Sell Less. Mean More.

Running a service-based business - like domestic cleaning - requires a SHED LOAD of moving pieces and variables.

From the recruitment of cleaners through to office staff, training for best practice, ensuring you're insured to the eyeballs, assuaging the worries of customers and dealing with the whole 'being in other people's homes' thing - it's a lot. It's also what Edward Clayton of Maid to Clean does on the daily.

I interviewed Ed during the height of Australian COVID-19 isolation, and we discussed the impact of pandemic on his business and the big pivots and reality-checks they had to take as an organisation. Ed's an interesting guy; while he runs Melbourne's leading cleaning business, it is business excellence itself that he's most concerned with. I think you'll enjoy this interview; I sense it will prove a bit of a time-capsule. 

Leila Sturt and Kim Low co-founded Partnerships for Protection after becoming aware of the plight of Sumatran elephants. Like so many of Sumatra's extraordinary animals, elephants are being pushed into extinction by habitat loss and the resulting human-elephant conflict that sees them poisoned, snared and shot. Just 1200 elephants remain in the wild and they are likely to disappear in the next decade unless rapid action is taken to save them. In this episode of Sell Less, Mean More, Iolanthe, Kim and Leila discuss a variety of subjects - from the challenges of being a NFP in startup, to working closely with a business partner and overcoming fundraising fatigue. 

To learn more about Partnerships for Protection, visit http://bit.ly/38tRtwQ.

Julie Gibson is a technologist at heart. She's the CEO and Co-Founder of Australian B Corp Hitnet, who connect people in hard-to-reach places with technology. She's a true adventurer, who develops responsive products that respond to indigenous communities' needs and preferences. Hitnet's Community Hubs with Wi-Fi hotspots enable people to connect to online services and access interactive health, social and cultural information. In this podcast, Julie discusses growing an academic project into a sustainable business, recovering from business mistakes, identifying technology in all its guises and gauging how it is one knows their business is really working.

Yule Guttenbeil is the Director of Mode.Law, a newlaw tech platform that empowers entrepreneurs to take control of their legal needs. Yule's an interesting guy: he's practiced law in both NZ and Australia, he has deep knowledge of lawyering in the startup space, and he's a musician. This episode of 'Sell Less, Mean More' offers a neat window into the foundational experience of being a tech platform in the very early days of startup. Yule is unflinchingly honest about the challenges of working with developers, the counterbalance of creativity, coping with competition, and the project of connecting with his customer. Every empire has its foundation: this is the story of Yule's.

Max Paterson is the CEO and Co-founder of Settify, a groundbreaking, award-winning tech tool that helps family lawyers better connect with their clients. He's also a top fella whose history includes time as a family lawyer at a premium leading firm, and launching a theatrical production company for lawyers. In a wide-ranging and warm conversation, Iolanthe and Max discuss being in flow with our clients, the magic alchemy of collaboration in commerce, and the key differences between a criminal ... and an entrepreneur.

Rachel Service knows how to light up a room. A the helm of global training company Happiness Concierge, Rachel helps people to ace work and life. In this sweary, jolly, real-talk podcast, Iolanthe and Rachel talk comparison traps, abundance and the critical import of competence in business.

Clara Santaera is an extraordinary woman.

In Sell Less Mean More's pilot podcast, your host Iolanthe Gabrie takes you away from the business hustle and towards connection in her funny, takeaway-packed interview with coach and healer Elle Steele. It's magic.