What is the purpose of writing a blog? I always say to the Teach Starter team that the number one reason should be to provide value to our readers— everything else is secondary. However, all those things that come in second to value, are what turns great content into a

When we began Teach Starter, our only focus was on delivering value to our customers.That’s it. We knew our customer and we knew what they needed. So we began by giving away our content for free. Roughly once a month we sent the Teach Starter email full of

Teach Starter is a content-driven business. We create content for teachers to use in classrooms, in the form of teaching resources. We also create content for teachers to consume and use as ideas and inspiration in their classroom. This is where our blog comes in. Our blog forms a crucial

Last week I finished reading ‘Man’s Search for Meaning,’ a book by Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl. Published in 1946, it details Frankl’s experiences as an ‘average prisoner’ in an Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II. Frankl’s education provided him with a platform with which

Here’s a test for you… Step 1: Reply to a customer’s email within 5 minutes. Step 2: Take a look at the response you receive. Do this often enough and you’ll begin to see a pattern… “Wow! That was quick.” “Thank you so much for sorting this

As a business owner your role is challenging and often all-encompassing. You’re required to wear many hats — seamlessly moving from product and marketing to finance and HR all in a day’s work. I remember in the early days at Teach Starter, my role involved a mix of marketing

As your ego grows and your success story is re-written, you give yourself permission to dream on a grander scale.The other day I read an interesting article by Ryan Holiday titled, ‘How To Change The Story In Your Head That’s Stopping You From Succeeding’. It began with the

This practical guide examines the tools and systems we used to scale our feedback machine to stay in the loop with over 250 000 members.It’s easy to stay in touch with a single customers. What about 10? It’s still one-to-one. 100? It gets harder. Now what about

The simple answer is yes. Now, are you ready to get to work?My wife and I had been dating barely six months when we had an ‘aha’ moment that culminated in starting our own business. We decided to commit $1000 each to see if we could get our idea

A story of how meeting my wife would instil in me the required discipline to change my life.As a high school student, if I had an assignment due on Friday morning I’d start it on Thursday night. Soccer training, Age of Empires, catching up with friends, and procrastinating,

Curation vs creation? Spoiler alert: it’s not an either or.When businesses begin thinking about how they can use content to build their brand, they often overlook the idea of curation in favour of creation. This belief can cause businesses to struggle to output enough content to retain their

Mindset is a beautiful thing. You can change your entire outlook by merely adjusting the way you think. When we launched Teach Starter, the only way I thought about sales was through my experience being sold to and by reflecting on what I had seen. It’s incredibly easy to

It’s been five years since Jill and I launched Teach Starter. It all started with a mailing list and $2000 worth of Facebook ads. We decided early on that VC funding wasn’t the path for us (that’s not to say that it won’t be, one day)

Jill and I had been dating for barely six months when the idea of Teach Starter materialised. Like most ideas upon inception, our initial enthusiasm was contagious. We tossed ideas back and forth and quickly came up with a plan. To validate our idea, we would create free digital teaching

Last weekend, I spent time with some friends discussing their fledgling business. We talked at length about content and its role in developing their brand. We also spoke about sales and how they’re adjusting to the highs and lows that come with the good days and the bad. On

If “content is king”, as Bill Gates famously proclaimed, why are so few businesses embracing it as a way to reach their customers? I can imagine that for many businesses, the thought of investing time and money in content creation doesn’t seem like a worthwhile pursuit. Hiring a blogger,

If it is done well, customer support can be a massive competitive advantage for your business. While I can’t claim to be an expert on customer support, I feel well positioned to share some practical tips of what worked for us at Teach Starter. To give some context, Teach

(Cover photo: December, 2013 — Packing mailing tubes for Teach Starter’s free poster promotion in January.) Before Teach Starter ever existed, I always knew that I wanted to start a business. I had no idea what that business would be, but I knew it had to have three key attributes.

Starting a business can be a scary proposition. The odds are overwhelmingly stacked against you. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, more than 60 percent of small businesses cease operating within their first three years of existence. Despite this, new businesses are formed every day with the dream of

For five years I spent all but a handful of days working on the development of the Teach Starter website. As technical co-founder, it was my job to continually refine and develop our offering. Despite the multitude of tasks that would present each day, one way or another I would