Thriving Business
THRIVING BUSINESS Business Insights to Help You Grow Your Business with Ease We’re two seasoned business owners — Sam Morris and Kate De Jong — sharing our nearly thirty-year combined experience of starting and growing service-based businesses from the ground up. We so many small businesses struggling or falling prey to expensive promises of quick fixes or silver bullets. Both of us know what it REALLY takes to start and grow a business, we've done it many times over and we've got the blisters to prove it! We’ve joined forces to share our knowledge and experience so you can find the easiest path to success, doing it your way, and most importantly — staying true to yourself.
Episodes
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Most small business owners never planned to be the salesperson. They started a business because they’re great at what they do, and then found out selling came with it.
Dave Edward from Touchpoint Sales has spent decades in sales, including 25 years in the UK bed business, and won salesman of the year by being the quiet one in the room. Now he finds where businesses are losing sales a...
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AI only does what you direct it to do. If it’s giving you rubbish, it hasn’t been trained yet or set up for success.
Kate De Jong and Sam Morris break down the two things that make AI actually useful in a small business: context and connectors. Sam shows how she runs three businesses with one AI executive assistant that reads her email, calendar and Trello board, then tells her...
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You see someone crush it with a group program, a membership or a $37 product, and you think that's what you should be doing too. We've both fallen into that trap.
In this episode, Kate and I talk about why we pulled the pin on The Engine Room, our group program, after coming home from Bali completely wiped out. There was nothing wrong with the idea. We just didn't want to deliver it.
We tal...
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Full Disclosure: Business Pivots, Finding Your Alignment & What’s Next for Us
In this candid episode of the Thriving Business Podcast, hosts Kate De Jong and Sam Morris return from a month-long break for an open and honest "full disclosure" conversation. Fresh off their business retreat in Sanur, Bali, Kate and Sam reflect on the importance of creating spaciousness, list...
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Kate and Sam sit down with Skip Wilson, founder and CEO of DraftMedia Partners, and former VP of Digital Media at Clear Channel/iHeartRadio, for a deep dive into paid advertising: what it actually costs, when a business is genuinely ready for it, and why most people treat it like an unpredictable black box instead of a diagnosable system. Skip pulls back the curtain on demand-side platfor...
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This is the final episode in our Leadership quadrant, and the last stop on the 16-episode Road Map to Business Success. Sam and Kate unpack why most values statements fail: they're written as nouns, printed on a wall, and disconnected from how the business actually runs day to day.
They break down organisational health expert Patrick Lencioni's four types of values, core, aspirational, per...
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Leading with Impact | The Power of Emotional Intelligence
This episode delves into the critical aspect of Emotional Intelligence (EQ) as part of Quadrant Four of the Thriving Business Wheel, focusing on leadership and leading with impact. Building on the previous discussion about self-awareness, this episode explores how understanding and managing emotions – both our own and ...
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Most leaders believe they're self-aware. The research disagrees — dramatically.
In this episode, Kate and Sam dive deep into one of the most underused leadership skills in small business: genuine self-awareness. Not the "I know myself pretty well" kind — but the kind that closes the gap between how you think you show up and how others actually experience you.
They cover:
- The ...
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Welcome to Episode 13 of the Roadmap to Business Success series, and the final episode of Quadrant 3: Grow Smart | Scale with Ease!
54% of founders are experiencing burnout. 75% report anxiety episodes. And two thirds have considered walking away from their business altogether, not because the business failed, but because they did.
In this episode Kate and Sam get honest about hustle cultur...
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Welcome to Episode 14 of the Roadmap to Business Success series — and the first episode of Quadrant 4: Lead with Impact!
Most people think business failure comes down to bad strategy, poor marketing or the wrong product. The research tells a different story. The biggest predictor of small business failure — especially in the early years — is not what you're selling or how...
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Welcome to Episode 12 of the Roadmap to Business Success series, and our third episode in Quadrant 3: Grow Smart | Capacity!
Most businesses pour their energy into acquiring new clients. The most successful businesses pay enough attention to what happens after the sale. Did you know that it costs five to seven times more to acquire a new client than to retain an existing one? And your best...
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Welcome to Episode 11 of the Roadmap to Business Success series, and our second episode in Quadrant 3: Grow Smart | Scale with Ease.
Hiring is one of the scariest decisions a business owner can ever make. The compliance is complex, the stakes are high, and the fear of getting it wrong stops many people from doing it at all. But there's a compelling reason to build a team: the burnout rates...
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Welcome to Episode 10 of the Roadmap to Business Success series, and the first episode of Quadrant 3: Grow Smart | Capacity!
Most business owners start with a skill or a product, not a model. They figure it out as they go. And if you don't design your model intentionally, your business will design itself, and it usually designs itself into something that consumes your life.
In this episode,...
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Welcome to Episode 9 of the Roadmap to Business Success series, and the final episode of Quadrant 2: Keep More | Profitable Operations!
You can't outsource chaos. Before you bring anyone into your business, you need systems, clarity, and a clear understanding of what you're actually handing off. In this episode, Kate and Sam get practical about the smartest way to automate, delegate, outso...
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Welcome to Episode 8 of the Roadmap to Business Success series!
If you're only using AI for content creation, you're leaving the biggest gains on the table. In this episode, Kate and Sam dive into the AI tools they actually use in their businesses every day, and discuss how to shift from using AI to do more, to using AI to work less.
"AI should handle the 80% of grunt work while you handle ...
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Welcome to Episode 7 of the Roadmap to Business Success series, our second episode in Quadrant 2 of the Thriving Business Wheel: Keep More | Profitable Operations.
Pricing is one of the most emotionally loaded topics in business. Many business owners, particularly women, are significantly undercharging, and it's costing them not just money, but credibility and energy.
"Being the cheapest in...
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Welcome to Episode 6 of the Roadmap to Business Success series, and the first episode of Quadrant 2: Keep More | Profitable Operations!
You've done the work to generate revenue. Now it's time to talk about the part most business owners avoid until it's too late: keeping it.
In this episode, Sam takes the lead on one of her favourite topics: money. Not the fluffy version, but the practical, ...
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Welcome to Episode 5 of the Roadmap to Business Success series, and the final episode of Quadrant 1: Revenue Generation!
If the word "selling" makes you cringe, you're not alone. In this episode, Kate and Sam get honest about their complicated relationships with sales and how reframing selling as serving completely changes the game.
"People don't mind being sold to, they just don't like bei...
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"Marketing is the communication bridge between your business and your potential customers."
In this fourth episode of the Roadmap to Business Success series, hosts Kate and Sam explore the next layer in the Revenue Generation quadrant of the Thriving Business Wheel: Marketing Strategy.
Now that you've nailed your business identity and crafted your irresistible offer, it's time to take...
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In this third episode of the Roadmap to Business Success series, hosts Kate and Sam explore the second part of the revenue quadrant: how to craft an irresistible offer. Described as the "engine" of your revenue generation model, an irresistible offer is about providing a compelling solution to a problem that people feel compelled to say "yes" to.
In this episode, you will learn:
- The Pow...
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