Wednesday 22nd May

The Pulse

Welcome!

Written by
Paul Hassing

SBO Archive

Print Page

05
Mar

Hello and thanks for visiting! This blog is written by me (a qualified, high-end copywriter, editor & proofreader with 20 years experience) and others for you.

It tracks our companies, clients, colleagues and partners as we try to make an honest buck without killing the planet or going mad.

It’s a frank, fair dinkum and evolving story. Success, failure, mediocrity and discovery feature as they occur, with no punches pulled.

This blog will:

Tell you what we’ve learned – the easy way and the hard way!
Remind you that you’re not alone.
Flag new tools and learning to make life easier.
Save you from pitfalls.
Answer your questions.
Listen to your feedback.

I’m a writer, but no hero. I’ve mown lawns, driven cabs, managed a human resources department, published stories globally, done a Masters and designed and sold t-shirts.

I’ve had five staff, no staff, oodles of work and nothing. I toiled in public and private retail and manufacturing organisations until giving it all away to build my own business.

In short, I’m into my third decade of becoming an overnight success and I’m keen to tell my tales.

I greatly look forward to hearing yours!

With best regards and many thanks for reading!

Paul.

Paul Hassing , Founder & Senior Writer, www.thefeistyempire.com

Next Article Previous Article

Add a comment Cancel reply

We love to hear what you think, but please note, that by submitting a comment you agree to our comment policy.

Our comments work like a dinner party. Differences of opinion are welcome but keep it respectful or the host will show you the door. If you're rude or abusive, your comment will be deleted. And if you're offensive, you won't be welcome back. We reserve the right to remove any comments that do not comply with our policy. Have fun and thanks for adding to the conversation.

What others are saying

Author

Megan from myBRC

March 5, 2009 at 10:23 am

Hi everyone and welcome to Small Business Owner!

An FYI if you want to leave a comment – the first time you comment, it will be sent to the administrator for approval – so you won’t see it straight away.

Once your first comment is approved, all your future comments (submitted using the same email address) will appear immediately.

Don’t be shy – we’re all very nice and we’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback.

Reply
Author

Adam Finlay

March 5, 2009 at 11:00 am

I must declare that I’ve worked with Paul in the past, and find him to be a novel, entertaining and intelligent communicator. So I’m very much looking forward to this new myBRC initiative. I have a nascent small business selling cartoons … every little bit of Paul’s wisdom will surely help. Thanks!

Reply
Author

Derek Hamilton

March 5, 2009 at 1:11 pm

Hi Paul, hopefuly we are one of the first to congratulate you on your overnight success. We too have been looking forward to it for some time. However we have been very lucky to have known you over all these years and we wish you all the best ion your business adventure. Love to you Aunty Stella and Derek

Reply
Author

Paul Hassing

March 5, 2009 at 2:16 pm

My heartfelt thanks to you and Stella, Derek! You certainly did get in early and I greatly appreciate your support. If you’re keen to promote your business, don’t forget to paste your URL in the Website Box when you leave your reply!

Reply
Author

Derek Hamilton

March 5, 2009 at 3:29 pm

Hi is that better? Derek

Reply
Author

Paul Hassing

March 5, 2009 at 3:30 pm

Spot on, Derek. I’d hate anyone to miss your fine establishment!

Reply
Author

Monique Welbing

March 5, 2009 at 3:34 pm

Hey Cousin

Congratulations.
Best wishes for your ongoing success.
You are fantastic.

Reply
Author

Paul Hassing

March 5, 2009 at 3:46 pm

Hi there, Monique! I didn’t expect this blog to trigger a gathering of the clans, but I’m very touched by your response. Thank you!

Reply
Author

wim hassing

March 5, 2009 at 4:52 pm

Dear Paul,
Before commenting on your new venture I wish to query the use of the word GILD in your Welcome.
Is it meant to be serious or jocular? If serious. I feel it might be a misnomer, because the roof was not gold coloured. If jocular, I would grant you poetic licence. What say you?
Love, D.

Reply
Author

Paul Hassing

March 5, 2009 at 5:14 pm

Dear Dad, as my roofing iron is all but diaphanous, I used ‘gild’ to conjure an image of paper-thin gold leaf. The renovation was serious, but the device was jocular. And there was certainly no gold left at the end! I’m keen for your licence; I hope I pass! Love, P.

Reply
Author

Catherine

March 6, 2009 at 3:36 pm

Hi Paul,

I am a new small business owner,a small HR consultancy providing range of HR tools, templates and services. Not sure this is the best time to start up, but I am grateful for all tips and generally useful resources as I wade through mountains of compliance issues at start up. Looking forward to your news Catherine

Reply
Author

Paul Hassing

March 6, 2009 at 3:43 pm

Nice to meet you Catherine! If you can survive now, you’ll thrive when the Great Wheel turns anew. Please feel free to suggest discussion topics. If I don’t have the answers, someone in here will.

Reply
Author

Andrew Hurl

March 6, 2009 at 6:00 pm

Hi Paul,

I have always thought that overnight success can just as quickly become overnight failure without the right planning, vision and skills.

With three decades to build your empire I’m sure you possess the key elements to this market space, have no doubt learnt many valuable lessons and as a small business exponentially expanding our client base, in the very rapidly growing online world, we can only benefit from the experiences others have already had and leverage them to our advantage.

I have syndicated your RSS feed and look forward to your future blogs!

Reply
Author

Paul Hassing

March 6, 2009 at 6:58 pm

Thank you for your wise (and kind!) words, Andrew. I hope you become a regular contributor; your IT expertise would add much to this forum.

Reply
Author

Mike Boyle

March 7, 2009 at 5:30 pm

Paul

As a friend of Banjar i have watched you grow over the last 5 years. While you call yourself a ‘copywriter’ we know full well you are somebody who has the unique skill of:

‘saying more with less’

you have helped me and many of my customers save money, say more with less and become effective with communication

Well done

Mike Boyle

Reply
Author

Paul Hassing

March 8, 2009 at 11:53 am

Thank you for your fabulous comment, Mike! I’m humbled that you feel that way and honoured that you saw fit to say so. You were the first person to put me in contact with Seth Godin’s work. As these pages will show, this has had a profoundly positive effect on my business and my life.

Reply
Author

CGabriel

March 19, 2009 at 4:29 pm

Hey Paul, greetings from Minneapolis, Minnesota. We’re the Land of 10,000 Lakes . . . and 10,000,000 varieties of mosquitoes. The latter proves especially annoying when you realize that some of them are the size of sparrows. Seeing small children carried down the highway is not uncommon. Where was I . . .

I was looking for a spot to make a broad-based comment on your site and this seems to be the perfect place.

As I sat here reading and re-reading your work for the past 20 minutes, I kept wondering why everything you had to say – especially in your Welcome – resonated so much for me. Finally, it came to me (sometimes with me, things take awhile): We are two peas in a pod halfway around the world from one another. Honestly, it’s frightening . . . in the most positive sense of the word.

Your honesty, humor and antithesis-to-preaching approach is incredibly refreshing. And your personal story — like you, I’ve been way up and even further down. Clint Eastwood’s “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly” might well have been the forerunner to my professional life. I’ve said to any number of people over the years – when you’re on the radio, on stage or writing an article, an audience knows THE SECOND you’re lying to them. “Lying” meaning not speaking from the heart. You understand that in no uncertain terms.

As soon as I finish here, I’m putting you on my Sites I Read at Blog Harbor. I plan on coming back quite often.

Best,
Christopher

Reply
Author

Paul Hassing

March 19, 2009 at 5:02 pm

Dear Christopher, thank you for your immensely generous comment and for including us on your most excellent blog. Those who doubt the power of Twitter to connect like-minded souls need read no further! Best regards indeed.

Reply
Author

Robin Harrison

March 20, 2009 at 11:30 am

Paul,

I have nearly completed my first decade of overnight success!

I believe in a steady as you go strategy and in truth I would say I have just learn’t to crawl and I am now dragging myself up onto the furniture and fingers crossed my first steps are not to far away!

Great blog.

Regards

Robin

Reply
Author

Paul Hassing

March 20, 2009 at 11:35 am

Good on you, Robin! It was good to discover your blog and I’m grateful for your visit and kind words.

Reply
Author

Robin Harrison

March 20, 2009 at 11:40 am

Your very welcome Paul,

Must answer your comment @ Dolly Char

Reply
Author

Kate James

March 20, 2009 at 2:55 pm

Love your blog Paul…great work!

Reply