172: Think differently. Grow faster with Jodie Newman [SUMMIT SPEAKER SERIES]

In this special Online Business Growth Summit Speaker Series episode of Online Business Uncovered, I'm joined by Jodie Newman, founder of The Business Allotment, for a fascinating conversation about why creativity is one of the most valuable skills any business owner can develop.

If you've ever found yourself saying "I'm just not creative" then this episode might completely change the way you think.

Jodie shares why creativity isn't about being artistic... it's about thinking differently, solving problems in new ways and creating a business that stands out in a crowded marketplace. 

We explore why so many businesses sound the same, how your brand story can become your greatest competitive advantage and practical ways to build creativity into your everyday business.

We also chat about overcoming the fear of failure, developing more original ideas and why stepping away from "business as usual" thinking could be the key to your next stage of growth.

Plus, Jodie gives us a sneak peek into her upcoming Online Business Growth Summit session, where she'll be introducing her brilliant Chicken Nugget Philosophy to help you package your expertise into a digital product people actually want.

If you're ready to think differently, create more memorable experiences for your audience and build a business that truly reflects who you are, this is an episode you won't want to miss!

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Transcript

Karen [00:00:05]:
Welcome to today's episode. Today I am continuing with the Summit speaker series and I have the wonderful Jody Newman who is going to be having a chat with me. And Jody is the founder and business owner of the business allotment. And Jody's business is actually really interesting. I, I love the concept of it because it's all about bringing creative ideas to life. So welcome. Jodi, I'm so excited that you are on the show today. Do you want to start by just introducing yourself and telling people who you are, what you do and about the business allotment?

Jody Newman [00:00:54]:
Yeah, of course. It's lovely to be here. Karen. Thank you for the invite. Yes. So the business allotment, it's the place where businesses grow creatively. So being a creative by training and by kind of heart, I guess it was always for me going to be about the belief that great ideas grow businesses and that is the foundation on which I built the allotment. And it was really that simple.

Jody Newman [00:01:19]:
When I kind of, when I had that thought and that crystallized over many years, I was very clear about what I wanted to build because there is no business that cannot be better with the injection of creative ideas. So in the allotment it takes the form in a very general sense of strategy, vision, a lot of brand story because we are woefully under creative with how we tell our story and also just creativity into any business challenge that you have. And within the allotment on the south side we have the business sheds. So that's our online business growth club. Lots of different tiers and membership and. But essentially every month business owners come and get brilliant ideas about how to grow their business. That not so sexy but very important accountability and the time and the space to focus on what you need to do in the next month to move your business forward. Then on the top side, on the north side of the allotment we have seedling sessions and cultivator sessions and they are working one to one with me usually online for your business challenge.

Jody Newman [00:02:27]:
A lot of strategy vision and brand stories I said but you know, oh, I want to launch a thing or I'm, you know, how do I onboard my customers in a really cool way or I want to start a newsletter and then you know, tumbleweed. So I work alongside encouraging business owners to be more creative. This is not about me giving everyone ideas. I can do that. It's about me using creative approaches and tools to help business owners think differently. And I always talk about business as usual thinking, which is a brilliant way to run Our business every day because we know our stuff, we just crack on and do it. Business as usual thinking is terrible for growth we need businesses unusual thinking. And that's where creativity plays such an important part in that business owners toolkit.

Jody Newman [00:03:10]:
And then in the middle we have the greenhouse we have is where I work one to one, usually in half or four days around a table where we kind of grow the business strategy off the surface of the table with three dimensional tools that you can touch and feel and move and a really kind of interactive, creative way to hot house your business.

Karen [00:03:28]:
Yeah, I love that. I love how you are injecting creativity into the way you are presenting your business. You're very much walking the talk, which is what I love. Where did the idea come from for the business allotment?

Jody Newman [00:03:44]:
So I did my own toolkit on myself. I do brand naming as a service. So I had all the tools and I worked through the process. And really for me it goes back to understanding your own story. I have a framework called the story wheel and right at the center is the brand heart. And for me it's that belief. At the very heart of everything I do is the belief that great ideas grow businesses and then that kind of adjacent sort of belief that everyone can be creative. But we are often educated out of that belief and that ability.

Jody Newman [00:04:17]:
So if I can do two things at once, help you grow your business using a more creative approach and making you more creative as a business owner in the process, it's kind of a win win because you've got those skills then for life, you know.

Karen [00:04:33]:
Yeah, absolutely. I think it's really interesting with business because even if you are somebody that analytical that you like data, you like to, to to kind of get in the weeds of your business. In order for any business to take shape, there needs to be an aspect of creativity that gets infused into the business. And it's really interesting to me with a creative background, creativity plays such an important part in my business. But then I'll speak to somebody and they'll be like, I'm not very creative. But yet they've come up with a name, they have a concept about their business, they have an idea and that creativity is there. They have brought an idea to life, but yet they sometimes don't believe that they have that creativity within them, which is really interesting.

Jody Newman [00:05:25]:
It's quite often a bit of gatekeeping as well. And I work with a huge amount of creatives. They kind of, they're attracted into the allotment because you know, of the creative approach and I love working with creatives because there's no pushback. When I go, right, we're going to start by drawing a lemon and I want you to put a fez on it. And they're like, sure, let's go. This is great. You know, and they don't question why, because they're used to having that ability to kind of step out of their safe zone and do kind of do kind of stuff like that. So, yeah, it is what.

Jody Newman [00:05:58]:
What they tend not to do is break down their own creative process and understand that because there is a little bit of like, ooh, it's black magic. Let's not stare it in the eyes. It might run away, you know?

Karen [00:06:08]:
Yeah.

Jody Newman [00:06:09]:
And I think they feel that creativity is an instinct that is innate, but they've actually got to that position through thousands and thousands of hours of practice of, you know, potentially being educated in it, of skilling themselves up. And you could, you know, and I think we sort of sometimes forget that we have this skill because it feels like living and breathing to us, particularly in the creative fields. But you can only live and breathe it in in such a kind of natural, subconscious way because you've done the hard work to get there. So when I work with people who self proclaim I'm not creative, it's amazing what happens because it starts off feeling quite hard work. You can see it in their eyes, like, oh, God, my brain hurts. And then by the end of the session, they're like, bang, bang, bang, another idea. And I'm like, yeah, got it. You know, it's just tapping into a different way of thinking.

Karen [00:07:02]:
Yeah, absolutely. And I sometimes think it's the way that our brain processes, doesn't it? So with me, I'm highly creative, but my husband, he's very analytical, but there are certain things that he'll do that require creativity. But he doesn't see his creativity. He doesn't realize he's tapping into those skills that he has because he's not doing it all the time. And it is skill. It's a learned skill, isn't it? Like you say, we all have the ability to be creative. It's just tapping into that skill set and harnessing it as well.

Jody Newman [00:07:39]:
Yeah, I mean, the research sort of does suggest that only up to 20% of creativity is an inherent sort of genetic skill, which kind of leaves 80% on the table as. As a skill that can be learned. And that's, you know, that's where I do. I teach people to use tools to think in different way, you know, we can all be better creative. We're not all going to be creative geniuses. You don't need to be a creative genius. You just need to apply a bit of creativity to your business to create some really fabulous results.

Karen [00:08:14]:
Yeah, absolutely. 100%. I think it's probably one of the most in like what I use, the most important skill really. And it's interesting that you say, I think creative people take it for granted. It's almost like they've been born with this way of looking at the world and it is almost like just how they're built, not realizing, like you say probably 20% is inherited, but the other 80% has been refined over a large proportion of time. Kind of being creative.

Jody Newman [00:08:52]:
Yeah, totally. I mean, you know, if you think as a kid, you know, those who have creative tendencies will naturally gravitate towards stuff outside of school that is creative. They'll paint their drawer, they make comic strips, all the stuff that I did. You know, when you're a kid and so you're, you know, even from 5, 6, 7, you're putting in that, you know, if you subscribe to this 10,000 hours principle, my God, you're starting that skill very, very early. And you know, that is very much encouraged until you get into school when then it becomes all about the data and the improvement steps. They could not give a work about, you know, kind of your craze about, you know, and that's where you start to dip. But then if you, you know, I think, yeah, it's, it's. Obviously you've got to have some kind of inherent curiosity about your own creativity.

Jody Newman [00:09:41]:
But there's, you know, I, I do lay the blame somewhat at many of our educations as to believe they are not creative because it only takes one. I mean, artistic talent has nothing to do with creativity. Yeah. And I think if we understood that it's a good place to start from as business owners because. Yeah, often I'll say you do you consider yourself crazy? Well, no, I can't draw. I'm like.

Karen [00:10:03]:
Yeah, I was going to say that question.

Jody Newman [00:10:06]:
Yeah, it's got nothing to do with it.

Karen [00:10:09]:
Yeah, yeah. And I reckon if you ask 10 people, you'd probably get the majority of those people saying exactly that. They associate things like drawing and patenting and, you know, with being creative. And it's not that at all. It's, it's. I always think it's a wonderful thing to have an idea that's been planted and, and being able to bring that idea to life. But that create creativity starts from the moment that you start recognizing what that seed of an idea is and then, and then using those skills to kind of bring it out, grow it, bring it to life, make it happen. And it's interesting with business owners and entrepreneurs because they have, that they've come up with the idea for their business and they've made it happen.

Karen [00:10:56]:
They're, they're visible, they're networking, they're showing up in whatever capacity. They've, they've essentially brought their idea to life, but yet they are most likely going to be the people that say I'm not creative. Which is, which is quite interesting.

Jody Newman [00:11:11]:
Yeah, it's, I mean, I could talk about this for the next three hours, so probably better not though, eh?

Karen [00:11:18]:
So what's one of the biggest mistakes or misconceptions that you see entrepreneurs make when it comes to like thinking of or being creative? What is the thing that, that where it moves them away from being in that state of mind?

Jody Newman [00:11:41]:
Well, I think to pin it to something very tangible first, because I can talk, as I said for hours, about, you know, what won't be happening in your business if you don't embrace creativity as one of your kind of, you know, business critical skills. But I think for me, brand story is a place where there is a dearth of creativity for most small businesses. And I think the biggest mistake is not investing time and potentially money, but not necessarily to really create a distinct story and be creative about the words you say, the way you describe what you do, how you connect with your audience. Because without that and it feels, I think maybe there is a sense that working on your own story is a bit self indulgent. Yeah, it's all about my story, you know, and I'm not talking about. Well, in 1984, I woke up and I realized this was what I was put on this earth to do because no one gives an s. What I'm talking about is those really critical elements of your business story that help your prospects make their mind up about who they work with. Your story is purely in service of your prospects.

Jody Newman [00:12:59]:
That's it. They have one question in their mind. Why should I choose you? And if you don't apply creativity to your story, what tends to happen is your story sounds like a huge amount of the other businesses in your industry. You only have to look at. Pick an industry, go and Google it, pick the first five companies that come up or do it within the small business realm. They will all sound very similar. Yes, you're not helping your prospects. Forget about the ego trip of Telling your own story, your story is there to serve.

Jody Newman [00:13:34]:
And without that, you're making it very difficult for a prospect to understand whether should or shouldn't choose you. So often clients come to me and say, I want help growing and I want a strategy or I want this, I've got this challenge. And where I start is tell me the story you go out and show up with. And often we will have to start there.

Karen [00:13:55]:
Yeah.

Jody Newman [00:13:56]:
Because without that, every single element of your business becomes more difficult. Networking, marketing, sales, all of that stuff. You know, all of your touch points become blander, they become more vanilla because you're looking and sounding and where you have stories that sound and show up as familiar, they become invisible.

Karen [00:14:18]:
Yeah.

Jody Newman [00:14:19]:
And who wants that for their business? You know, our time is what really scarce. Our resources are scarce. As small business owners, we need to be showing up and marketing and doing that thing with the most impact that we can. So for God's sake, get your story into an amazing shape. Because as the, you know, research says, in any given audience, 95% are not in a buy ready frame of mind, which means 95 of people need to go away either with your story in their head or with nothing in their head. So at the point at which they go, what? You know what I really need help with, you know, building a digital course. Either Karen's in their head or that or Karen's not in their head. And your story will be the thing that either lodges it or makes it fall out.

Jody Newman [00:15:11]:
There is the moment you're off the zoom or out of the network meeting or you know, off your website, wherever it is. So for me, having a creative approach to the story you tell is the best thing you can do. And it's the biggest mistake you make if you don't do that because it's a lot of time and effort with really hard won and not as frequent returns. So that would be. But that extrapolates out into. The biggest mistake is kind of magpying ideas from all around you. Oh, I need to onboard my clients. So you Google it.

Jody Newman [00:15:47]:
And the great wise Google says, well, create an online form. And then you do this or you talk to someone in net. When they go, this is the way I do it, you go, oh, that sounds nice, I understand that. Do it. And then you wonder why no one remembers what you do or they don't have an amazing experience. They have an okay experience because you look, sound and feel and the experience is exactly the same as anyone else they might go to for a similar service. So I'm Very much about. Let's go back to blank page thinking, you know, and often we start at the end if I'm working with someone on how to create an amazing onboarding experience so their clients fall in love with them before they've even kind of picked up a pen or done the first line of data.

Jody Newman [00:16:27]:
Excuse me. Then we start by saying, right, what's the experience after it's happened? What emotion are we leaving your client with? What sense? What thought? What action? And it's that, that, you know, defines everything. What's the brand story telling us we need to create in terms of an experience? So we bring all this together and you end up creating something that nobody else has as part of their business. And then it becomes part of your marketing because not only can you talk about it as a distinct thing, your clients experience it go, that was bloody amazing. And they tell five people about it. So, you know, it serves you so well to have some businesses unusual thinking when you come to building and shaping anything, whether that's the entire business or just one service, just one course, just one download or whatever it is. Yeah, yeah.

Karen [00:17:20]:
I think it's so important, isn't it just touching on what you sort of said about the brand story. What I find is that often provides context and, and people need that. Why should I listen to you? Well, this is why I, I walk my talk. I've been in the place where you are now. I've got myself to where I am right now, and this is what I've done. And it starts to add way to the very thing that you're talking about. And I think humans are just naturally curious about the way other humans live and what they do and stuff. Like we, we are nosy beings, aren't we? And, and I.

Karen [00:18:01]:
Somebody's story, I think, goes a long way to building trust, but also provides context as to how it can work for them. Because I know with what I do now, I. You. That, that what you said about being self indulgent, that was my worry for so long. So I wouldn't really talk about sort of my journey or whatever. But then, so I deliver a lot of live webinar webinars and, and part of that is sharing my story. And that then became the thing that people would then talk to me about. Oh, you know, you said you did this and you were feeling this.

Karen [00:18:38]:
I feel like that right now. And I want to get to where you are and all of this. And it's almost like you're giving them hope in a way because, because you're you're identifying what they're struggling with right now because of your own story, the own, the, the, the situations you found yourself in and especially when you're at the other end and whatever you've created is that pathway to the other end. It gives it more, more way and more presence to the thing that you're, you're, you're talking about. So I agree with you. I think, I think having your brand story at the heart of what you do is the differentiator because nobody will have the same story, nobody will have the same challenges or, you know, they might touch on similar things, but not in the way you've experienced it. And I think starts to make you unique and, and you know, not everybody's gonna, it's not going to resonate with everybody, but, but, but you will attract the people it will resonate with. And I think that's the point, isn't it?

Jody Newman [00:19:41]:
Yeah. And I think, you know, stories are there to divide an audience into the loves it and hates it. You know, I have had lots of people say, oh, I love your story. I love the way you tell it. I love the metaphors. I have had someone, you know, in a zoom call in front of six or seven other people say to me, I effing hate your branding because you're never gonna please everyone. I mean, it was quite the way he phrased it. It was a man, can you imagine? But I lot, I laughed and laughed because actually for me, that completely validates what would actually I had been offended by was if he'd said your branding, I could take it, leave it, because then what are you doing? You know, you're not helping anyone.

Jody Newman [00:20:31]:
Because if he was in the market for my services, he wouldn't know whether I was the person for him because he doesn't know what I stand for and what I believe in. But the heart of the stories I create with my clients is always that this is what I truly believe in about what I do. Because you can have 15 brand designers lined up in a row and ostensibly they do exactly the same thing. Right. So they usp. And I absolutely loathe that term. People now understand it, but it's a very kind of acronym. Heavy marketing speech.

Karen [00:21:02]:
Yeah.

Jody Newman [00:21:03]:
But you know, people get so worried about what's my USP was. I call it about being brand distinct. And they will be distinct from each other, but not just by cursory looking. And that's what prospect will do in the first instance. So for me, it's very much about being able to Articulate. And I dig down deep, deep, deep with my clients to get this out of them because those 15 brand designers will, will fundamentally believe something different about their skill and the output they create for their clients. You know, some people about, I want to connect emotionally your audience with your business. Someone else will be about, you know, I don't know, being able to read the purpose of the business through the graphic language.

Jody Newman [00:21:52]:
And, you know, and everybody has their beliefs about what they do. And I think it's incredibly important you articulate that and also articulate it in a way that is distinctly you and your brand because the language that you use is the audience that you choose. Because I could, I could rock up and talk about usps and data and, and that would make me a very different prospect than me wanging on about, you know, rubber ducks and ideas and, you know, freeing your creative muscle up and that kind of stuff. And I choose the audience just because of the story I tell.

Karen [00:22:34]:
Yeah.

Jody Newman [00:22:35]:
And I think, you know, and you can choose your audience and then create a language that matches. So it works both ways. But people, I think, forget that if they don't choose their language, it becomes invisible because you can bet your bottom dollar everyone else is using it too.

Karen [00:22:53]:
Yeah, yeah, I agree with you. And especially in a world of AI as well, and that that sort of makes it even more harder to stand out. Well, actually, no, I will go as far as to say in a world of AI where there's a lot of regurgitation, bringing in a creative angle that is authentic to you is where you stand out. And I think going forward, that's going to be the power, that's going to be where you get to shine. Because if you, and I'm not saying don't use AI, but, but if you're somebody that is sharing content and you're only taking what AI is giving you and you're not creating or authentic content that, that represents you as an individual and your business, then like you say, you're just going to blend in. Whereas the people that are going to stand out, be noticed and most likely get those leads and conversions are going to be the ones that, that are different, the ones that are staying true to themselves and showing up in an authentic way. So. So I think it's really powerful and often probably underestimated as well.

Karen [00:24:03]:
Or, or at least the creative side undervalued.

Jody Newman [00:24:07]:
Yeah, I think it is because, you know, we ideal. Not exclusively, but I deal with a lot of business to business, businesses. How many times can I say business in one Sentence. And you know, I think we forget sometimes that certainly in this, the, the sort of, you know, the SME market, there has to be that brand personality. Doesn't have to be your personality, there has to be that ability for someone to, to human to human connect. We sell to a business, but we don't sell to a business, we sell to another person. And because we're all in crowded marketplaces, I've got the choice of 15 brand designers. You know, I probably know 15 myself, you know, or I know six and I can go find the rest.

Jody Newman [00:24:49]:
So what, how do I choose? Even when, even procure, you know, when I used to be in charge of a multi million pound print budget, you can bet your bottom dollar the suppliers that I chose were the ones that I liked.

Karen [00:25:03]:
Yeah.

Jody Newman [00:25:04]:
Work together, you know, so there are a million ways to dress up the procurement decision, the outsourced decision. But if you do not resonate and do not think they are going to deliver me, you know, I talk about part of the story for me is brand shift. Where do you shift your customers to get them to understand where you're moving them to? That outcome, you know, is what they want to buy. Because if I say to them, I can get you a fabulously distinct story to go to market with. Show up, be confident that you are going to be remembered. They don't really care if I say, in order to do that I need you to stand on your head for three hours and then it will happen. Or you come on two 90 minute sessions with me. We work creative.

Jody Newman [00:25:46]:
That's the bit that they're not care, they're not buying that bit, they're buying the shift.

Karen [00:25:52]:
Absolutely.

Jody Newman [00:25:52]:
So all of this becomes part of that essential story. So that, and what happens is you get more of the clients you really, really want to work with and you get less of those that make you grind your teeth and think when will this project be over?

Karen [00:26:08]:
And oh my God, we've all had those kind of clients, we just, oh. So if somebody listening could just do one thing, you know, start in one place in order to make a shift in their business, what, what would you tell them to do?

Jody Newman [00:26:28]:
So I think regardless of whether you are creative or not, because as a creative we have an ideas territory and that becomes very well worn. And so, you know, if you imagine your creative thinking territory is a field and it's got fences round so people who aren't naturally or you know, don't practice being creative, their field might be fairly small and they think within that, if you are doing Creativity, you know, as part of your role or you're very creative, you have an enormous field, but you are still walking the same paths. And you kind of, your, your creative thinking creates these ruts. And I've seen it, I mean I've been running this business 25 years, no one has yet not conformed to this. You can be so creative, but you are within these kind of thinking ruts. What I would say is get out over that fence to new thinking territory. And that involves very simple things like putting creative habits into your business. The very simplest one is one minute a day is a creative workout.

Jody Newman [00:27:30]:
As you sit at your desk or before, crucially before you start thinking any in any way strategically or I want to create a thing or I've got a problem to solve or any of the kind of workout activities. And I've got so many in the allotment, so people just come and kind of help themselves. My website, anything like that changes your mindset immediately and it helps you be more divergent in your thinking options, thinking. And that's the critical thing. And if you do that every day, you will become a better creative thinker, full stop. And I don't know many other activities where 60 seconds a day will manifest itself in such a powerful way in your business because you will start thinking. And I'm thinking, you know, I'm talking about really simple things like set your timer. How many different ideas for this polo can you come up with in 60 seconds? That's it, you do that for a week, you change the object, you can start to understand am I being more divergent? So are 10 of my ideas all quite closely linked.

Jody Newman [00:28:32]:
You can rank yourself. That gets you one point. If they are mad ideas like, well, I'm gonna hollow it out and use it for a flying saucer. And there's nothing else like that on your list. That's a five pointer, you know, and challenge yourself to really up the ante in terms of ridiculous thinking. And I, you know, I use ridiculous thinking as part of my framework because if you can't let yourself go and be ridiculous, you'll never be able to mine the creative gold. So that very simple work and there's, you know, hundreds of ways to do a really quick workout. If you get that into your business daily habit, you will have a better business supposed claim, isn't it? It is.

Karen [00:29:15]:
But I love it. I absolutely love it. I remember when I was so used to many many moons ago, I worked in London, I, I had, I had a different career, but I went to Night school and I was. Because my goal was to become a graphic designer and I wanted to sort of move careers. And I went to the London College of Communication and we did all about visual thinking and I just loved it because it was so random stuff but. But you're absolutely right. It's working that creative muscle. So you see things differently.

Karen [00:29:50]:
And I think we can very much get into a rut of thinking the same things over and over again, but not quite, you know, and sometimes it's hard to think about what is possible when you can't see it. So I think there's a skill there to be able to have these big ideas without worrying how they're going to kind of come, come, come to fruition. So being able to think big in, in a way that is exciting without feeling, it's ridiculous. Do you know what I mean? So, I mean, I see things from different angles and that.

Jody Newman [00:30:27]:
Yeah. I invite my clients to get comfortable with feeling sort of, you know, that. Feeling ridiculous.

Karen [00:30:34]:
Yeah.

Jody Newman [00:30:34]:
You know, I often set some ground rules about, you know, whatever crazy is in your head is probably where the answer is. So let's hear it, please. And you know, I open every client session with a creative workout to set the intention that that's going to be part of the, you know, the experience. And you know, I have hundreds of creative tools. So we don't just stare at each other and go, come on, then, your turn for an idea. You know, I will have decks of digital cards, I will have scenarios, I will have provocations, I will have random stuff that they have to mash into their, you know, challenge in some way. You know, there's just a whole toolkit because you have to keep pushing yourself to go outside. Because, you know, we are, particularly if we've had careers and been employed before, this isn't valued.

Jody Newman [00:31:25]:
This stuff depends on your job. But for most of us it's like get, get the stuff done, get it right, get it done quick and move on. And that is not the friend of creativity. You know, creativity is all about where

Karen [00:31:39]:
it goes to die.

Jody Newman [00:31:41]:
Eight times. Yeah. You know, you have got to make failure your friend. You know, the, the biggest thing I hear from clients is, okay, we've got this amazing idea. I'm really excited. Will it work? Like, I don't know. That's why we're trying it. You're just going to get it to good and you're going to launch it.

Jody Newman [00:31:56]:
Because if I knew it worked, it wouldn't be a good idea. It would be an idea. Someone else has had. We can have a look at the data, because data's only ever, as Rory Sutherland said, very good at looking backwards. Yeah. I don't have data on this brilliant idea that hasn't existed in the world yet.

Karen [00:32:11]:
Yeah.

Jody Newman [00:32:12]:
So let's go on this, you know, crazy walk together and see what happens. And it's, you know, I think this is the other thing that I say. I said, just do this one thing, but I do it. I say that eight times. So there's a long list of stuff to do. But I do encourage people to do a creative, and I use that in a broader sense, activity outside of their business. Because we are, if we set up a business doing something, we are experts at our thing. We have to be, otherwise we'd be dead on day six.

Jody Newman [00:32:44]:
Right.

Karen [00:32:45]:
So.

Jody Newman [00:32:46]:
And as we get deeper into this expertise thing, we really don't fail in any significant way because we're too good at what we do. Right. And then we become really rubbish at failing, and then we become unresilant, if that's the right negative. We, you know, we lose our resilience to failure. And we're born with resilience because as kids, you know, you fall off your bike 18 times, we don't care. You know, the towel gets knocked down 20 times, we don't care. But we become. And then we become frightened of failing.

Jody Newman [00:33:22]:
And then every single idea we have exists within the safe, close. Everyone else has done it before, but we know it works, so we'll do it territory. That's where businesses go to dye the slowest, most painful and tediously boring death you've ever seen a business do. So doing a crop when I like, I do stupid amounts of craft and I love picking up a new thing because I fail almost instantly, repetitively. But the key thing is, in the lowest steak environment I can create for myself. I've done embroidery, I've done lithograph, screen printing, calligraphy, ceramics. I mean, you name it, I bloom and done it. And I was at all of them at the beginning.

Jody Newman [00:34:09]:
And there is a lovely experience of getting better and becoming an expert, amateur expert at these things. Yeah. But there is something about that early stage that actually has made me a much better, braver, more creative business owner. Because I'm fairly resilient to failure. Not totally. I still go and sit behind the sofa and have a sob when something like I thought was going to make me my, you know, next million hasn't. But you know what? It's fine, because then I pick it up, I do a Bit of evaluation and then it's part of all good creative approaches. You iterate, you reiterate, you tweak, you go, you try again.

Jody Newman [00:34:47]:
There's so many moving parts in any given thing we launch and that, you know, it's never going to be the totality of it that has made it fail. It'll be an element of it. And we forget how to have the resilience to do that. And you know, so many things get like. And because we take it all so personally, because it's our baby and we've worked so hard and why has no one seen how brilliant this is? And then they go, well, no one wants it, so I'm gonna put it in the bin and try something else. And all that amazing thinking gets lost when it could have just been one thing. So I think for me, being able to build up that resilience outside of the business, because everything in business is high stakes.

Karen [00:35:23]:
Yeah, yeah.

Jody Newman [00:35:24]:
Time and money and clients and marketing, putting yourself on LinkedIn, you know, all that stuff. So to do it outside of that is an incredible. God, I'm sounding awful. It's an incredible gift you can give yourself.

Karen [00:35:40]:
You know, I, I agree, I agree. I'm sitting here smiling because as somebody that, you know, obviously my business is creative and all of that and I, yeah, and I'm one of those that for a long time I took it for granted. I was always good at drawing, painting, that's at school, I excelled at that. I didn't want to be an artist. I didn't realize what I wanted to be until I started work. And then I realized for me I had a love of graphic design and that was why I did all my nightly schools. But over the years, some things that I do in my personal time that, that I don't, I never talk about, I never share it. But actually since I've had kids, it's become more and more important and it fuels my creativity is I sing and I realized.

Karen [00:36:28]:
So I've got a 12 year old and she, we bought her at Christmas, she loves to sing. She loves sing and dance and we bought her a karaoke machine. So it was a very, like a proper, like not one of these small ones, like proper one. My, my closest friend had one and we were like, we want one of those. It's amazing because we'd have karaoke nights and stuff like that and it was so much fun. And I have always, I've always sang, I've always. But I've done it in my private. And then obviously with My daughter loves singing.

Karen [00:37:02]:
So we have now, we did it last night karaoke sessions where we will take in turns singing and we will do duets and we'll do things of that. And it's only recently, if I'm really honest, that I've really owned it. Because what's really interesting is as somebody that that is. Is in the creative space. Nine times out, I live in the creative space. To do what I do, I have to be in that space. What I realized was that what it gives me, it puts me in a really high vibrational state and, oh, my God, the way it makes me feel. And singing is a creative outlet and, and what? I.

Karen [00:37:50]:
I didn't realize this while I was doing all my courses and stuff, but I would use singing as a way to release and to refuel and because we've been doing it on a regular basis and I love it, and I will even. Which is so funny, whenever I deliver a live webinar. And I've. You know, you get that adrenaline, don't you? Yeah. That adrenaline has to go somewhere. So we will have a session, and it will be the best session. And. And I suppose it's building that confidence.

Karen [00:38:18]:
But, but, but what I've realized is that for me, it refuels. But. But it brings something into my energy. Stay that. That app that amplifies what I'm able to do. I think feel it. People talk about being in that high state of flow, and I think. I think that for me, those two things go hand in hand.

Karen [00:38:41]:
When I'm doing my creative work, when I'm building things out, when I'm designing, doing stuff, I will have music on it. I will be singing. It will be. It'll almost be the thing that I need in order to kind of get my brain into that state. And it's really powerful. So when you talk about and. And I've done things like print, screen and all that craft stuff, but it's finding that thing you can do outside of your business that gets you in a. In a.

Karen [00:39:07]:
In a creative state that. That kind of fuels your thinking somewhere else. Yeah, absolutely. When you find that. I mean, like I say, for me, it's singing. For you, it could be crafting. For somebody else, it could be. It could be whatever.

Karen [00:39:21]:
But when you find that. Yeah, when you find that, it can do wonders because. Because it almost takes you out of yourself. And then you can. Because I think creativity works best when you're not thinking about it, when you' just being and letting things flow. I think that's where the best ideas come from.

Jody Newman [00:39:40]:
Yeah, it is. And, and, you know, the kind of. I did, you know, decades of kind of. Because I trained as a furniture designer at the Royal College of Art. And so we were very. We didn't get the sort of academic side of creativity because weirdly, no creatives want to dissect this. But, you know, there's been a lot of research done, particularly from the 70s onwards. So I sort of immersed myself in this research for, you know, 15, 20 years.

Jody Newman [00:40:06]:
And I think one of the lessons that I got out of that, and I do it, is when I have a, you know, a challenge like, oh, I've got a write a keynote or, okay, I want to do a thing, a course or a service, but I can't quite get into it. I will write down on a small post it, you know, the kind of the key challenge, and I will fold it up and literally go through the sort of physical process folding up, and I will hide it somewhere and then I will go away for three days and not think about it and what actually happens. And it's particularly good if you then undertake these kind of tasks because creativity happens out of your subconscious. So your conscious brain sitting there going, I need some ideas, I need some ideas. Yeah, it's just getting in the bloody way. You know, it thinks it's really useful. It's completely redundant in this entire process until you've got the ideas. So, you know, writing the thing.

Jody Newman [00:41:02]:
So you are briefing your subconscious brain by writing your challenge. You're folding it up, you're telling your conscious brain this is not for you, forget you ever saw this, hiding it and then leave it two or three days and, you know, get yourself, you know, involved in activities that divert your conscious brain away from it so you're not tempted to go back and physically, you know, kind of put your spotlight, mentally onto it. And when you next sit down, oh, yes, the ideas are all there because that's what your subconscious is doing, you know, but it can't do it while the conscious brain is getting in the way. So that's why, when you're in that kind of other diverted flow state, that's why, you know, going for a walk, running, being on the bus, public transport, showers, that bit before you fall asleep, it's exactly where your subconscious is in its prime state to do its best work.

Karen [00:41:56]:
Yeah, yeah. Which could be really annoying when, like you say, just fell for sleep and you have the best ideas. You know, I, it's, it's funny because I swim. That's. That's one of my outlets as well. And I'll be. I'll be doing my lens and I'll get the best ideas, but I have nowhere to write it down. So by the time I get out, I've forgotten.

Jody Newman [00:42:15]:
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Karen [00:42:16]:
It's sod's law, isn't it? So tell me about your session at the summit. I'm really excited about your session. It's going to be absolutely brilliant because I know you're going to be kind be bringing some juicy stuff that you're going to be really helping the attendees with.

Jody Newman [00:42:35]:
Yes. So I've done this kind of work with lots and lots of my clients about how to create the right course. You know, it's often the first thing that they've done. It didn't have to be a course and it could be free course, a paid course, or it could just be some kind of digital resource that, you know, you might not want to call it a course because that has its own baggage. So what I've decided to do for the session is I bought together all the kind of the tools that I've used with clients over the years doing this work. And it's funny you should use the word juicy, because it's called the chicken nugget philosophy. Yeah. What I'm going to get.

Karen [00:43:14]:
Of course.

Jody Newman [00:43:15]:
Of course it is. Why would it not be? What I'm going to get our attendees to do is build their own chicken nugget philosophy and that going through that. Because I think where I see lots of people struggle in the first instance is you are not giving away the entirety of your expertise. So what do you put on the tray to either give away or to sell? And I think getting clarity over that out of your. What are the expertise nuggets that will make this nutritious, that will make this a tasty dish that people want to grab for. Then you've got, you know, all the kind of the bit that goes around at the packaging, the box that. And you've got to think about your diners. And this is obviously a big kind of fun metaphor to get people to think about who do I want to serve with this digital product, with this digital course, what are the nuggets that I need to put there? You know, what sequence do they need to be presented in? How am I packaging and wrapping this? What's my secret sauce that makes this distinct to my brand and to no other.

Jody Newman [00:44:23]:
So it can only be me talking about this thing and understanding your role as the kind of chef and the signature you need to put round this and we're going to work through the chicken nugget philosophy together. They're going to be doing their own work, cook. I'm going to be talking them through the process. So by the end of it, they're going to have their own chicken nugget philosophy about their first product completely mapped out and shaped and ready to cook.

Karen [00:44:53]:
Amazing. I love that. I was thinking, you know, chicken nuggets, that's really interesting. And then when you like the, the nuggets, I was like, oh, this is absolutely brilliant.

Jody Newman [00:45:07]:
Oh, yes.

Karen [00:45:08]:
No, that sounds absolutely brilliant because you're absolutely right. I obviously I, I speak to a lot of, a lot of entrepreneurs that want to create some kind of scalable offer in their business and it can be really overwhelming because there's so many decisions to make and not knowing what to create, how to create it, how to serve it up and, and everything else that's involved. So, so being able to kind of really map out a simple strategy right from the get go, I think will be a really powerful session. So I'm excited. I think, I think, I think.

Jody Newman [00:45:44]:
And there are vegan options available, so. So there's no excuse for coming. It's not all about the meat.

Karen [00:45:52]:
We need a little bit of meat on the bone. But. But yeah. Oh, I love that. Thank you for sharing that. Right, so I've got some quick fire questions for you.

Jody Newman [00:46:03]:
Okay.

Karen [00:46:03]:
Right, so what do you prefer, coffee or tea?

Jody Newman [00:46:09]:
Oh, I'm a 50 50, so let's just go tea. Okay.

Karen [00:46:13]:
Oh, that's interesting. Okay, so what's one business book that you think every entrepreneur should read?

Jody Newman [00:46:21]:
I mean, it would be too gauche to mention my own book at this stage.

Karen [00:46:24]:
No, go for it.

Jody Newman [00:46:27]:
How to Build a Business on Ideas, I would actually say, which is ironic given that I have written a business book. I would say any piece of fiction will do much more for your brain than any book. Yeah, And I include my own. Go and read a fantastic piece of fiction. That's where you get fired up with ideas and enter new worlds and bloody enjoy yourself. Look, if you work hard on your business, give yourself a break. Go and read a fantastic story.

Karen [00:46:55]:
Yeah, it's true, isn't it? You know, I'm guilty of that. I will. We're going away in a couple of weeks and. And I've got a load of business in my head. I'm going to be taken.

Jody Newman [00:47:06]:
I see people's summer reads and I'm like, mate, you need to get out more.

Karen [00:47:13]:
You need a life.

Jody Newman [00:47:14]:
There are so many. I mean, I, you know, I, I spent many a long wilderness year when my kids were very young not reading a book and I was an absolutely avid reader and I'm slowly clawing back the time and I'm having the time of my life immersing myself in these stories and it's good for the brain.

Karen [00:47:35]:
It is. And also watching. I find what I really enjoy are watching biographies as well. Because often you can pick up things from listening to other people's stories and, and watching, you know, other sort of programs than that, you know, because ideas come from all different areas. It's not just being in a networking group with other people that you're going to get the best idea ever. They come from really random moments where you certainly suddenly link up something with. You've already had some element of a thought, but then you'll, you'll see something so random that'll just be, ah, I know. And, and those moments are, those breakthrough moments are incredible.

Karen [00:48:21]:
But they often do come from, from doing other things. So, so yeah, totally.

Jody Newman [00:48:26]:
I mean I have, you know, a whole range of kind of prompt cards that I use with clients and they'll have like an ice cream van on it. And what's entertaining is looking at people's faces when you go, so how's this ice cream van can give you an idea about your new digital launch. But you know what, I've never had anyone not come up with an idea. It's that it's exactly. It's the kind of fundamental building blocks of creativity, that juxtaposition.

Karen [00:48:50]:
Yeah, yeah, they're fun as well, which, which I think, you know, we all need. Okay, so what, what one tool or app could you not run your business without?

Jody Newman [00:49:01]:
I would say Miro, because I do all of my online sessions on their digital boards, digital post it notes. So I am on there a lot.

Karen [00:49:11]:
Yeah, yeah, that's a great tool. What's the best piece of business advice you've ever been given?

Jody Newman [00:49:21]:
Probably stop looking at what everyone else is doing. I think it, it, it can inevitably lead you to that, com, you know, comparisonitis disease that is, you know, once it's in there. Got it. Spreads quickly, doesn't it? And also it means you inadvertently start picking up all their, you know, think, oh, I've had a great idea and it's the same as the other three businesses you've just looked at on Instagram, you know, so I think that's the best piece of advice. And if anyone says, and I'm sure I've said this at least three times in this podcast. My own piece of advice to myself is at the moment you hear someone say the one thing every business owner needs is run like a mad. Because it's,

Karen [00:50:08]:
it is true, isn't it? I, I recorded my episode today for today's podcast and I was talking about that there's so much over inflated stuff online where you're told you have to do this, that and the other. And you're absolutely right. A lot of it is rubbish. There is no magic formula. In fact, the only thing I would say probably is, is anything of us, of what I would deem as magic is consistency because consistency compounds over time. That's it. Everything else, everything else is about, you know, it comes from you and what, and, and the effort, the energy, the action you take. But it's being consistent, not, not listening to all the other sort of rubbish that's out there online.

Jody Newman [00:50:52]:
Exactly, exactly. Yeah. Yeah.

Karen [00:50:55]:
Okay, so in one sentence, what does building an online business mean to you?

Jody Newman [00:51:03]:
Well, I think the one word that comes to mind is scope. Because pre covered I didn't have an online business. I was all face to face and moving the majority of my business online means I've got the scope to work with people from all over the world, which I do, and the scope to create new ways of working because creativity is easier as sort of a creative mindset and a creative environment is much easier to create when you're in the room with people. So it's been a huge and a really exciting challenge for me to try and understand how that creative experience works through a screen. And it's, you know, it's an ongoing challenge, but one that, you know, I've relished being able to do, but it's given me a lot more scope to create digital products and all sorts of things. So I think it is that, you know, it's the scope and opportunity.

Karen [00:51:54]:
Yeah, absolutely. It is something that can't be undervalued. Being able to reach people wherever they are in the world and for them to access you and what you do. Do you want to tell people about the business allotment? You know, obviously I know you mentioned at the beginning, but how much it is and where they can find out more about it online.

Jody Newman [00:52:17]:
Yeah, so I think there's, there's two things that I would signpost right now because they cost absolutely nothing to get involved with. So on the website, thebusinessallotment.co.uk if you head towards the tool shared, that's our online shed membership that doesn't cost anything. And it is packed full of creative resources about how to run and grow your business. It's sort of chunked down into creative tools, brand tools, strategy tools. So you can kind of have a browse, you can download whatever you want and it's super simple to sign up. So that's one thing. And also on the website, there's in the menu is the Resource Patch and that is some free courses, some other interesting bits you might want to get involved with. And then every quarter I run an idea shed, which is a completely free session to come along online and spend an hour working creatively on your business.

Jody Newman [00:53:09]:
So if you go to the Resource patch and look for the idea shared, you'll see when the next one is and you, you know, everyone is very welcome to book a seat, come along and just have an hour thinking differently about your business growth.

Karen [00:53:22]:
Yeah, I love that. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I think everybody needs that in their business. Rather than getting so caught up in the weeds of everything, take some time out and really just look at what you can do because the opportunities are there. It's just having the ideas, you know, so, so that's brilliant. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining me today, Jody.

Karen [00:53:44]:
This session's been amazing. You're amazing. What you do is, is, is fantastic. And I highly encourage my listeners to, to check out your resources and to connect with you. If you enjoyed this conversation, then you are going to love the Online Business Growth Summit because this is just a small taste of what is to come. Alongside today's guests, you'll hear from over 18 incredible experts covering everything from digital products to marketing to sales, visibility, audience growth and so much more. And it's all designed to help you build income beyond selling your time. You can head on over to my website, www.sell your brilliance online.com and you can register for free there.

Karen [00:54:35]:
Or check out the next episode of the Online Business Uncovered podcast where I'll be sure sharing more tips and, and guests with you. Thank you so much and thank you Jodie for your time today. I really appreciate it.

Jody Newman [00:54:49]:
It. It's been a blast. Thank you, Karen.

Karen [00:54:52]:
Take care.