The Regional Experts Show

Hosted by Tori Kopke

BusinessInterviews guests

Website RSS feed

Episodes

284

Latest episode

Nov 2026

Language

EN-AU

About the show

The Regional Experts Show is a podcast for service-based women building ambitious businesses from regional Australia. I'm your host, Tori Kopke, and I work with you to attract better clients, build offers that aren't tied to more hours, and create a business that works with your life. You don't need a city postcode, a massive local market, or 100,000 followers to build something big. You need the right strategy, a strong point of view, and the confidence to become the expert people think of first. This is The Regional Experts Show .

Listen to episodes

60 recent

November 10, 2026Episode 28518 min

Trying to solve tomorrow's problems with today's resources

Are you building systems for 100 clients while you're still working with four? In this solo episode I talk about the growth that gets lost when we try to solve future problems with today's time, money and technology. Scalability matters, and timing matters more. I cover: why scalable principles can hurt you when they're applied too early the profitable, high-touch offers people turn down because they don't feel scalable enough everything my business ran without back in 2016, and why your tech stack will look completely different in three years too why doing things manually is often how you learn what the system needs to do the two questions I ask before solving any problem in my business If your plans for 2027 are full of problems you don't have yet, start here. The Regional Experts is my mastermind for rural and regional women building a business that supports their life. Apply now

November 2, 202634 min

From apologetic to audacious, with Tracey Hewitt

A year ago, Tracey Hewitt was running one-day art workshops and apologising for her prices. Now she sends proposals for full workshop series, and when one client needed more budget, they went looking for funding instead of asking her to drop her price. Tracey lives near Theodore in Central Queensland, where she runs the admin for the family farm and works as a mixed-media artist and Wayfinder life coach. In this episode we talk about her first messy four months in The Regional Experts, how her studio journal lead magnet made everything click, what happened when she went viral on Instagram with a newsletter ready to catch it, and why she now asks to be paid like the professional she is. Find Tracey on Instagram [ https://www.instagram.com/traceyhewitt ], join her Muse Letter [ https://www.traceyhewitt.com/muse-letter ], or check out the Artful Life Collective [ https://www.traceyhewitt.com/artfullife ]. The Regional Experts is my mastermind for rural and regional women building a business that supports their life. Apply now

October 26, 202614 min

Levelling Up as a Regional Business

Right before you win, it feels like you're losing. Profit dips, your calendar feels out of control, and the things that used to work stop working. It's easy to read that as failure. Most of the time it means you've outgrown the business that got you here. In this solo episode I talk about the uncomfortable season that comes before every level up: why growing often means dismantling the things that already work the financial dip that comes with hiring, systems and new offers the identity shift from one-woman machine to complete beginner my 90-day rule for sticking with a new strategy long enough to know if it works how to tell genuine red flags from plain discomfort If you're heading into the end of the year feeling like something's got to give, this one's for you. The Regional Experts is my mastermind for rural and regional women building a business that supports their life. Apply now

October 19, 202628 min

From hobby to proud business owner, with Emma Bennett

Emma Bennett spent years calling herself a VA, charging by the hour for admin work while quietly doing the job of an operations manager underneath it. Two years into working together, that's completely changed. In this episode, I talk to Emma, from Em & Co Consulting , about the moment "cost" finally became "investment," the three months it took us to nail her core offer, and the harder work of describing her ideal client without underselling them. We get into the six-figure year that followed, what it's actually meant to build a team and step back from retainer work, and what she wants her own kids to see when they watch her run this business. Emma also shares her free guide to outsourcing and her FLOW framework quiz if you're trying to work out whether it's time to bring someone into your business. If you've been waiting for the right moment to get support, don't wait the year Emma did. The Regional Experts is my mastermind for rural and regional women building a business that supports their life. Apply now The Regional Experts is my mastermind for rural and regional women building a business that supports their life. Apply now

October 14, 202611 min

The Growth Strategy You're Probably Sleeping ON

I used to think the next growth strategy was always about going and getting someone new. More leads, more audience, more people booking calls. But in this episode I'm talking about the growth lever most of us leave sitting on the table: the clients I've already got. I share what retention actually looks like when it starts on day one instead of at renewal, the surprise and delight moves I've built into my own mastermind (including a virtual retreat and a curriculum that never sits still), and why giving your best clients an actual next step matters more than handing them six more months of the same thing. I also tell you about the client who wanted to give away a membership before we'd even offered her the renewal, and why that almost cost her the value of the relationship. If you've been so focused on acquisition that you've stopped looking after the people already in your world, this one's for you. The Regional Experts is my mastermind for rural and regional women building a business that supports their life. Apply now The Regional Experts is my mastermind for rural and regional women building a business that supports their life. Apply now

October 5, 202619 min

Client Spotlight: Steph Grills

Steph Grills from Rural Data Services was working until midnight, charging by the hour, and had no room to scale. Six months later, nearly 300 people registered for her AI workshop. In this episode, Tori sits down with Steph, a Northern Tablelands NSW business owner and member of The Regional Experts mastermind, to talk about what actually changed. Spoiler: it wasn't a lightbulb moment. It was a quiet patch, a lot of messaging work, and trusting the process when it got uncomfortable. Steph also gets into how she uses Claude and ChatGPT to help farmers, why she won't call AI an "employee," how she handles data security, and where to start if AI feels overwhelming. If you're running a regional business on nap times, school runs and patchy power, this one's for you. You can find Steph at any of the links below: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ruraldataservices Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rural_data_services/ The Regional Experts is Tori's mastermind for rural and regional women building a business that supports their life. Apply Now . The Regional Experts is my mastermind for rural and regional women building a business that supports their life. Apply now

September 28, 202612 min

The Reality of Regional Constraints

When Tori went looking for her first business coach, she wasn't hunting for someone who'd lived her exact life. She was hunting for one point of overlap, evidence that this person actually understood what it's like to build ambition around groceries an hour away, school holidays, a farm and a family that needs her. In this episode, Tori unpacks why lived experience carries so much weight when someone's deciding who to trust with their business, and why one point of real overlap can matter more than someone matching your life exactly. She talks candidly about motherhood as her own anchor point, why mainstream "win at all costs" business advice often ignores the real constraints regional women are working within, and why the goal was never to remove those constraints. If you've ever wondered why your own lived experience might matter more to a client than your framework or your years of experience, this one's for you. The Regional Experts is my mastermind for rural and regional women building a business that supports their life. Apply Now . The Regional Experts is my mastermind for rural and regional women building a business that supports their life. Apply now

September 22, 202613 min

Instant Results in a Regional Business

Ever changed something in your business on a Monday and expected results by Tuesday? You're not alone, and it's costing you more strategies than you realise. In this episode, Tori breaks down her 90-day rule: the timeframe she gives every new offer, funnel or message before she even starts judging whether it's working. The first 90 days are for laying foundations. The next 90 are for watching the data, tweaking and refining. She digs into why instant results from likes and open rates have wrecked our patience for the slower, compounding wins of an actual sales cycle, and why your audience needs way more repetition than you think before an offer lands. Plus, the mindset shift that separates "this isn't working" from "this hasn't had enough time to work" yet, and why burning some ad spend might just be buying you information. If you've ever wanted to quit a strategy three weeks in, this one's for you. The Regional Experts is my mastermind for rural and regional women building a business that supports their life. Apply Now . The Regional Experts is my mastermind for rural and regional women building a business that supports their life. Apply now

September 17, 202617 min

3 Strategies to Go Viral as a Regional Business

In June, I had 1.5 million views across my content. I don't have 500,000 followers, I've got about 10,000. That gap is exactly why I wanted to break this episode down. I resented trial reels for a while before I actually tried them, mostly because I was sick of watching people go viral by teaching other people how to go viral. Then I tried them myself and they worked, which was deeply annoying. In this episode I walk through the three things that actually moved the needle for me this year: trial reels, refining my messaging until people started telling me it felt like I was reading their mind, and then volume, plus the systems and small team that let me sustain any of it without burning out. If you only take one thing away, make it messaging . Go deeper on who your ideal client actually is and what they need to hear from you. DM me over @tori.kopke to let me know what you thought about the new intro/art! The Regional Experts is my mastermind for rural and regional women building a business that supports their life. Apply now

September 9, 202611 min

Regional Australia Needs More Influential People

After delivering a keynote in Esperance, Tori couldn't stop thinking about one conversation that kept resurfacing: regional Australia doesn't need more influencers—it needs more influential people. In this powerful episode, she unpacks the difference between building influence and chasing attention, and why leading publicly feels so much harder when you live in a small town. From Tall Poppy Syndrome to the reality of everyone knowing your family, Tori explores the unique social pressure regional women face when they choose to share bold opinions and step into leadership. This is an invitation to stop waiting for permission, stop playing small, and recognise that your community needs more capable women willing to put their hand up, shape conversations and create opportunities. Because influence isn't about followers. It's about changing what happens next. 🔑 Inside this episode: The difference between being an influencer and being influential Why visibility feels harder in small towns How Tall Poppy Syndrome keeps capable women quiet The hidden cost of waiting for someone else to lead Why regional leadership requires proximity—not anonymity How influence creates opportunities for your business and community The challenge to become "a little too big for your boots" 👉 If you're ready to build authority and become known for your expertise, DM me "EXPERTS" on Instagram to start the conversation about The Regional Experts Mastermind. The Regional Experts is my mastermind for rural and regional women building a business that supports their life. Apply now