“Are you green and growing or ripe and rotting?”

This quote by Ray Kroc is one of the sayings I have pinned to my wall.

I love feeding my mind with knowledge and reading is one of my favourite ways to do this. My bookcase is filled with biographies, business and marketing books. I read almost every night before bed. I listen to audio-books while driving or just whenever I can.

I guess you could say learning and growth is one of my highest values. Just one look around my office will reveal some other quotes that show this:

• “It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows.” – Epictetus
  
  
• “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” —Dr. Seuss
  
  
• “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” Mahatma Gandhi

Whether you’re an avid reader or looking for a book to kickstart your learning library, here are 5 books by powerful women I respect, admire and have learned a lot from that you might enjoy:

1: Thrive, Ariana Huffington

In Thrive, Arianna Huffington, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post and one of the most influential women in the world, has written a passionate call to arms, looking to redefine what it means to be successful in today’s world.

2: Everything is Figureoutable, Marie Forleo

Whether you want to leave a dead-end job, heal a relationship, grow a business, master your money, or just find two free hours in your day, Everything is Figureoutable will train your brain to think more positively and help you break down any dream into manageable steps.

3: Daring Greatly, Brene Brown

Researcher and thought leader Dr. Brené Brown offers a powerful new vision in Daring Greatly, the #1 New York Times Bestseller and TED talk hit that encourages us to embrace vulnerability and imperfection, to live wholeheartedly and courageously.

4: Girl Wash Your Face, Rachel Hollis

In this challenging and inspiring new book, Rachel exposes the twenty lies and misconceptions that too often hold us back from living joyfully and productively, lies we’ve told ourselves so often we don’t even hear them anymore. I also recommend her book, Girl Stop Apologising. 

5: Get Rich Lucky B!tch, Denise Dufflied-Thomas

Karyn introduced me to this book and I loved it. It’s weird and frankly bewildering that the most talented women in the world are often the ones struggling to make fabulous money from their talents. In Get Rich, Lucky Bitch!, you’ll get the tools and inspiration you need to go to the next level of wealth – whether you’re starting from scratch or itching to break through the million-dollar mark.

Admittedly my library of books is packed in boxes because of a recent house move. I can’t wait to get them out and put them on display again. I will no doubt have more books to add to this list as I unpack the boxes and the learnings and lessons come flooding back.

xo 

Comment and let me know what books you have in your bookshelf, kindle or audio library.

Written by Megan Winter

Megan is an award-winning marketer and has worked with some of the fastest-growing eCommerce brands in the world.

Megan loves helping ethically-produced, heart-centred, soul-driven online store owners to make more income and achieve more impact. 

When people visit your online store they use the information that is on that website to make a decision. 

And they only have the information you give them. 

They can’t try it on, smell it, sample it, touch it, taste it or look in the mirror with it like they would be able to in a physical shop. They can’t ask the shop assistant questions and get an instant response. 

So what you say on your online store, and how you say it, is super important. 

During our eCommerce website audits, we often find messaging that is totally backwards. There are little nuggets of gold buried deep in the about us page, while the main headling on the home page is pointless and meaningless. 

Often we are so close to our own products and brands that we totally miss the most important messaging because we think that it’s obvious. We forget to say the things that are most important. 

And we can often feel stuck and unsure of what to write. 

So, next time you are writing a headline, product description or any piece of copy, use these tips to nail your messaging. 

Tip 1 – 5 Whys

If you get stuck with knowing what headline to create or how to define your brand value proposition for example, I find the 5 Whys method to be super helpful in overcoming overwhelm and get to the bottom of knowing what to write. 

The founder of Toyota, Sakichi Toyoda, developed the 5 Whys technique and I believe they still use it at Toyota today. 

You can do this on your own, or with a team. Grab a pen and paper and ask “why” 5 times. 

For example, if you are trying to work out what headline to include on your homepage, ask “People should buy our toilet paper. Why”. 

You can use versions like “but why does that matter” or “and why is that important” if find yourself coming to a dead end. 

Why: 

Why: 

Why: 

Why: 

Repeat asking “why” as many times as you need to get to overcome the problem. 5-7 times usually does the trick!

Tip 2 – If I knew

Take a deep breath (seriously do it!) now say this to yourself: 

“If I wasn’t overwhelmed and knew what to write it would be…. ” 

Just write whatever comes. You aren’t going to fail for writing the wrong answer. Just start writing. It will start the creative juices flowing and after a few rubbish sentences, you may uncover some gold. 

Tip 3 – Start wrong 

Start by trying to create a wrong version. 

Get out a pen and paper and start by writing this “This is totally wrong but…” then just write your worst. Keep writing and see what flows. 

When I’m writing anything I always write a wrong version, then I go back and refine it. I am not scared of making mistakes and I’m not trying to get it perfect. 

By giving yourself permission to write the wrong thing you are removing the pressure, and your brain has the space to craft the right thing! 

Tip 4 – Make progress not perfection  

Perfection is the killer of progress. When writing something use the above tactics to make progress… and forget about perfection. Perfectionism is simply our protection mechanism and our excuse to avoid criticism. I often find that taking imperfect action will help us to see things more clearly. As Marie Forleo says “If you wait to get it perfect, you’ll never get it out there.” Which leads me so nicely to my next tip: 

Tip 5 – Remember that unless it’s a tattoo, it’s not a tattoo 

No headline, product description or website is permanent. Of course, you want to make progress (not perfect) and do your best to create the best version of it. But remember, that it’s the best version of it right now. The beauty about digital marketing and eCommerce is that we can test, measure and tweak constantly. So remember, unless it’s a tattoo, it’s not a tattoo. 

So use these tips to overcome the overwhelm next time you face a block when writing for your brand.

Want more on this topic?

• Join our free Facebook Group for lots of free trainings and more great info.
• Feel free to ask questions or comment with your key takeaways on this article. We will always read and reply to your comments.

Written by Megan Winter

Megan is an award-winning marketer and has worked with some of the fastest-growing eCommerce brands in the world.

Megan loves helping ethically-produced, heart-centred, soul-driven online store owners to make more income and achieve more impact. 

Having a content strategy in place that delivers unique, magnetic and engaging content around your brand and your product is essential to having a successful online store.

Online store owners will often forget to post content for days – or even weeks. Or they will post something in the moment, without thinking about the strategy behind what they are posting.

When you have a plan in place you don’t ever have to feel overwhelmed or unsure when it comes to content creation.

Creating and scheduling your content in batches is a great way to ensure your content is published in line with your strategy, and you don’t miss a post just because you’re busy.

Which tool to use to schedule your posts

There are plenty of scheduling tools, however, they tend to lead to lower reach and therefore less engagement than if you posted it natively.

Instagram works out what content to show its users by using its algorithm. It shows your content to a percentage of your followers. It then assesses how much organic engagement your post gets when you first put it up. If it gets none, then the algorithm will deem your post irrelevant and it won’t show it to more of your audience. If it gets lots of engagement, it will think your post is relevant to your audience and show more of your audience.

So, we want as much engagement as possible.

We’ve always recommended posting natively. Meaning using the Instagram app to post, rather than using a scheduling tool. The good news is that Facebook (which owns Instagram) has brought out the ability to schedule natively within the platform. So, we don’t need to use a third-party app.

We have also noticed lately, that pages that use a third-party scheduling app like Later or Hootsuite are getting temporarily blocked from using the posting function. 

There are still a few limitations, however, I predict the features will be regularly tested and updated and we will soon have the ability to view by grid layout, add the first comment (which is where you load in the bulk of your hashtags) and other cool features some of the other apps have. Stay tuned.

How to create nice line spacing in Instagram posts 

One of the limitations Instagram seems to have is nice line spacing. Seems like such a small thing, but there is nothing worse than writing a long post with lots of paragraph breaks, only for Instagram to squish it all up. 

In this post, I am going to show you how to schedule your posts using Facebook Creator Studio AND make sure your posts have lovely line spacing.

How to schedule posts to Instagram (with beautiful line spacing): 

Step 1: Log into the Facebook profile you use to manage your and go to https://business.facebook.com/creatorstudio

Step 2: Click on the Instagram icon in the very top menu bar. Select the Instagram account you want to schedule to:

Step 3: Select Create Post and then Instagram Feed:

Step 4: Click on Add Content and select the image you want to use:

Step 5: Crop the image if required then select Save:

Step 6: Copy the text you want to go with your post (including line spacing and emojis). Open up this cool free tool and paste it into the text box. Click Content (&copy to clipboard): 

Step 7: Paste the text you just copied from the converter tool into Your Post text box in Creator Studio:

Step 8: Click on the drop down box to Publish, Schedule or save as Draft. If scheduling, select the date and time you want it to go live, then select Schedule:  

Now, just because you can schedule your posts directly to Instagram, don’t forget to check your Instagram app once a day to reply to comments and to engage with your audience and other accounts. I recommend turning off your notifications and treating Instagram like a serious business tool, because it is.

Want more on this topic?

• Join our free Facebook Group for lots of free trainings and more great info.

• Feel free to ask questions or comment with your key takeaways on this article. We will always read and reply to your comments.

Written by Megan Winter

Megan is an award-winning marketer and has worked with some of the fastest-growing eCommerce brands in the world.

Megan loves helping ethically-produced, heart-centred, soul-driven online store owners to make more income and achieve more impact. 

Layne Beachley is one of the most authentic, grounded, unassuming people I’ve ever met. I had the privilege to spend time with her in Fiji at Nurture Her and I was so blown away by her wisdom that I wanted to share a few key takeaways with you. These are so relevant to us as business owners.

Layne is regarded as the most successful female surfer in history. But here’s the kicker. That’s not because she’s a talented surfer. Of course, she is a talented surfer, but that’s not the reason she won 6 consecutive world titles between 1998 and 2003, and went on to win a 7th in 2007. She put in the work. She made sacrifices. She levelled the F up.

It’s easy to mistake persistence, discipline, dedication and sacrifice for talent.

My key takeaways from Layne:

Don’t surround yourself with dream thieves; surround yourself with those who lift you up. 

Who you surround yourself with is so important. You’ve probably heard the saying “you are the top 5 people who you spend your time with”. And that’s true. If you spend your time with people who are constantly complaining or talking negatively about others or telling you why you can’t achieve something, you will inevitably be affected in a negative way.

On the other hand, if you spend your time with people who are positive and supportive and encourage you to slay your goals, you will be elevated, inspired and motivated.

Action: Take a moment to list out the 5 people you spend the most time with. Are you happy with your answer? Now I’m not saying you should sever your friendships and burn your bridges (although in some cases you should!) but do you need to expand your network, join a mastermind or up-level your connections and network?

Start with your identity. The process and outcomes will follow. 

You may have heard of Simon Sinek’s TED Talk “How Great Leaders Inspire Action” about starting with why. It’s currently got over 46million youtube views and at least 20 of them are from me!

Well, Layne introduced me to James Clear’s 3 levels at which change can occur:

1. Identity
2. Process
3. Outcome

As business owners, we often focus on outcomes. And many of us begin the process of affecting outcomes by focusing on what we do. This leads us to outcome-based habits.

The alternative is to take action based around our identity. Who we believe we are. With this approach, we start by focusing on who we wish to become rather than what we want to achieve. You can read more about this here.

If it’s not a HELL YEAH, it’s a F*CK NO. 

This is a simple, yet really powerful process for making decisions. As business owners, we are presented with dozens, if not hundreds of opportunities every week. We need to decide what to do with these opportunities. We can often say “yes” to these opportunities out of fear. Fear of scarcity or fear of letting people down. If we say yes to everything and everyone we can become burnt out, resentful and miserable. What we need to do is create boundaries and know what to say yes to and what to say no to.

Layne’s process, which I love, is to feel into it. This is your immediate initial reaction you get when presented with a opportunity before that little voice in your head starts to give you all the reasons why it will/won’t work or is/isn’t a good idea. Pay attention to that feeling. If it’s a HELL YEAH then do it.

Now, I am a “jump out of the plan and build the parachute on the way down” kind of person, so this is easier for me, than someone like Karyn who likes to have all her ducks in a row before taking off. We make such a good team because we are so different.

So that’s how you make the yes decision. And if it’s not a HELL YEAH, it a F*CK NO.

Flip it

I love this concept and it’s something we can all start doing straight away.

When we start to imagine what could go wrong, flip it, and imagine what could go right.

When we start to think about why we shouldn’t do something, flip it, and think about why we should.

Think about our dialogue.

• “Don’t forget your wallet”
• “Don’t miss the train”
• “Don’t, don’t, don’t”

It’s so negative. Let’s flip it to be positive.

• “Remember you wallet”
• “Catch the train”
• “Do, do, do”

So there are my takeaways from the lovely Layne Beachley. I hope this inspired you too.

Written by Megan Winter

Megan is an award-winning marketer and has worked with some of the fastest-growing eCommerce brands in the world.

Megan loves helping ethically-produced, heart-centred, soul-driven online store owners to make more income and achieve more impact. 

 One of the most common questions we get is around shipping.

• Should I offer free shipping?
• How do we calculate shipping?
• How do we communicate our shipping policy to customers?
• How do we not lose customers due to shipping costs?

Shipping costs are one of the top reasons people don’t buy. This is especially true for items that are small.

Now, you don’t need to tell me that it costs you time and money to ship your items to your customer. I get it. Packing and shipping the orders for The Good Bag Project was my least favourite job. So much time and effort is involved in getting your product to your customer – and then there is the monetary cost!

But it is what it is. Customers don’t like paying for shipping.

Why don’t customers like paying for shipping

• Value perception. If they buy a $20 product and have to pay $10 postage, they are paying $30 for a $20 product. But if you charge $30 and offer free shipping, they are paying $30 for a $30 product and people are a lot happier with that.
• Comparison. “What else could my dollar get me?” If you’re selling a $15 head-band and people are then hit with $15 on postage, in their mind they are missing out on another head-band.
• Free shipping is available. Just because you might not offer it, customers have become accustomed to having the option of free shipping. So when there is no option to dodge the postage fee, they feel disappointed. And disappointment is not a feeling you want to evoke.

So what can we do to overcome this issue and sell more on our online store?

1. Offer free shipping site wide

Build the shipping cost into the price and offer free shipping. For example, if you are selling a $30 scarf and you know it’ll cost you $8-12 to ship around Australia, make the scarf $40 with free shipping.

However, I don’t want you to stop there. I want you to offer incentives for people to buy multiple products. Here’s the thing, it usually costs the same amount to send one scarf, as it does to send 3 scarfs. And it definitely takes you the same amount of time and effort to send 1, 2 or 3 scarves. So offer incentives for people to buy more than one scarf. I recommend bundles. We did this with The Good Bag Project.

This is a great way to increase your average order value and move more stock. Plus you won’t lose sales due to people baulking at shipping costs.

2. Offer a free shipping threshold

A free shipping threshold is where people spend over a certain amount in order to get free shipping. This again is a great way to increase average order value. Let’s say your average order value is $65, you can offer free shipping on orders over $75 to get people to spend just that little bit more. You can also do this by offering bundles where you incentivise people to buy more than one item to qualify for free shipping. You need to know your numbers and you need to make this work for your business.

Exceptions to the rule

If you have a very large item to post, like a rug or item of furniture, people are a little more forgiving and are happy to pay a postage fee.

Keep it simple

Regardless of the strategy you use – and you can use a combination of all three, but I prefer to stick with just one – you want to make sure that your shipping policy is simple and easy to understand. You don’t want people feeling confused around what shipping rates apply. And you definitely don’t want people assuming they qualify for one shipping rate, and they get to the payment page only to realise that in fact they don’t. So make it as simple as possible and very easy to understand.

For example:

• Free global shipping on all orders over $75
• Free shipping on all orders within Australia

Communicate it before the payment page

Don’t leave people in the dark about how much they are going to have to pay for shipping. Shipping is most likely one of your FAQ’s and/or customer objections. Communicate your shipping policy clearly throughout their purchase journey. As with everything, step into your customers’ shoes and think about what questions they have at what point. I like to include the shipping policy throughout a website in the following places:

1. In a hello bar that sits above your menu

2. On each product page.

3. On a Shipping page that is linked to from your footer

4. In your marketing and advertising where you proactively answer your customers’ questions and overcome their objections. Click here to read our guide on how to do this in your marketing.

Want more on this topic?

• Join our free Facebook Group for lots of free trainings and more great info.
• Feel free to ask questions or comment with your key takeaways on this article. We will always read and reply to your comments.

Written by Megan Winter

Megan is an award-winning marketer and has worked with some of the fastest-growing eCommerce brands in the world.

Megan loves helping ethically-produced, heart-centred, soul-driven online store owners to make more income and achieve more impact.