I work remotely, taking my laptop wherever I go in the world and for this year, so far I have been home in Australia on a successful attempt to get a UK visa (returning to London in May!)
I’ve stayed with friends in Adelaide, then over to my parents place in a coastal town near Newcastle. Working from their house has been superb - it's been really easy to focus on tasks and know that dinner is cooked for me at the end of the day (is this why people have partners? No time to get into that now..)
Leaving most of my stuff there and packing a small bag, I’ve headed on “holiday” to Melbourne and Hobart. This is the first time in a longass time where I haven’t had to pack up literally everything I own to then move to a new place. Just, an actual holiday.
As such, my brain hasn’t been too focused on work stuff. I have growth plans I need to get back to, and products being developed, but I’ve organised my schedule to give plenty of free space for personal stuff.
That personal stuff has seen me in the stunning Victoria State Library for days at a time, reading stacks of philosophy, psychology, media literacy, and self help books as I work on an incredibly exciting, all-encompassing project that is just for me.
I also changed some of my schedule to have fewer free SEO consultation calls, as the nighttime requirement for meeting UK folk was burning me out. But, I had a few calls booked - one last night which I felt dread for all day, putting me in “waiting mode”.
But the consultation call was an absolute delight. I met a new face, learned about their plight with SEO, and took the time to explain some concepts and jargon to them such that at the end of the call they said “that makes so much sense and I understand now” (paraphrasing but that’s the idea).
I was flooded with warm fuzzy feelings and reminded why I do this. There are so many SEO agencies out there that simply try their hardest to confuse people, trying to make SEO sound complicated so you have no choice but to pay them. SEO Bitch was built on the idea that these are not secrets to guard - anyone can learn them if they want to.
These agencies work so hard to talk down to small business owners and creatives, trying to make you feel stupid, to make you feel like “everyone else gets this so you should too”. But that’s absolute bullshit. Creative people are so fucking smart. So skilled. So talented. I couldn’t for a SECOND do what any of my clients do, so why is it reasonable to expect that they should know how to do what I do?
Just like you can teach someone creative techniques like how to sculpt or paint or weld, so too can you teach someone SEO techniques - even more easily actually, because you don’t really need to have any innate talent. I’m not talking down myself - I am a very talented writer and SEO content writing is a skill. But learning the basics of SEO is absolutely possible. Again, you have to learn them, they’re not intrinsically knowable.
Businesses are so afraid of giving away their “secrets”, worried that they won’t have any income if their clients figure out they can do it themselves. This is such a disingenuous way of doing business, and not my experience at all. For every person I teach how to do their SEO and release into the wild, never to make a cent from them again, there are a dozen new people waiting to learn, and another dozen who simply do not want to learn, having other things they’d rather do with their time.
I go on and on about this, I know. But also: I forgot. In my time on holiday, I forgot why I do this and what impact I have on the people I meet. I’m sure that you guys also often forget the impact you have, potentially not realising the smiles and joy that the end users of your products are feeling every day. Receiving birthday cards you designed; sipping from coffee mugs you made; wearing jewellery you made.
Take a moment to see if you can picture their joyous faces, instead of looking at sales stats or post likes. See if you can feel a lil wisp of this joy yourself, in knowing the impact you’ve had on the world. Book a consultation call with me if you want, or check out the various services in SEO for small creative businesses that I offer. If you want all the secrets to maximising your sales on the Faire platform, check out my guide to Faire SEO.
