by a few people, “how much is too much?”

It seems to be a consistent dilemma for people.

On LinkedIn in particular, where’s the line? How far can you go before you get “this isn’t Facebook!” comments?

Ben doesn’t post about personal stuff. I do. And in the great tradition of Barfield & McKinney, we ended up not coming to a firm conclusion either way 🤔

Benefits of sharing personal stuff:

it shortens the space between you and your potential clients/peers

allows people to relate to you more

you can pre-qualify and pre-disqualify potential clients

it sets client expectations e.g. if you only work within the school day, like me

shows you as a fully functional 3D/4K human

Downsides of sharing personal stuff:

could risk being seen as a Mumpreneur/Dadpreneur/Parentpreneur/Pupreneur if all you do is post about your children/doggo

oversharing about family life means you lose your business being a “space” for you and only you

if you post something vulnerable and it gets huge reach, the engagement isn’t necessarily from your clients

can make you look less polished (also a benefit - it can put off clients that might not suit you)

face recognition tech might mean your children’s faces get deepfaked (hey, it could happen)

We also covered the shocking news that not only has Ben never had Facebook, he also never had a MySpace page. #TomWasMyFirstFriend - IYKYK.

An “excessive generosity of information” is a lovely phrase Ben dug up when doing his research for the show. I guess it all depends on your definition of “excessive”.

Timing matters too. Molly Scanlan and I discussed the subject at Digital Women and agreed perhaps a good rule of thumb is not to post while you’re vulnerable. To wait until you’re through it before posting about the situation. Partly for your own protection but also to retain the confidence of your clients.

And in case you missed it, I have to mute myself every time Ben does an intro. I don’t know why, but it cracks me up.

Our next LinkedIn audio event is on Monday 25th, 12:30-13:30 UK time. We’ll be discussing how you can use PUBLIC SPEAKING to promote your business. Make sure you click “join” on LinkedIn then add it to your calendar to get nag-reminded.

See ya,

Mel & Ben

Hi, Mel here.

On 14th February we shamelessly crowbarred in a Valentine’s Day theme - Client Relationships 💞

We spoke about how to foster a great relationship with your clients before, during and after a freelance project.

It all relies on the foundations you’ve laid and how well you’ve managed expectations.

On both sides.

We spoke about...

how your marketing/personal brand/reputation is the start of the relationship and your first chance to manage those expectations

onboarding, and how I’ve changed my process to start with a briefing form so the client has to prove they’re serious early on

using templates for emails, both for ease and to keep you in control

how it’s important to establish in advance how you check in with the client throughout the project (all the more important when it’s a long one)

the difference between being an employee and a freelancer

We also bigged up Tom Albrighton, who’s just released his book The Freelancer’s Business Brain. We’ve both met Tom (I interviewed him for Freelancer Magazine, Ben’s met him IRL coz NORWICH crew) and can confirm he’s a lovely man. So knowledgeable about all things copywriting and freelancing.

Tom talks about the importance of meeting with clients, at least on a Zoom. Ben then recounted his experience visiting an agency to discuss their project in person, and how on reflection it put him on the back foot a little. I’ll stick to Zoom calls I think.

A slightly abrupt end to this recap. Soz. We were trying out AudioJack and had a 10min limit, but still ended up using the Zoom recording anyway because of echo echo echo.

We spoke more in the audio event (but not the recap) about how to keep the conversation going with clients after the project ends:

make keeping in touch less gross by sending genuinely helpful info e.g. “saw this blog and thought it might be useful” now and then

build a project review into the project e.g. a 1:1 zoom call three months later

Jodie Newman speaks about “sowing seeds of delight” into your processes, and how important it is to ask for feedback and testimonials (bleugh!)

So, what do you do to keep your clients happy?

Huge thanks to our paid subscribers including long-time listener Lorna Smart who recently supported us. We’re edging ever closer to this moving from “podcast experiment” to just “podcast”.

We haven’t yet set the next audio event date. We both have half term next week *shudder* so we’ll give it a ponder and let you know as soon as we know. Won’t be long though, promise.

See ya,

B&M

Find us on LinkedIn:Mel BarfieldBen McKinney