Marketing support from people who’ve run small businesses too

Smashing Self-Employment is led by Karl Craig-West, a small business marketing consultant with a trusted team of specialists behind him.

Wooden blocks arranged to spell MARKETING on a neutral background.

Who We Are

A small team with agency-level experience

We’re a close-knit team of marketing specialists, led by Karl. Between us we cover websites, CRM and automations, AI, strategy, email marketing and Google Ads, so you get the right expertise for each job without paying big-agency fees.

We work with small and growing businesses across New Zealand, Fiji, Vanuatu, the UK and the USA. Most are service businesses, and most come to us for one or two things rather than everything at once. That suits us perfectly: you choose the support you need, and we fit around you.

How we work

Support that fits your business

Every business is different, so we start by getting to know yours: your goals, your customers and how you like to work. Then we recommend only what will genuinely help, whether that’s one focused project or ongoing support.

What you can expect

Clear, honest and focused on results

We explain things in plain English, keep you in the loop at every stage and focus on results you can see, such as more enquiries, smoother follow-up and time saved each week.

Our Expertise

Experience you can put to work

Because we’ve run businesses ourselves, we understand the pressure on your time and budget. That’s why everything we do is practical and built to pay its way. You get specialists who know their field inside out, joined-up thinking so each piece of your marketing supports the rest, and one friendly point of contact throughout. The result is marketing that brings in more enquiries, turns more of them into customers and gives you time back to focus on running your business.

marketing services for small businesses

Our Story

From a Leicester start-up to clients across the world

I’ve been self-employed, on and off, since I was 19, when I started a small property maintenance business. Since then I’ve had my share of wins and lessons, and both have shaped how I help other business owners today.

My biggest venture was Buzz, a web design and marketing agency in Leicester, England. In 2014 we were nominated for Innovative Business of the Year, and by 2015 we were known as Leicester’s fastest growing web design and marketing agency. In our third year, the marketing plan we built for ourselves doubled our sales in under a year. In 2017 I shared what I’d learned in my book, Smashing Self-Employment, which became a small-business best-seller.

In 2020 I sold Buzz and moved to New Zealand, where I’m now mostly based. Today my team and I bring that same hands-on, practical approach to small and growing businesses across the Pacific, the UK and the USA.

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Smashing Self-Employment - The ultimate guide to self-employment survival and success

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