How to Get Featured in Inside Small Business: An Editor's Honest Guide with Tim Ladhams
Media Magnet Podcast | Episode 64 | Listen here: Inside Small Business Editor: "I Want to Hear From Founders" with Tim Ladhams
What does an editor at one of Australia's leading small business publications actually want to see in a pitch?
In Episode 64 of the Media Magnet Podcast, Liz Nable sits down with Tim Ladhams — editor of Inside Small Business — for one of the most practically useful episodes the show has produced. Tim opens up about exactly what crosses his desk every day, what gets deleted immediately, what makes him stop and read, and how Australian small business owners — at any age or stage — can get their story published.
The short version: Tim wants to hear from you. Not your PR agency. Not a big corporate communications team. You.
Here is everything he shared.
What Is Inside Small Business?
Inside Small Business has been running for around 11 years and publishes five stories a day online. The content mix includes two to three news stories — typically driven by research from organisations like Xero, COSBOA, and the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman — plus a daily feature written by Tim, and one to two opinion pieces from contributors.
There is also a quarterly print magazine, which features longer, commissioned in-depth pieces on issues that matter to the small business community.
The audience is exactly who you would expect: time-poor business owners who are running real businesses, dealing with real challenges, and want practical, relevant information they can act on. If anything takes more than three to four minutes to read online, readers drop off. That shapes everything about how Tim edits content.
Why Being Featured in Media Still Matters More Than Social Media
Before diving into the how, Tim made a point worth sitting with.
Some small business owners — particularly those who are stretched thin and wearing every hat — have started to think that media coverage is less important now that social media exists. Tim's view on this is direct: that thinking is wrong.
When you are exclusively on social media, everyone is shouting at the same volume. The thought leadership positioning that comes from being featured in a credible publication simply does not translate to a social media feed. Social media is a marketing channel. A brand awareness channel. It is valuable, but it is a different thing.
Being featured in Inside Small Business, by contrast, positions you as a trusted voice among your peers. The publication is read by major small business service providers — organisations like Xero and MYOB — who use it to understand the small business landscape and the people within it. That kind of credibility cannot be manufactured on social media.
As Liz put it in the episode: you really cannot replicate what a media presence gives you when it comes to building trust and authority.
The Four Ways to Get Featured in Inside Small Business
Tim broke down every format available to small business owners who want to get published.
1. Founder Features
A founder feature is a profile story focused on strategy, challenge, and the real lessons of building a business. Tim is not interested in hero worship or tyre-pumping. He wants to know how a founder got to where they are, what obstacles they navigated, and what other business owners can learn from their experience.
These stories sometimes hook into current events. Tim gave the example of two stories he ran during the Australian Open — a Melbourne startup challenging single-use coffee cups that had been invited to the event, and a sports nutrition company with an Olympic co-founder fuelling athletes there. The news peg made the stories timely without compromising the founder focus.
2. Q&As
Q&As tend to suit micro-businesses, side hustles, teen founders, and genuinely quirky ventures. Tim cited a 13-year-old girl who started her own swimwear range and an arts and craft business as recent examples.
Here is something worth knowing: when Tim receives a pitch he finds genuinely compelling, he will sometimes conduct an email Q&A with the founder and then transform those responses into a continuous narrative feature written in his own voice, dotted throughout with direct quotes. In his words, it becomes an alive piece of journalism. So what starts as a Q&A pitch can become something closer to a feature story if the material is strong enough.
3. Opinion Pieces (Op-Eds)
Op-eds are one of the most accessible entry points for small business owners into Inside Small Business. Tim runs one to two a day and receives a significant volume of pitches for them.
The guidelines are specific:
- 500 to 750 words maximum. Not longer. The word count is there to force specificity.
- One tightly focused topic. Not a general overview of your industry — a specific issue, trend, challenge, or insight.
- Two to three clear, actionable takeaways that readers can apply to their own business immediately.
- No external links in the article. This is non-negotiable and no exceptions are made.
- No self-promotional paragraphs. Tim will cut them without asking. He will tell you what he has removed and offer you the choice of proceeding without it or withdrawing.
Your author bio goes in your contributor profile, not in the article itself. The profile includes a written bio, a photo, and your LinkedIn profile link. That is where your credentials live. The article is for value, insight, and genuine perspective.
Tim does edit op-eds to house style — capitalization, formatting, that kind of thing — but he does not rewrite them. The voice and words remain yours unless they cross into self-promotion or create legal risk.
4. The Print Magazine
The quarterly print edition is a different proposition entirely. Features in the magazine are commissioned by Tim, not pitched directly. They are longer, deeper, and focused on systemic issues and trends affecting the small business sector.
Recent print features have covered whether the AI bubble is about to burst, the rising cost of social media customer acquisition, and a debate format Tim calls the Devil's Advocate — where two contributors argue completely opposing positions on the same issue (LinkedIn's value for small business was one recent example).
Two new recurring print features are worth knowing about:
The Quarter Event — an opportunity for a small business owner to write about something beyond their control that is holding them back. Government policy failures, bureaucratic red tape, late payments from large corporations to small suppliers, broken digital schemes. Tim described a piece about a Northern Territory government digital scheme that was supposed to simplify things for small tourism operators but had made life almost impossible. That is the kind of story this column is built for.
The Smart No — focused on the opportunities small business owners should walk away from, even when they look attractive. Because not every shiny thing is the right move, especially when you are already stretched.
If Tim receives a pitch that he thinks has potential for the magazine, he saves it in a folder and revisits it when the right commission opportunity arises. Pitching online does not close off the print door.
What Tim Deletes Immediately
This is just as useful as knowing what he wants.
Tim gets hundreds of emails every morning from US-based PR agencies, big corporate communications teams, and people clearly trying to sell a product through what is dressed up as editorial content. Those get deleted immediately. He can identify them within seconds.
What also gets cut:
- Articles that contain thinly veiled self-promotion dressed up as advice (Tim gave the example of op-eds from large brands like H&R Block that existed primarily to promote their own services)
- Pitches that include product sales copy
- Op-eds with paragraphs that exist solely to promote the contributor's offer
- Any request for sign-off rights on a feature — that is a hard no
The goal is editorial integrity. Tim takes that seriously. The publication is trusted by its readers and by the major organisations that advertise within it because the content is genuinely useful and not commercially corrupted.
How to Pitch Tim: The Practical Guide
Tim accepts pitches by email only. He does not publish his phone number.
His email address is: tim@octomedia.com.au
Here is how to do it well:
Subject line: Spend a little time on this. Make it succinct and give Tim a clear sense of what the story is. A compelling, specific subject line is your first signal that you understand what he is looking for.
The pitch itself: Tim does not need a polished PR document. What he needs is the who, what, why, when, and where of your story. If you have a one-page bio, include it. If you do not, a series of bullet points covering your background and your story is perfectly fine. Keep it clear and honest.
Wait a week before following up. Tim is a one-person editorial operation producing five stories a day while also managing a quarterly magazine. There are periods — particularly around print production — where he works through weekends without leaving the house. A follow-up email 24 hours after your first pitch will not help your chances. After a week of silence, a single polite follow-up is completely appropriate.
You do not need to have been in business for years. Tim was explicit about this: startup founders, early-stage businesses, and side hustlers are all welcome. He actively wants to hear from people who are genuinely in it — not polished communications from people several steps removed from the actual experience of running a small business.
The Content Categories Inside Small Business Covers
If you are trying to work out where your pitch fits, Inside Small Business organises its content under five main pillars:
- Finance
- Technology
- Sales and marketing
- Planning and management
- Growth and development
Within those, there are subcategories — including people and HR, psychological safety, women in small business, and more. Tim gave the example of a change in workplace psychological safety legislation that triggered a follow-up op-ed from a consultant in that field. Tying your pitch to a current news event or legislative change significantly increases its relevance.
One More Thing: The Secret Code Word
At the start of this episode, Liz mentioned something worth repeating here.
If you include a specific code word at the top of your pitch email to Tim, he will know you have come through Media Magnet — and he has committed to opening and reading your email. The code word is not published publicly to prevent it from being overused. To get it, DM Liz on Instagram at @liz_nable.
One email. Direct to the editor. A guaranteed open.
Resources Mentioned in This Episode
- Media Magnet Podcast, Episode 64 — Listen to the full conversation with Tim Ladhams
- Pitch Tim directly: tim@octomedia.com.au
- Inside Small Business — Australia's leading publication for SME founders and entrepreneurs
- DM Liz on Instagram @liz_nable for the secret code word
Want More Opportunities Like This?
Tim Ladhams is one of hundreds of journalists, editors, and producers who want to hear from genuine small business founders with real stories to tell. The challenge is knowing how to find them, how to pitch them, and how to make sure your digital presence backs up everything you say in the email.
That is exactly what the Media Members Inner Circle is built for — a monthly membership community with the tools, training, and ongoing support to help you build a media strategy that works month after month.
If you are ready to stop being the best-kept secret in your industry and start being the name journalists call, the Inner Circle is where that work happens.
