Getting a small business started is tough, and getting it into profit is hard too. But you don’t need to do it on your own.

Like everyone else, Slick Business started from scratch. I had no experience of running a business, and no idea how to go about the most important things.

To get the business started we needed a website, a marketing strategy, great copy to use, a strategy for how to grow and make a profit, and help with how to run a membership without overloading me.

It’s a lot, right?

This blog is for you if you’re a small business needing training and resources to help you with website, marketing, growth, copy, or membership skills.

I’m sharing with you the very best training recommendations, all from people we have worked with personally, and that have helped get Slick Business to the profitable growth stage we’re at right now.

If I can do this (with help from these awesome educators) then so can you.

Follow these steps to find the best small business training

Discover the five best small business training providers with Kay Peacey in this 10 min video

Try ActiveCampaign now with a two week free trial

Learn how to build a brilliant website with The Design Space

You know your website is your shop window. But did you also know it should be at the heart of your business eco-system, for marketing funnels, building your email list, and creating close relationships that drive sales?

Oh, and you also need your website to be drop-dead gorgeous, work like a dream, and be easy to look after, of course.

Right now, you’re on a site designed and built by Melissa Love of The Design Space. Isn’t it a beauty?

And (drum roll) this website for Slick Business was the jumping off point for one of the many glorious templates you can buy from The Design Space store.

Grab a template, follow the training that comes with it, and you too can have your dream website.

And if you choose the Paloma template you’ll feel familiar and at home when we visit one another’s sites – bonus!

Get brilliant at Marketing Strategy with The Marketing Fix

Melissa Love taught me everything I know about digital marketing and marketing strategy.

She is a great teacher, and runs The Marketing Fix membership to teach digital marketing to small businesses.

Go get it – teaching is a weirdly under-rated skill in online education. So many people talking about how well they know their subject, and how they made blah blah money in blah blah time, so you should take their course and it will all magically come true for you.

Look for the real teachers, and that’s where you find the real teaching going on. The teaching that sticks. The teaching that leaves you knowing how to catch your own fish forever.

I’m a guest tutor in The Marketing Fix, and also use the training – so we get to hang out together if you join – bonus!

Learn more about our ActiveCampaign Academy membership
Fast, effective training & support for ActiveCampaign users everywhere

Get the best copywriting training with Worditude

“It’s like owning a Ferrari and using it once a month to drive to the corner shop for milk.”

What is?

Paying for all the awesome features of ActiveCampaign then using it to send one newsletter a month.

How about you get some driving lessons with a great instructor and take that Ferrari out more often?

—

See that? ☝️ I used to be too scared to use my real thoughts, analogies, and words in emails, socials or website copy. 

Then Laura Robinson from Worditude gave my head a wobble on how to do copywriting better.

Her copywriting training is hands down the best.

And she’s totally lovely with it – what a winner!

Get the best copywriting training with Worditude here – literally no one ever regrets it.

Grow your business into profit with Atomic & Atomicon

Atomicon is a business conference so good I turned down a trip to Chicago to see the Grateful Dead because it clashed on dates

I mean, it’s gotta be good then, right?

The one for 2023 is in Newcastle, UK in June – Grab your Atomicon ticket here for the next run you can get to.

And that’s just the conference… Andrew and Pete also run a membership for when it’s your time to go from caterpillar to business butterfly.

We had help to get our beautiful business wings from this wonderful membership and the community who hang out witih Andrew and Pete – it’s especially for small biz people who want to grow and need company, cheer-leaders, and solid gold advice.

When I joined Atomic I was literally too scared to sell a course I had already built, and knew people wanted to buy. Crazy, but true – and I bet you have barriers like that in your business growth too. Join Atomic here.

Create an awesome membership with The Membership Academy

For high quality advice, ask an expert. So obvious, right?

But how many times do we just ask a mate instead? 🤔

Great if your mates happen to be a world-class expert in the thing you need advice on, but that’s not what happens in the real world (much).

I’m an ActiveCampaign expert, running a membership where I’m the one answering questions

For my (many!) questions about how to run my membership, I go to Mike and Callie – aka The Membership Geeks.

👉 Their Membership Academy is THE definitive guide to successful memberships. 

Mic drop.

If you’re in memberships, do yourself a major favour and join the Membership Academy now – I’ll see you in there. 🙂 

Get expert advice you can trust on any and all aspects of ActiveCampaign

In the ActiveCampaign Academy we’re not just about the platform itself. We’re here to help you find the best tech or training to complement what we and ActiveCampaign can do in your business.

Email marketing is just one part of the puzzle, and so is automation. You need all the surrounding skills too, and we love to help you find the best people and services that you can trust to help you grow your business.

So come on in to the ActiveCampaign Academy, and you’ll have Kay Peacey and the Slick Business team, and all your lovely fellow members, to guide you every step of the way to fabulousness with ActiveCampaign.

Learn more about our ActiveCampaign Academy membership
Fast, effective training & support for ActiveCampaign users everywhere