Episode 65 Leanne O’Sullivan - Breakdown to Business Breakthrough
Leanne O’Sullivan has been a business owner for over 18 years and, as you can imagine, has seen the digital landscape expand and change considerably in that time. “I’ve found that the small business journey, whilst immensely rewarding, is not for the faint hearted. Babies and small children at your feet whilst growing a business? Not recommended! And Motherguilt? That’s a fierce emotion we all experience to a degree. But I’ve realised if you stay aligned with your values and understand you don’t need to “toughen up” to do well in business, you actually need to soften, and I’m now fully opening into my Next Chapter.
Together, Leanne and her husband grew a very successful digital agency. But with growth can come stress and personal disconnection and that led to a physical and emotional breakdown for Leanne. “I had to take time to reassess everything – the what, why, who of my core” and address my own needs more fully.
That led to the understanding that Leanne needed to set off down her own business path, and to work with the people that she was strongly drawn to support and serve. Summit School with Leanne O was the result – a Next Chapter that leverages her substantial skill and experience base, but also allows her the freedom to design it exactly as she wants.
That’s entrepreneurial freedom.
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Show Notes
It takes time to find what you want and then to build it – patience and commitment are needed
Don’t burn yourself out – listen to your body. That can be as simple a spending time outside and just sitting. And being.
You don’t need to toughen up, and become cynical and hard to be successful.
Just because you can multi-task doesn’t mean you should!
Leanne’s Support Circle:
Physical
A personal trainer and gym program
“I’ve rediscovered the importance of physical fitness and how much it contributed to your mental well-being. I’m laying the foundations of my psychical condition into my 60’s, 70’s and 80’s now”.
A great hairdresser!
Emotional/Spiritual
Raised a Catholic, and love time out in a Church where it is quiet and peaceful
A focus on positivity, good news stories that show how the people in our world are inherently good, and are doing good things
Volunteering on 2 boards
Mindfulness, beyond the cliché, simply being here present, in the one thing now…. Multi-tasking needs to go!
Community/Connection
There is such value in connecting online – the potential for fabulous deep and rewarding connections. Don’t view these solely through the lens of lead generation
Mindset/Mentoring
A move from a pure focus on learning and improving my technical skills
I need people to bounce ideas off so I can become clearer in my business
You learn so much from other people, as well as from a group facilitator
Be open to giving and receiving thoughtful, truthful feedback, be open and vulnerable and you will learn so much.
Leanne has been a member of my masterminds for business women for 2 years.
About the speaker
I am the founder and chief Digital Sherpa at Summit School with Leanne O and I am the co-founder and co-owner of Big Blue Digital, a digital business agency based in regional NSW, servicing clients all over the Australian eastern seaboard.
Big Blue Digital has a team of 15 with staff based in our regional head office, Sydney and Melbourne. We are experts in digital marketing, digital strategy, web development, online advertising and line of business applications. Our business has survived and thrived for 18 years.
I have broad technical and marketing experience in diverse areas including:
Design, development and project management of website development using SquareSpace, Wordpress, Wix, Adobe Business Catalyst & Kentico
Deep email marketing & marketing automation experience and knowledge of MailChimp, ConvertKit, Campaign Monitor, Autopilot and InfusionSoft
Social Media Management experience using Hootsuite, Buffer, Sendible, Planoly, Later, SmarterQueue, PromoRepublic and AgorapulseProject management of large scale deployments of Sharepoint, Microsoft CRM & Accelo across multiple locations to over 200+ staff
Design brief and specifications. Working with business owners to understand their operations so that I could scope and manage the development of unique business applications designed to suit their needs
Planning and implementing digital marketing plans for small business clients with particular focus on integrated Social Media marketing, Facebook & Instagram advertising, Content creation and planning as well as Google Adword Campaigns and the all important measurement of results.
Training plan development and delivery for both small and large organisations in how to use their online tools better & smarter.
I have worked with many industries over the last 18 years of all sizes, in all sectors with people of all ages and abilities.
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