As business owners, we all know how difficult it can be when we go down for a couple of days with a bad case of the sniffles. From juggling client work, an inbox that keeps building up and wondering whether it’s okay to post your chicken soup on Instagram stories or not, it can definitely feel a bit overwhelming trying to stay on track. But, how would you handle things if the worst happened, and you found yourself confronted with a medical diagnosis that could stop you in your tracks?
That’s what happened to today’s guest, Allison Christie, who whilst running her ads management business, found herself unexpectedly diagnosed with breast cancer. The diagnosis understandably threw her whole business into question when she found herself down 70% of her income whilst being left unable to work the hours she had previously. What was she going to do about her long-term management clients? What about those power hours she desperately didn’t enjoy doing? How long was this whole medical situation going to throw her off kilter and prevent her moving forward with all the fun ideas she was still coming up with?
These questions (and more like it!) are ones that Allison will be answering in today’s episode, and – touch wood – you won’t need the advice, but you might just find yourself considering your service offerings as they stand right now and seeing if you can shake anything up to make your business more fun, profitable and easy to run, even if you’re taken out of it for a period of time.
Our wonderful guest today is Allison Christie, a Meta Ads Manager who heads up a small agile team of freelancers/subcontractors and they are all about helping health and wellness businesses thrive with results-driven marketing. Allison has been running socials, ads and email campaigns for businesses paid social ads on Facebook since 2014 and since then, she’s taken several highly respected ads courses and keeps up to date with regular training from professionals and ad platforms themselves. Allison lives in the Shetland Islands with husband Gary and the family (made up of kids, cats and horse!). She’s an eternal list-maker, borderline crazy cat lady and she loves a good decaf coffee.
This episode is definitely sure to make you look at your business in a different light, see whether it’s serving you as you would like and you’ll also learn how best you can support others in a similar scenario. And of course if you’re going through a medical situation, like Allison, the tips she provides on keeping your business running will be invaluable!
In this episode, we’re chatting about:
- How a breast cancer diagnosis can impact your business
- Whether you should open up to clients about a diagnosis and what you can expect from them
- Why a diagnosis could be the thing you need to prompt you to re-evaluate what you don’t like about your business
- How you can support someone who is going through getting a cancer diagnosis or other similar situation
Jump Straight To It…
[01:18] What Allison’s business looked like before her diagnosis
[03:14] How Allison was diagnosed with breast cancer
[08:23] The impact of Allison’s diagnosis on her client work and business
[14:01] Opening up to clients about her diagnosis
[18:54] The effect on Allison’s income & restructuring her services
[22:55] Has changing up her services helped Allison to feel more satisfied and happy with her business?
[29:30] Advice Allison would give to anyone in a similar position
[33:41] The best way to support someone going through a cancer diagnosis
[36:11] Where is Allison taking her business now?
[38:53] Allison’s final top tips
This Episode’s Links & Further Reading:
- Macmillan Cancer Support
- Clan Cancer
- Breast Cancer Now
- Cancer Research UK
- Ticking Off Breast Cancer on Instagram
- Dr Liz O’Riordan on Instagram
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