Hello! Welcome! Let me show you around...

Hi, I'm Shelley! Welcome to my home on the internet. Allow me to show you around. I've got posts on entrepreneurship, homeschooling, family music, and books. And podcasts too!

Hello! Welcome! Let me show you around...

Hi, I'm Shelley! Welcome to my home on the internet. Allow me to show you around.

If this site was an actual brick-and-mortar home, you could imagine it to have many rooms, each built on to the main house as the need arose (think farmstead with a new room for each new couple of kids!). That's because along the path of my business (and life) journey, I have created... a few different websites, social media accounts, podcasts, blogs, and business offerings.

Most of that content has now been consolidated under one roof, and this is the roof: shelleytonkinsmith.com. My intention is to build one big, beautiful publication that:
(a) makes it easy and exciting for me to create content and
(b) makes my content more accessible and supportive to you.

I've got a big vision for this publication, but I'm making my way there with small steps. In future, you'll be able to personalise your experience and pick and choose the content that interests you. For now though, I'm going to be lumping all my content together and asking you to select the content that serves you.

Grazing platter - Cheese & Charcuterie board
Photo by Anto Meneghini / Unsplash

Eventually, you'll get to choose from a fine dining a-la-carte menu. But for now, I'm offering you the buffet option and inviting you to load your plate with whatever looks delicious to you.

🏡
I'm inviting you to my internet home and I'm serving a buffet – a feast, even! If you want in, then you can subscribe here.

Here's what's on offer (content-wise)...


Entrepreneurship

Articles on Solo-Entrepreneurship

I've been running my own business from home since 2010. In that time, I've written blog posts on starting and running an online business, typically from home, and typically on the side of parenting and/or homeschooling and/or caretaking and/or any other "jobs" you may have on your list.

Because I do launch copywriting in the agency side of my business, Shelley Smith Creative, you can also expect to find posts and videos that guide you through the process of launching a product or service package as a solo business owner.

Articles on the Art and Science of Copywriting

I make my living as a copywriter. At Shelley Smith Creative, I write websites, sales pages, case studies, email sequences, and launch content. I love writing and so on this platform, I plan on getting meta and writing more about writing.

Articles on Biz Tech

Oh, I love me some tech. Especially when it saves me time. And yes, especially when it is shiny and new! ✨

But what I love the most is connecting my people to amazing tech solutions that have them declaring, "How did I function without this?!"


Podcasts and Podcasting

The Simply Biz Besties Podcast

Simply Biz Besties Podcast
The Simply Biz Besties podcast is a home for freelancers, solopreneurs and business owners with a desire to make an abundant income and an extraordinary impact doing work that they love — even whilst homeschooling, homemaking, or working a second job.

In 2020, my biz bestie, Francesca Woltanski and I created a podcast series on how to run a simple and effective business as a solo business owner.

I'm so proud of this series and we continue to have many new and aspiring business owners telling us how much they've benefitted from the podcast. There's also plenty of supportive ideas for experienced business owners who are looking to simplify the way they run their own businesses.

This was my first foray into the world of podcasting and I absolutely loved it! So I kept making more podcasts...

The Playful Mompreneur Podcast

The Playful Mompreneur Podcast
The Playful Mompreneur Podcast with Shelley Tonkin Smith is for moms (and dads) who want to start and grow their own playful business alongside involved and fully-present parenting. If you want to embrace more play in your business, then tune in!

In 2021, I started my own podcast, The Playful Mompreneur – because  I realised that the only way I was going to make homeschooling plus business ownership plus navigating a pandemic work – was if I became more playful.

In the first season of The Playful Mompreneur, I reached out to other female business owners who were rocking the double gig of parenting and business ownership. In our interviews, I asked them about how they managed their time, how they infused play into their days, and their key messages of inspiration for other mompreneurs.

In the episodes that followed the interview, I reflected on some of the key messages that the featured mompreneur shared. There were also several solo episodes where I taught things like writing a sales page or reviewed a book on Play.  

I'm planning a second season of The Playful Mompreneur, because I have a lot more to say about the playful life. But that project is on the backlog for now because – yup – I'm currently focused on another podcast with my friend and biz bestie, Rowena Mabbott. It's called Two Booked Up.

The Two Booked Up Podcast

Two Booked Up
Bookworms, Rowena Mabbott and Shelley Tonkin Smith share their top takeaways from their latest read — curated especially for you mums and business owners. Then, the magic begins as they add to the conversation that the book has ignited and apply its principles. Take inspired action in your business…

On Two Booked Up, Rowena and I share our top takeaways from a business or personal development book. Our aim is to choose books that would appeal to business owners who are also mothers – but we think the show will appeal to most bookworms.

The podcast centres around books, but we don't overwhelm you with a barrage of book recommendations. Instead, we’re selecting books that have been particularly helpful for us in our lives and businesses and sharing our key takeaways.

After we’ve profiled the book, the fun really starts in the subsequent episodes, as we talk about how you can apply the book’s teachings to your life and business. Of course, we add in some stories and reflections of our own, as the book ignites the conversation.

Rowena considers the book through her lens as a career and life confidence coach, a mum of two boys (a tween and a teen), and — I must say — one of the most organised and intentional business owners I know.

And me? I podcast on the side of my copywriting business, which happens on the side of homeschooling my two boys (my Number 1 job)! When I read a book, I'm looking for the ways it can help me to embrace each of these parts of my life in a way that feels calm and joyful.

For more about Rowena and me, and our vision for the Two Booked Up podcast, you can listen to our introductory episode.

Articles on Podcast Production

So with all my podcasting experience, I've got some stories to tell, some tips and tricks to share, and some lessons that I learnt the hard way that I'd love to teach you the easy way! So get ready for some BTS podcasting posts around here.


The Homeschooling Adventure

In February 2020 (just three weeks before the world went into lockdown) we decided to take our kids out of traditional school. That started us on the homeschooling journey.

I find myself wanting to share so many different aspects of this amazing journey – from how we chose our reading programme, to the tweaks we make to that reading programme to account for a South African accent, to the miraculous discovery of prism lenses, to the astounding brilliance of board games as learning tools... and a whole lot more!

So if you're looking for some inspiration, ideas, or encouragement on your homeschooling journey, then stick around here and we can journey together!


Music for Families

The new home of Rocking the Playroom

Rocking the Playroom is a blog I started a while back when my kids were at a playgroup and I volunteered to do a weekly music lesson. I shared all my lesson plans, music appreciation activities, and original songs I wrote on the blog. I'll be gradually bringing all of the content from Rocking the Playroom over here.

Making music with family and friends

If you want to sing songs and enjoy music with your kids, family and friends, but it all feels a little mysterious (and even awkward...?) to you, then I've got you covered. I believe there's such power in music for making connections, for learning, for developing the brain – not to mention for having great fun.

So I'm going to be diving into this topic more deeply, both to bring more musicality to my own home and to share ideas for making your home more musical.


Books and Reading

Book recommendations for kids

I love reading aloud to my kids and I truly believe it's one of the best educational strategies out there. I spend a lot of money (very intentionally) on buying books for my kids – fiction, non-fiction, picture books, chapter books, graphic novels – you name it. And don't forget audiobooks!

I'm pretty immersed in the world of books, so if you're looking for recommendations for your kids, then I hope to become a bit of a book matchmaker! I also run a local WhatsApp group where we share book recommendations, so I plan on collecting and curating those recommendations here too.

Books for the big people

My kids are not the only ones responsible for blowing the book budget. I'm very much to blame as well! I've already mentioned my podcast, Two Booked Up; but I'll also be reviewing and recommending some of my favourite books – both fiction and non-fiction here.


Subscribe for Free!

If you like what you're reading here, and you want to stay in the loop and get more of my content, then you could do one of two things...

  • Bookmark the page and come back and visit from time-to-time when you remember. But... if you're anything like me, you're probably not going to remember. So rather than the Remember Option, why not go for the Member Option?! (See what I did there...?).
  • Subscribe and become a free member of shelleytonkinsmith.com. This will mean that you can access all the free content on the site, comment on posts, and receive my monthly newsletter with a round-up of my my latest posts, podcasts, and links to other wonderful stuff I've found on the internet.

I'd really love it if you subscribed. It will take less than a minute and will give me a heap of moral support. If at any point, my content no longer serves you, just hit "Unsubscribe" at the bottom of one of my emails or cancel your membership in Settings.