Bernadette Schwerdt - How to Build an Online Business: Australias Top Digital Disruptors Reveal Their Secrets for Launching and Growing an Online Business

BERNADETTE SCHWERDT

First published in 2018 by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd
42 McDougall St, Milton Qld 4064
Office also in Melbourne

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John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 2018

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Disclaimer

The material in this publication is of the nature of general comment only, and does not represent professional advice. It is not intended to provide specific guidance for particular circumstances and it should not be relied on as the basis for any decision to take action or not take action on any matter which it covers. Readers should obtain professional advice where appropriate, before making any such decision. To the maximum extent permitted by law, the author and publisher disclaim all responsibility and liability to any person, arising directly or indirectly from any person taking or not taking action based on the information in this publication.

To my wonderful family who make it all possible and worthwhile

Phil, Darcy, Cameron and Maddi

And to the best parents a girl could hope for

Rosemary and David Schwerdt

Bernadette Schwerdt is a writer, keynote speaker and entrepreneur. She is the founder of the Australian School of Copywriting, the head copywriting tutor at the Australian Writers Centre, and a former senior account director with Wunderman Cato Johnson Advertising, where she created campaigns for clients such as Apple, American Express and BHP.

She has a business degree in Marketing from the University of South Australia, is the author of the best-selling book Secrets of Online Entrepreneurs, the producer of a video series of the same name for Fairfax Media and a popular TEDx speaker on a topic close to her heart: How to bumble your way to success.

She is on the board of Writers Victoria, a mentor with the Layne Beachley Aim for the Stars foundation, and a judge for the Anthill Cool Company Awards and the Online Retailers Industry Awards (ORIAs). She has been featured in BRW , Money magazine, HuffPost and on Sky News.

She took three years out of the corporate world to study acting at the Victorian College of the Arts, has since worked extensively as an actor in film and television and is a leading public speaking coach for senior executives.

You could say shes had what is now known as a portfolio career. Her mother still doesnt know exactly what she does.

I would like to thank all those who made this book possible.

To the fantastic team at Wiley Publishing: Lucy Raymond, Chris Shorten, Peter Walmsley, Ingrid Bond and Sandra Balonyi.

To all the amazing online entrepreneurs and expert contributors who participated in the book. Thank you for your time, honesty and generosity of spirit.

To my wonderful family, friends and business colleagues:

Patrick and Sandy Schwerdt, Edmund and Sheryn Schwerdt, Stephen and Rosalind Schwerdt, Monique Eddy, Heather Fraser, Judyth Wiley, Jenny Thurlow, Karen Claren, Theresa Miller, Karen Eck, Ami-Leigh ODonnell, Meri Harli, Paul Greenberg, Toby Tremayne, Glenn Flood, Andrew Romeo, Samuel Tan, Alex Sapurmas, Sylvia Young, Jane Carbone, Michelle West, and Gina Battista.

I have a confession to make.

I dont like cooking. But ironically, I really like watching cooking shows.

The show I love most of all is MasterChef and the reason I love it is not because of what they cook; its about how they cook and how that cooking process reveals their true entrepreneurial personality. Ill give you an example.

Theres a segment on the show where all the contestants are given a recipe. This recipe is often prepared by a famous chef such as Heston Blumenthal a chef renowned for creating fiendishly difficult recipes. The contestants job is to re-create this recipe to the letter. If a contestant gets it wrong, they run the risk of going home. If you watch the show, youll know that going home is to be avoided at all costs.

So, the contestants start cooking. Halfway in, the recipe calls for a pinch of salt. One contestant lets call her Sue puts in the pinch of salt, stirs it, stares into space, tastes it and declares to no-one in particular, I think it needs more salt!

At this point, people like me at home start throwing popcorn at the screen, yelling, Are you crazy?! Its a recipe! Its been salted! Dont mess with the recipe!

You can see Sue wrestling with her decision. Will I put more salt in ? Wont I ? Will I ? Wont I ? and then

Boom! In goes the salt! And all hell breaks loose.

The judges descend and declare Sue to be crazy for messing with the recipe.

The fellow contestants hover like ghouls and call Sue crazy for taking such a stupid risk. People at home, like me, yell, Are you crazy? You are so leaving the MasterChef kitchen. Your journey is over . Sue panics. She second guesses her decision. Did I make the wrong call? Has that extra pinch of salt cost me my place in the competition?

And then it gets to the judging. This is when it gets interesting. It goes one of two ways.

The judges taste Sues dish, screw up their noses and say, That tastes terrible. Its too salty. What were you thinking? Sue starts to cry.

Or they taste it, smile and say, That tastes amazing. What were you thinking? Sue starts to cry.

And more often than not, the contestant people like Sue who took the crazy risk goes on to win the competition!

So why does that contestant win when those who follow the rules and stick to the recipe dont?

Having watched every season since it started, Ive seen the pattern. People like Sue win because theyre the innovators, the mavericks, the risk-takers, the ones who say, I know what I should be doing; I know what the judges are telling me to do and I know what the audience is telling me to do. But Im going to do it my way, because I believe in me.

And theyre exactly the sort of people I wanted to interview for the book youre reading right now. Not people from the cooking community of course, but people from the online business community people who have taken risks, gone out on a limb, given up their comfortable day jobs, done something others considered crazy, and succeeded.

With that in mind, I wanted to explore two key aspects.

First, are entrepreneurs born or made? Is there an entrepreneurial gene that automatically hardwires them for success? Are they born with an abundance of traits that naturally predispose them to the rollercoaster ride that is entrepreneurship? Or can training, commitment and exposure to advanced entrepreneurial strategies be enough to create success? Or is there a third option where entrepreneurial ability is a combination of heredity and environment?