about smashing self-employment
Hello,
my name is Karl Craig-West and I started the Smashing Self-Employment business community to give self-employed people (and small businesses) the chance to access agency-level expertise without having to pay the agency level fees.
But what makes me qualified to do this?
Well, I’ve been self-employed (on and off) since I was 19 years old when I started a little property maintenance business.
I’ve had some great success, plenty of failure, made loads of business mistakes and learned loads of stuff along the way.
In 2008 the training business I owned at the time failed (thanks to the global financial meltdown) and I had to declare bankruptcy. That wasn’t fun.
However, my next venture (a web design business) went on to win awards for “most innovative small company” and “fastest growing marketing agency” in 2005/6.
In 2019 I published the book Smashing Self-Employment which has since become a small-business best-seller.
You can buy a copy here : https://amazon.com/SSEbook
I sold the web design business in 2020 (along with an events business I’d recently bought) ahead of a move from Leicester in England to Auckland in New Zealand.
And that’s where we are today with Smashing Self-Employment.
The Smashing Self-Employment community is here to help you achieve more in less time, get more customers and build a brilliant business.
Karl Craig-West
Entrepreneur, business coach, author, speaker.
Why join the community?
Marketing
In the community you’ll learn some down-to-earth techniques that will make a huge difference to your marketing success.
Being Productive
The community has loads of ways to organise your work to enable you to get more done than you thought possible.
Networking
Our members-only facebook group gives you access to expertise and support from people who’ve been there and done it.
Planning
In the community you’ll find ideas for planning your work and then working your plan.
Pricing
You’ll discover ideas for setting prices properly and also using price tools for increased profitability.
When the going gets tough
Being self-employed can be tough. You’ll find strategies for keeping you and your business in good shape.
latest business-building articles from the Blog
8 great reasons to use Youtube in your marketing
You should definitely use Youtube in your marketing because it’s the unsung hero of social media marketing. Find out why in this post & video
9 Top self-employment tips from a successful social media marketing specialist
And this episode of the Smashing podcast Libby Langley shares self-employment tips and what you can do to make your life and business better.
Why you should keep in touch with customers and contacts
It’s almost a given that you should keep in touch with customers and contacts in business. However, many small businesses are really bad at this. In fact, only a minority of all small businesses (including the self-employed) do this on a regular basis. In this...
3 simple ideas to help you and your business flow
3 simple ideas to help you and your business flow! Check out these simple, but powerful, ideas that can help you get more customers and get more done.
Why you shouldn’t be into every marketing channel
You don’t have to be into every marketing channel to reach customers. Read this post (& video) on how to make marketing work by doing less.
Top business tips from a successful self-employed graphic designer
In this blog post and podcast episode we interview Clare McCabe of Purple Star Design where Clare shares her top tips for being in business for nearly 20 years and becoming a successful self-employed graphic designer.