I’m the author, ghostwriter and coauthor of 7 books about entrepreneurship. I’ve interviewed some of the biggest names in business. Ruslan Kogan from Kogan. Gabby Leibovich from Catch of the Day. Jane Lu from Show Po. Naomi Simson from Red Balloon. Simon Griffiths from Who Gives a Crap. And many more.
I’m often asked, ‘What have you learnt by interviewing over 100 of Australia’s top entrepreneurs? Do they have anything in common? And if so, what? Did they all get lucky or did they do something others didn’t?
I’ve learnt a lot from these people about entrepreneurship so I thought I’d dedicate an episode to sharing with you what I have learned from them all.
We’ll cover how to:
build a culture
use language to shape the mindset of a company
make your own luck – there is a 3-step formulas
use your weaknesses to create a super power strength
compete with the big firms even when you’re on a tiny budget
level the management hierarchy so you are seen as being ‘one of the team’
start a meeting and break the ice
write a cultural statement that sets your company up for success – with examples from Swisse Vitamins that saw them win “Best Employer” over multiple years
give feedback
create a content machine that delivers outstanding results
About Bernadette Schwerdt:
Bernadette is an award-winning Australian entrepreneur, author, speaker and advertising copywriter. She is the founder of the Australian School of Copywriting, and is the country’s leading copywriting coach. Bernadette’s flagship online courses have helped over 10,000 business owners and freelance writers create cut-through content that places them at the top of their field and on page one of Google.
She was a former senior account director and copywriter for global advertising agency Young & Rubicam Advertising and created award-winning campaigns for clients such as Apple, Amex, Optus and Colgate. She has a Bachelor of Business in Marketing, is an accredited MBTI and NLP practitioner and has lectured in marketing, consumer psychology and digital marketing at Melbourne University, RMIT, Swinburne and Victoria University.
She is a popular TEDx speaker, the author of two bestselling books about online entrepreneurship (How to Build an Online Business and Secrets of Online Entrepreneurs) and a ghost-writer of Catch of the Decade, the business biography of the billionaire brothers behind Catch of the Day, Menulog and Scoopon; the ghostwriter for top business coach Kobi Simmat – How to Build a Business Others Want to Buy – and more recently How to Build a Billion Dollar Business for Radek Sali, the former CEO of Swisse Vitamins.
Prior to her business career, she was a professional actor and appeared in some of Australia’s most iconic shows including Neighbours, The Games, Round the Twist, Winners and Losers and Jack Irish, and worked alongside Margot Robbie, Guy Pearce and many others.
She was the inaugural in-house mindfulness coach for the Carlton Football Club’s AFL players and coaches and has conducted meditation workshops for Melton Council, Melbourne City Council and others.
She was recently named in the Top 50 Small Business Leaders in Australia.
