Conquer the Chaos

How To Reach New Growth by Mastering Your Mindset with David Bayer Oct 31, 2024

There’s something unexpected that could be holding your business back from growth: your mindset.

But you’re in luck because David Bayer knows a thing or two about how to overcome mindset hurdles to reach growth goals you never dreamed possible, and he’s sharing them with you in this episode of Conquer the Chaos. Listen as the author, speaker, entrepreneur, and podcaster with 1M+ monthly listeners shares how he has transformed his life and business by changing his mindset and how you can do the same.

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How To Escape the Grind While You Grow With Layne Gneiting Oct 24, 2024

Conquer the Chaos: How To Escape the Grind While You Grow With Layne Gneiting

What does riding a bike across America have to do with scaling a business?

Surprisingly, everything!

That’s what Layne Gneiting found when he stepped away from a successful career to fulfill a dream and go on a bike ride across the country. The experience changed his life and revealed valuable principles about what it takes to grow a business without falling victim to hustle culture.

His bike ride was so impactful that he now trains and leads people on biking adventures while helping them become world-class leaders, build booming businesses, and increase their income.

Check out this episode of the Conquer the Chaos Podcast for an exclusive peek into what Layne shares with his clients, including some tips that will surprise you.

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Why Your Marketing Needs To Get More Personal With Ben Glass Oct 17, 2024

Ben Glass is a lawyer, but that’s not all he does.

He took the road less traveled in the legal world by starting a business teaching lawyers how to market their firms in an authentic way that forges strong, personal relationships with clients. Now, as he consistently scales his own law firm, he gets to help other lawyers do the same.

But here’s the thing: Marketing in the legal world can be taboo. It’s difficult, but Ben has overcome that, and the insight he’s gathered along the way transcends any industry. It can help a small business of any niche scale with personal, strategic marketing. Tune in to this episode of the Conquer the Chaos Podcast as Ben shares his top tips with you.

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Making Your Business Easy, Lucrative and Fun With Joe Polish Oct 10, 2024

Clate Mask calls Joe Polish “one of the best marketers” he’s ever met, and in this podcast, you’ll get a glimpse into why. Tune in to tap into Joe’s expertise as he shares the importance of relationships to help you grow your business and solve problems and why changing your relationship with money is so crucial. You also get tips on how to do more of what’s easy, fun, and lucrative in your personal and professional life.

Mentioned in this episode:

Joe Polish LinkedIn

Entrepreneurs’ Guide to Choosing and Living Out a Positive Mindset With Ramon Ray Sep 19, 2024

Ramon Ray’s joyful attitude and adaptability are infectious. It’s what’s propelled him so far in his career and helped him start, scale and sell multiple businesses, as well as become an in-demand keynote speaker and get his own show on USA Today network.

But Ramon didn’t always have the upbeat, positive perspective he has now. It’s taken time to cultivate, and he’s seen the fruit of it in his life and business. In this episode of Conquer the Chaos, Ramon discusses his powerful journey toward the right mindset, why it’s necessary for a successful business, and how you can merge mindset and automation to scale like you’ve never done before.

Mentioned in this episode:

“Conquer the Chaos” book

Healthy Mindset Habits, AI, and Lessons From Five Tech Ventures With Joe Stolte Sep 12, 2024

Joe Stolte is the CEO of Daily.ai, an AI platform that helps businesses design, write and test newsletters that will wow their audience and increase conversion. However, before that role, Joe scaled and sold five technology businesses, which ended in what he describes as “ three successful exits, two spectacular failures.”

In this episode of the Conquer the Chaos Podcast, Joe joins Clate Mask to discuss what he’s learned through the highs and lows of his career, including the role curiosity plays in your personal and professional success, the steps you need to develop growth habits, how to revolutionize your follow-up process with AI, and more.

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Finding and Nailing Your Niche for Explosive Profit with Stephen Woessner Sep 05, 2024

If you’re looking to sustainably scale your business, becoming pickier about which clients you take on may seem counterintuitive, but that’s exactly what Stephen Woessner did.

Stephen was initially on the fence about trimming down who his company, Predictive ROI, served. But he took the leap to find his niche and his business grew to the point that he had to double his staff. Now that Stephen’s seen what this shift has done in his business and in the agencies he works with, he wants to urge you to do the same.

Tune into this episode of the Conquer the Chaos Podcast, to discover how Stephen found his ideal customer niche, his initial fears, the benefits of this approach, and the pivotal role automation plays in the entire gameplan.

Mentioned in this episode:

Stephen Woessner’s LinkedIn

Setting Work Boundaries for a Thriving Business and Happier Life With Becca Bunch Aug 29, 2024

You probably need better work boundaries. Would you agree?

Becca Bunch ran into the boundary-setting dilemma not long after she started her own social media agency, Homemade Social. Her business was scaling quickly, and with that growth came the need for clear boundaries with her expanding list of clients. Becca wasted no time taking intentional steps to protect her time, energy and resources. And she soon found that the boundaries she set would support her growth and benefit everyone involved in Homemade Social, including her clients.

In this episode of the Conquer the Chaos Podcast, Becca joins Clate Mask to discuss the importance of boundaries, the hesitations a lot of business owners have with setting them and why they’re imperative to scaling your business and enjoying your life.

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How To Stop Limiting Your Growth and Become a Better Leader With Chris Lee Aug 22, 2024

Chris Lee started a company in his garage and scaled it to $233 million in revenue. But he was once bankrupt. So, how did he transform his life? By the end of this episode of the Conquer the Chaos Podcast, you’ll know how.

Listen to learn Chris’ journey to success and why your vision is the key to becoming a great leader and surpassing even your most ambitious goals.

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Expanding Your Automation Power and Profit With Paul Sokol Aug 15, 2024

Paul Sokol knows the world of business automation like the back of his hand. Since 2008, he’s been automating manual processes to save time and give his customers the best experience possible. Doing so transformed his life and business, so he set out to do the same for other entrepreneurs and their teams.

It goes without saying that Paul is an automation expert, and in this episode of Conquer the Chaos, he is giving you an inside look at some of his best automation secrets, including how you can use Keap’s new Solution Launchpad to get your business fully automated in less time than ever before or how you can use it to easily share (and sell) your own automations with the world.

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Entrepreneurs' Guide to Finding the Perfect Work-Life Balance With Jason Wojo Aug 08, 2024

Striking a balance between scaling your business and having a personal life is one of the hardest things for entrepreneurs to master. If you’ve ever felt like reaching your entrepreneurial goals requires you to give up family dinners, vacations, selfcare or anything else that brings you joy, then you need Jason Wojo’s wisdom.

In this episode of Conquer the Chaos, Jason, CEO of Lifeonaire, joins Clate Mask to unveil his secrets to balancing business success and life’s joys so you can stop stressing and start living.

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How To Make Total Business Automation Less Intimidating With Melodie Moore Aug 01, 2024

Melodie Moore, founder and CEO of Business Tech Ninjas, knows the incredible impact automation can have on businesses of all products, services and sizes. However, she’s also well-aware that automating your entire business can quickly become complicated and overwhelming. That’s why in this episode of Conquer the Chaos, Melodie joins Clate Mask to discuss how to automate every area of your business and get the most ROI out of your software without sacrificing endless hours, negatively impacting your team or causing harm to your customer experience.

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How To Hack Time To Achieve Freedom and Growth With Sarah Laws Jul 25, 2024

There are only so many hours in a day, but Sarah Laws has discovered how to maximize her limited time so she can reach her goals. The best part? Her tips and tricks also help her unlock more hours to spend with family and friends so she can scale her business without sacrificing what means most to her.

It’s the best of both worlds, and if you want to follow in Sarah’s footsteps, tune into this episode of the Conquer the Chaos Podcast as Clate Mask and Sarah discuss how to structure your routines to reach your goals and build a life and business you love.

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The Transformative Power of the Right Process With Daniel Bussius Jul 18, 2024

Running a business requires strategy and processes, but without proper planning, these crucial keys to success and growth can go haywire. That’s why Daniel Bussius, award-winning marketing consultant, best-selling author, and CEO of Built by Love®, has spent his career helping entrepreneurs and their teams craft their processes and strategies with intention and care.

Daniel Bussius recently sat down with Clate Mask to spill all his process and strategy secrets that will help you provide the best experience for your customers, save time for your team and push you closer to your growth goals.

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Finding joy in rejection and why it’s a necessary part of growth with Jia Jiang Jul 11, 2024

Rejection. It stings, doesn’t it? But Jia Jiang wants to flip the script and challenge your reaction to rejection. Instead of running from it, he wants to show you how to face it head-on and use it to make your business better.

In this episode of Conquer the Chaos, Clate Mask and Jia Jiang discuss the need for rejection, how to find joy in it, and how to harness it to help you reach your goals and make you a more fearless entrepreneur.

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Training your mindset to achieve your wildest dreams with Brain Cain Jun 27, 2024

Brian Cain works with some of the greatest athletes in the world, and it all starts with one thing: Training their mindset. Now, Brian is coaching entrepreneurs and helping them shape their mindset to reach their business goals. In this episode of Conquer the Chaos, Brian Cain joins Clate Mask to dive deeper into the importance of the mindset, why it matters for your business and how to train yours for maximum success.

Goal Setting to Score Your “Life Goals” with the Double Win with Michael Hyatt Jun 20, 2024

In this episode of Conquer the Chaos, Michael Hyatt, founder and chairman of Full Focus, joins Clate Mask to explore the concept of achieving the "double win" in life, balancing success in work and personal life. Together they explore practical strategies for goal setting, introducing the "SMARTER" framework emphasizing specificity, measurability, excitement, and risk, while acknowledging the crucial role of emotion in goal attainment.

Why You're Not Charging Enough and How to Fix It with Dr. Darnyelle Jervey Harmon Jun 19, 2024

Dr. Darnyelle Jervey Harmon, a 7-time best-selling author, the creator of 5 powerful business systems and the host of the MOVE To Millions Podcast, joins Clate Mask to discuss why entrepreneurs often hold themselves back from earning a higher wage and lays out the broad steps of her "Move to Millions" method.

Learn more:

Podcast: https://www.drdarnyelle.com/podcast
Website: https://www.incredibleoneenterprises.com
Move To Millions Book: https://movetomillionsbook.com/

Think Practice Makes Perfect? Think Again with Piyush Parikh Jun 19, 2024

Piyush Parikh, co-founder of SaaS technical support platform Equinox Agents, joins Clate Mask to discuss the importance of finding your business's niche and how doing so helps small business owners conquer the chaos. Piyush and Clate also discuss the peaks and valleys of entrepreneurship, and why business owners should always look for the next mountain to climb!

Learn more about Equinox Agents: https://equinoxagents.com/

Navigating Niche Growth and Relationship Building with Tim Riddle Jun 19, 2024

Tim Riddle, CEO of Discover Blind Spots, joins Clate Mask to discuss niche growth and relationship building for financial advisors. They discuss the importance of clear and consistent communication, the power of content marketing to address client problems, and the role of automation in streamlining business processes.

Learn more: https://www.discoverblindspots.com/

The Framework Entrepreneurs Need To Succeed with Michelle Nedelec Jun 19, 2024

For Michelle Nedelec, consultant and founder of Awareness Strategies, automation and the right mindset are the keys to success. In fact, for over 20 years, she’s helped businesses reach their goals using her expert framework, and she’s sharing it in this podcast. Listen in as Michelle discusses the four-step strategy business owners can use to scale their business in a healthy way. She also dives into the life-changing effects of automation she’s seen as a coach.

Learn More: https://www.awarenessstrategies.com/

The Secret to Scaling Your Sales with Justin Gray Jun 19, 2024

In this episode of Conquer the Chaos, Justin Gray joins Clate Mask to talk about a loaded topic: Sales.

Justin Gray’s company, In Revenue Capital, is dedicated to helping companies improve their sales strategies and increase their revenue. But before consulting, Justin Gray conquered the chaos of sales for himself by growing LeadMD, the business he started in his spare room, to over 20 million in revenue. If you want to know how, check out Justin’s episode, where you’ll learn the different stages you should have in your sales process, how to scale with partnerships and more.

Learn More: https://inrevenue.capital/

Using Automation to Get Personal with Amit Kakar Jun 19, 2024

Amit Kakar knows what it takes to succeed with personalization.

“We’re going to crush you.”

That’s what two retail pharmacy executives told Amit about his new business 25 years ago. Fast forward to today, and Amit’s business, Avalon Pharmacy, is thriving. How did he do it? By using marketing automation to deliver the best customer experience possible. Press play to learn exactly how automation helped Amit take his customer service to the next level and grow his revenue by 20%.

Learn more: https://avalondrugstore.com/

Developing The Entrepreneurial Mindset With Sangram Vajre Jun 19, 2024

Sangram Vajre knows what it takes to start and scale a business because he’s done it successfully time and time again, and in this episode, he’s sharing his secrets with you. The entrepreneur started at Salesforce, where he studied the billion-dollar business and used what he learned to launch his own company. Now, Sangram is the Co-Founder and CEO of GTM Partners. Listen as Sangram discusses the tricks of the trade and the mindset that can help entrepreneurs break free from chaos and enjoy their journey.

Learn more: https://gtmpartners.com/

How To Start and Scale a Company with Heidi Jannenga Jun 19, 2024

Heidi Jannenga is the Co-Founder and CCO of WebPT, the leading physical therapy EMR software, but she started as a physical therapist using pen and paper. Heidi needed EMR software specifically for rehab therapists, so she built one and shared it with the world. Now, Heidi’s software company has thousands of employees and serves tens of thousands of clinics. In this episode, Heidi shares how to take your idea and turn it into a booming business.

Learn more:

https://www.webpt.com/

The Strategy Of Finding Your Niche With Justin Rende Jun 19, 2024

Justin Rende, the CEO and founder of Rhymetec, the industry leader in cloud security that provides innovative cybersecurity, compliance, and data privacy services to modern-day SaaS businesses. Justin started his career working in the film industry where he gained the confidence to be able to talk to anyone, after realizing that celebrities are just like the rest of us. Listen in as Justin discusses how his background helped him start Rhymetec and how he was able to find his niche. Justin also dives into the importance of finding a niche for your small business and explains how going upstream isn’t always the answer.

Learn more about Rhymetec: https://rhymetec.com/

Announcing Conquer the Chaos - Mastering Storytelling for Your Business with Park Howell Jun 19, 2024

Park Howell has been in the storytelling business for more than 40 years, and he’s helped PepsiCo, the Air Force, Richard Branson and more craft impactful stories for their brands. If your business has a story, Park Howell can help you tell it. In this episode, you’ll learn how to craft a story that will excite your audience and help grow your business.

Learn more about the Business of Story: https://businessofstory.com/

144—Big Grit: Jaspreet Singh Jun 23, 2021

Jaspreet Singh, founder of Minority Mindset, joins Small Biz Buzz in the final episode of Season 2 of our Big Grit docuseries to talk about his journey to entrepreneurship.

He's seen every part of entrepreneurship from being scammed by a marketing agency out of his entire budget for a product launch to hitting 1 million subscribers on YouTube. He shifted from taking the MCAT to closing on his first real estate investment in less than 24 hours. Jaspreet is a prime example of Big Grit and having what it takes to make anything possible.

143—Big Grit: Justin Wise Jun 08, 2021

Justin Wise, founder of The Different Company, joins Small Biz Buzz in the continuation of our Big Grit docuseries to talk about his journey to entrepreneurship.

After teaching himself the basics of digital marketing while his family began to grow, Justin had a pivotal moment with a boss that changed everything. He ventured out on his own, built his first successful business, but found himself at another impasse. He asked himself the question: "what makes me different?" The answer led to The Different Company, and the life as an entrepreneur that he never imaged.

142—Big Grit: Monica Kline May 25, 2021

Monica Kline, who is the founder of IDentity Brand, joins Small Biz Buzz in the continuation of our Big Grit docuseries to talk about how she used technology to grow her business after numerous setbacks and challenges.

Monica experienced great losses throughout her journey to entrepreneurship, but she continued to bet on herself and her dream. She is the true definition of Big Grit.

141—Jennifer Hudye—Conscious Copy & Co. May 11, 2021

We’ve got Jennifer Hudye of Conscious Copy & Co on the show this week and it was a stellar show for marketers, copywriters or anyone looking to boost their e-commerce game.

Conscious Copy & Co helps entrepreneurs and business owners communicate their message through the power of copy in a way that gets people to take action.

“I started it about five years ago and really stumbled upon just this whole skill set of copywriting. I never grew up as a writer or considering myself a writer. Back in 2013, I was introduced to the online marketing world and my eyes were wide open just being like, ‘Oh my gosh. Okay. There's this whole world where I can start a business online from anywhere and get to serve so many more people’”.

By building her copy chops Jennifer not only turned her college side-hustle into multiple six-figure revenue streams but she had outside companies clamoring for her expertise.

“Some pretty big names started to reach out to me. People like Joe Polish and Dean Graziosi and Brendan Bouchard and Bulletproof Coffee, and it was just this new business, Conscious Copy, took off back in 2015.”

Along the way Jennifer learned there’s much more to good copywriting than flowery language.

“My dear friend, Lisa Sasevich has a quote, "Sell the destination, not the airplane." And I was selling that airplane. I was like, ‘In this program, you're going to get 85 PDFs and 46 videos that are an hour long.’”

Plus Jennifer lets us in on her five C’s for writing copy that connects and converts.

The first one is…Capture attention.

You’ll have to listen in for the other four.

140—Uri Bram—Being Remotely Functional Mar 24, 2021

On small biz buzz this week we’ve got the founder of article curation site thebrowser.com and author of Thinking Statistically, Uri Bram.

“Every day we read hundreds of articles and select our favourite five for you to enjoy, so you'll always have interesting things to ponder and fascinating ideas to discuss at dinner.” - The Browser

We’ll be discussing realistic timelines for “overnight success”, how happy subscribers are the most cost effective marketing agency, and how to tell when you’re using busy work to hide from your real responsibilities.

“I always took pride that I answered every email, and I went over subscriber rater...

It never ends. you clear your inbox and then you wake up in the morning and there's another. I think we're all traumatized.

A lot of the things I was doing, I enjoyed them because I had gotten good at them. But actually, it didn't need to be me doing them. It didn't really take expertise even. They were the simpler tasks. And I was procrastinating from the harder tasks by the simpler tasks. And what I really needed to do is hand off the simpler tasks.” - Uri Bram

139—Jake Johnson—Brand & product marketing Mar 10, 2021

Jake Johnson (Keap Creative director) joins us to discuss the soul of branding, pandemic pivots, and finding the folks who’ll pay big for premium offerings

“There were people like, "I can't believe you'd spend $30 to watch Mulan And those are people who just don't get it.”.

We’ll also tackle one of the most overlooked growth killers, "promo fatigue". What does that mean?. Listen close, because too much attention to your audience may be driving away your current customer base.

“There's only so many messages that consumers can get hit with before it becomes white noise.”

Learn exactly why “getting folks in the door” could be your most dangerous move and when to spot the right and wrong time to commoditize your offerings.

138—Grady Kerr—Lessons from a failed entrepreneur Feb 24, 2021

Grady Kerr talks with the team about his years as an entrepreneur leading up to his joining Keap and becoming one of the most well known faces in the company with his popular Automation Hours webinars.

“When you're stuck putting out fires. Your day is managing you."

We’ll discuss the global concept of follow up as a critical growth action and how your brand needs to be an extension of yourself if you want to ensure quality control. You’ll also get an earful as we discuss one of the most common barriers to starting a small business...

"When I get this done, then I'll start. When I get this done, then I'll start. Or I could say, “I'm just going to run with it, and I will build the train tracks as the train goes." “

137—Mwale and Chantel Henry - 2020’s IKON AWARD WINNERS Feb 10, 2021

Meet Mwale and Chantel Henry, THE WINNERS OF 2020’s IKON AWARDS!!!!

Not to mention owners and founders of https://thebestsellersacademy.com/ where they help speakers and aspiring authors gain visibility and brand credibility by turning their story into a bestselling book.

Keap has a special place in its business tech heart for these two. Listen in and learn from Mwale and Chantel about their business, the four P’s of possibility, and their journey to find one another.

This show is an absolute delight, we’ll discuss how these two used their disparate upbringings (Chantel, growing up in the streets of Baltimore and Mwale a world away in Trinidad) to inform how they approach business, customer interaction, and mission focus.

Hear Chantel as she lays out The Four P’s of Possibility:

Process
Partnership
Profitability
Purpose

“Great leaders talk about it. When you cast a vision, you have to visit it often. You can't just cast it in a board meeting, you can't cast it sitting at the dining table talking to yourself. There are days it's not working. And that's when you have to visit that vision often.

Not only did we change our process in terms of being able to document the experience in our business, because what's not documented can't be managed. Everyone's talking about pivot. But we've learned, when we went through the process of doing an audit in our business and removing the dysfunction, things that can't be tracked, shout out to Keap for helping us to be able to track what's happening in your business, be able to document, be able to build the right type of campaigns, and we identify those gaps, we realized we didn't need to pivot, we needed to persevere, because, yes, it's good to talk about pivoting, but sometimes as entrepreneurs, it's tempting to use that as a sexy way to say; ‘I’m giving up. I am giving up. It's too hard, I'm giving up’.” - Mwale Henry

136—Stephanie Haworth—Design, management, collaboration and clients Jan 27, 2021

Listen in as we talk with Keap Creative Manager, Stephanie Haworth. In addition to being the guiding hand behind Keap’s copywriting, design, and UX; Stephanie has agency design chops and was willing to share the inside insights she’s gleaned from years in the industry.

“It's very important not to be insular as an agency owner and not see everyone as your competition. “

Learn how to every agency is differentiated by their teams and what it says about how well they suit different clients. We’ll discuss what it means when an agency is hesitant to workshop over the phone and how important it is to set expectations early.

135—Toccara Karizma—The state of facebook ads Jan 13, 2021

Digital marketing expert Toccara Karizma joins us to discuss where you should and shouldn't be spending your marketing budget.

Facebook ads are an ever-changing animal, Toccara has made it a point to track the ebs and flows of digital marketing as well as the red flags to watch for when hiring outside agencies.

Listen in to get insights on CPMs, UTFs, and how they can be the difference between dynamic marketing partners and flat out scam artists.

134—Ernest Saco—Automation, growth and serial entrepreneurship Jan 06, 2021

This week, we've got info on automation from a serial entrepreneur who also has the inside scoop on exactly how powerful Keap can be. Ernest Saco (Sr. Product Manager at Keap) joins us to discuss developing a brand, building a successful business from an idea and making the most of your sales and marketing automation.

Want to take your online sales to the next-level? This is the show for you.

133—Alex Edlund—What is demand generation? Dec 09, 2020

Alex Edlund, Keap’s head of demand generation, joins Small Biz Buzz to talk about generating demand for your product and business and creating brand awareness.

His team is responsible for acquiring new customers via marketing, and a lot of the marketing that Alex does is performance-marketing related. It's about getting more leads, more opportunities and sales so the business can grow.

“In demand gen, when we look across my team, it is practically every channel that aids in driving new traffic to the website,” Alex said. “So, paid search, SEO, affiliate marketing, paid social marketing, email, all these channels that can really drum up demand for Keap really encapsulates demand gen.”

When it comes to demand gen, Alex said you have to have a sense for who you are targeting. Who's your target audience? What kind of research have you done to figure that out? If you're a small business that has been in business for quite some time, you have loads of information around that, you have your existing customer base, so look at that customer base to figure out what it is about them that makes them unique, or makes them work so well for your business.

“When you have a good audience strategy, then it becomes a little easier for you to pick out which channels to invest in, what areas to have a presence in, because you really want to be where your audience is at,” said Alex. “If you know your audience, it becomes a lot easier to determine where you're going to invest your time.”

Click play for more.

132—Rajesh Bhatia—Automation and AI for small business Nov 25, 2020

Rajesh Bhatia, CTO of Keap, joins Small Biz Buzz to talk about the relationship between AI and automation and how they make entrepreneurs’ lives easier.

While conquering the chaos of a small business, entrepreneurs have so many things to worry about, mainly, their sales and marketing, which can be easily automated. For example, if somebody comes to your website and they populate a “contact me” form, the goal is to automate the communication by collecting and transferring the data to a lead capture spreadsheet. That's the kind of high-level AI and automation Keap is presenting to the small business arena.

“All we're doing here is providing [small business owners] the necessary applications, tools and capabilities to make their lives easier–either by being able to help manage their contact lists, their sales and marketing automation, their appointments, their pipelines, etc.,” said Rajesh. “We’re building the software so we can help our small business customers because we recognized how difficult their job is, how difficult their work is. And all we want to do is empower them because ultimately, we are fueled by small businesses. And their growth is important to us as a community, as a country. And more importantly, us here at Keap because that's our mission to help small businesses.”

Click play for more.

131—Big Grit: Nate Shaw Nov 18, 2020

Nate Shaw, who is the CEO of Brooklyn Music Factory, joins Small Biz Buzz in our Big Grit docuseries to talk about his company’s vision to create a community online that provides the same kind of opportunities and deep connections as teaching music in person.

“The whole world can be a community,” said Nate. “At Brooklyn Music Factory, one of our real opportunities in 2021 is figuring out how to grow a meaningful, communal connection online that matches the version we have in person.”

Nate expressed how pivoting your business during the pandemic is about perspective, reorganizing your team and finding a mindset that can work. He understood his business can be of a benefit, even in the most dire times.

“The fact that we were hiring online teachers from any English-speaking country was amazing. What quality of talent that you could recruit,” said Nate. “Our vision in 2021 is twofold. To expand that online community, and build on it and scale it, to expand our teacher network, just start supporting other studios and teachers that need curriculum that works online and in-person. And then actually to shrink our local community slightly.”

Click play for more.

130—Big Grit: Valerie Aprahamian Nov 11, 2020

Valerie Aprahamian, who is the founder of Advocates for Angels, joins Small Biz Buzz in our Big Grit docuseries to talk about how her company supports and protects parents of children with special needs and developmental disorders through their Individual Education Programs (IEPs).

Valerie’s daughter, Chanel, was diagnosed with autism and a very life-threatening seizure disorder, at the age of three years old, by a team by pediatric neurologists at UCLA. That doctor told Valerie that Chanel would never read, write, talk or ever be successful in school. It was also most likely she would have to institutionalize her.

“At that time, I didn't even really know what autism was other than I knew it was a very profound disability,” said Valerie. “So immediately I started educating myself on special education law, and I started finding out what her needs were, what autism was, and how to get her the help she needed.”

Valerie was immediately awoken to the reality of special education, the bureaucracy of the institution, and the segregation that they placed upon these kids. She immediately knew she wanted her daughter in a regular school with regular kids in a general education class.

“They thought I was crazy because they weren't doing inclusion back then. So I was successful in having Chanel be placed in a general ed class at five years old,” said Valerie. “She was the first child with the diagnosis of autism to be placed in a general education classroom in my local school district. So that's the beginning of the story.”

Click play for more.

129—Big Grit: Natasha Davis Nov 04, 2020

Natasha Davis, who is the founder and CEO of Impact Branding Consulting, joins Small Biz Buzz in our Big Grit docuseries to talk about her journey from being a nurse to realizing her real passion of becoming an entrepreneur and all the obstacles she had to overcome to be successful.

“It takes time. Shifting from a mindset of being an employee is a big shift to being an entrepreneur, but then you have to shift from being an entrepreneur to being an employer, to being a business owner, it's two different mindsets,” said Natasha. “You have to begin to make different decisions. When you start a business, you're making $5,000 decisions, maybe $2,000 decisions, but then as you continue to grow, if you're doing it right, you're now making $25,000 decisions and $50,000 decisions, it's a different mindset.”

Natasha stresses the importance of never stop trying; never give up on yourself. “Even when people say no to you, you have to truly believe in yourself. And you have to believe in what you're doing. Believe in what your cause is,” she said. “And don't look at yourself as this little minute thing. You're on this earth to do powerful things. You are that cargo. And if one person says no to you, screw it, go to the next person. There are people there who need you.”

Natasha Davis can be found at impactbrandingconsulting.org.

Click play for more.

128—Clate Mask—The meaning of Big Grit Oct 28, 2020

Clate Mask, Keap’s CEO, joins Small Biz Buzz to talk about the mindset of entrepreneurs versus small business owners and how having grit can get you through the hard times.

Clate expresses the fact that the entrepreneurial journey is hard enough, let alone with the curve balls like we've had this year. COVID-19 really clarified the difference between the typical small business owner and the entrepreneur.

“The typical small business owner generally lives in a very concerned state of being and is very cautious and very concerned about the present, and can easily be swayed by circumstances around them,” said Clate. “Whereas the entrepreneur is very focused on the future and is very optimistic and is very driven and action-oriented to not get stuck into a rut, but to actually drive to a better place and is willing to take some risk and is willing to be uncomfortable. Typical small business owners want to be comfortable. Entrepreneurs are okay when they're not uncomfortable so they can drive to a better state.”

Clate also discusses Keap’s upcoming conference, IKON, which will be held virtually this year November 12-14.

“If you're serious about growing your business and you want to be in a community of people that are like-minded and are serious about growing their business, if you want to understand sales and marketing automation and how it can change your business, and you want some inspiration and motivation, IKON is an event like none other,” said Clate. “It is so remarkable to see what happens when you bring people together and their stories, how they use our software to change the game, how they are overcoming the challenges, how they bring grit and optimism to their work every day. I just love our customers.”

Speaking of grit, check out Keap’s newest Big Grit docuseries at keap.com/big-grit.

Also, if you want to register for IKON, click here.

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127—Paige Clark—Using social to win local Oct 21, 2020

Paige Clark, Keap’s Corporate Communications Specialist, joins Small Biz Buzz to talk about utilizing the small business aspect in local marketing when it comes to social media.

“If you're really working on growing [your] small business, you want to focus on the people who are your market,” said Paige. “And that's why you want to start with this local bubble on social media.”

Per Paige, the first place you should start, whether it’s on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, is geotagging your location, but use it strategically. Don’t tag a place that no one's ever heard of. Don't tag the taco stand on the side of the road because they have good tacos. You want to tag the more general area that is going to have an impact.

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126—Kristen Boss—Selling Confidently Oct 14, 2020

Kristen Boss, a business coach geared toward women entrepreneurs, joins Small Biz Buzz to discuss the challenges business owners face to make their first $100K, how to sell confidently and know when it’s time to pivot.

“Why not get there faster by learning from an expert, hiring mentors, getting involved in masterminds? Go get educated!” said Boss when it comes to selling. “It's always going to return back to you. I love grit for building business. It's where a passion and perseverance meet to create a long-term goal. So you have to have the long-term goal in mind and you have to have passion and perseverance, which is grit. You got to be gritty.”

Boss said your business has to meet the needs of others. People can tell when someone is selling something to meet their own needs–the entire energy of the experience is very different.

Boss also said when it's time to look at a pivot, you should be asking yourself: am I meeting my needs or a felt need I see? Is it an area where I'm an expert? Would I do it for free? Would I find joy and purpose in that? And then lastly, am I running from pain? Or is this a time for me to get critical and do some evaluations and look at what's working? What's not working? What do I need to do differently?

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125—Jason Komosa—How to manage work life balance when life goes sideways Oct 07, 2020

Jason Komosa, chief business officer at BlackCart and mental coach, joins Small Biz Buzz to discuss the importance of maintaining a work-life balance mentality when things hit the fan, especially while we’re all working through COVID-19.

Let’s face it, we are living in a world where overwork is overvalued–this idea of we’re working so much to get onto the next task, then onto the next, and the next. Then we develop chronic stress and ultimately, it's the number one enemy of success. It makes things worse.

“We ignore our meaningful relationships. We cut out the fun of our lives. We eat poorly. We sleep poorly. We don't exercise. We don't move. We don't take walks. We're kind of just in this self-created isolated bubble,” said Komosa. “And we think it's helping us get more done when the reality is, it's having a reverse effect. It's actually hurting our quality work. I'd much rather have five quality hours of someone's time versus 12 hours of mediocre time. And they say, well, I'm going to wear this badge of pride that I worked 12 hours today. Well, great. And seven of those hours were terrible work. It's all backwards.”

Komosa strongly recommends tracking your time. Go through your day and write down what you are doing in every 15, 30-minute blocks. What you'll notice is you will organically change your behaviors to what you want to achieve.

The idea is first before you try to change and do something different, focus on what you are doing now. Then from that self-audit, decide you’re going to make some changes. The idea is to use that data to benefit yourself for the future–for tomorrow, for the next week, the next month. And so on.

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124—Ramon Ray—Building community in a changed world Sep 30, 2020

Ramon Ray, the founder of SmartHustle.com, joins Small Biz Buzz to discuss how to build a community around your small business in which you can actively engage with customers and see more growth.

Ray emphasizes how important it is to bring people together and serve them value as well as provide solutions to your customers’ problems after they have come to know, like, and trust you.

“This is what community is about. I would encourage you to get people together on a video call, get people together on a phone call, get people together in a discussion group whenever you want it,” said Ray. “Community can even be an email list. Other people can't see each other per se, but I think to a degree, that in a way, is community. Humans were meant to be with humans.”

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123—Amber Anderson—Curated marketing to underserved demographics Sep 23, 2020

Amber Anderson, owner of Tote + Pears, joins Small Biz Buzz to discuss how to market to an underserved audience with the appropriate ads, in this case, women and their families.

Amber Anderson’s agency, Tote + Pears, focuses on supporting startups with product management and branding. About two and a half years after launching, she made the decision to focus 100% on women–women being consumers, women being employees, and women being the thread that tied a lot of things together.

“[Women] make over 85% of all consumer purchasing decisions, and in many cases, they are the ones that are driving the decisions in their families,” said Anderson. “So that's how we got started and how we became a female-focused branding agency.”

Brands and businesses usually don't ask, you're a woman and you're what else? That's the position that Anderson’s agency takes at Tote + Pears. “I feel like if we did that more often, we'd see a lot of ads that connected more authentically,” Anderson said.

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122—Pam Slim—Taking TMAs Further Sep 16, 2020

Pam Slim, owner of Main Street Learning Lab, once again joins Small Biz Buzz to discuss how little marketing actions make it easier to take action in your small business.

Slim recommends that small business owners leverage ecosystem development and partner development to look at ways in which they can understand their bigger systems.

“I call [it] tiny marketing actions, which can definitely be marketing actions where you're planting the seed to get the word out, where you get more visibility, where you connect with customers, but it's also really tiny relationship actions,” said Slim.

“There are ways that you're just slowly in little tiny ways connecting with people and connecting people with each other, and it's when you do that, at first it can take a little bit of time to learn the different players, but over time as you start to do that weaving, it begins to generate a certain kind of momentum.”

Pam suggests that small business owners ask, "What are tiny little ways that I can start to plant the seed, connect with somebody, reach out, ask a question, make a connection?" and then make it a habit. That's the real key–make that the way you operate on a daily basis, and that's where you’ll find a lot of momentum in your marketing.

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121—Jeremy Ryan Slate—How to compete like a big brand without spending a lot Sep 09, 2020

Jeremy Ryan Slate, who's the founder of Create Your Own Life podcast, joins Small Biz Buzz to discuss how your small business can compete with big brands without breaking your budget.

When it comes to building your marketing strategy, Slate recommends thinking of your journey as climbing a flight of stairs. You have to figure out what the bottom stair is so you can start climbing up.

You want to find out which stairs are already getting you there. It's the smaller ones, more niche, more industry related.

“Your PR and your marketing should work together. You can't just have one,” said Slate. “Whether you're a small business, medium-sized business, whatever you are, if you learn how to get media the right way, you can really cut the learning curve.”

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Worst Business Ideas in History: Foodfight! Sep 02, 2020

Foodfight! is the animated feature that is the center of discussion in this episode of Worst Business Ideas in History. The hosts break down what went wrong with the release of the 2012 film produced by Threshold Entertainment and directed by Lawrence Kasanoff that received very low ratings and nothing but negative reviews.

They also tie in how important it is to listen to your business partners when you have an unpopular idea that may cause irreparable damages to your organization in the long run.

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120—IndigenousCC—Importance of Diversity in your Small Business Aug 26, 2020

Melody Lewis and Turquoise Devereaux of the IndigenousCC join Small Biz Buzz to discuss the importance of having diversity in your small business.

“Diversity has to be the foundation of your business, that's just it, because naturally, it will impact all these other areas of work–your customer relations, your marketing, all of that,” said Melody Lewis. “Diversity, the understanding of it, what it means and how to apply it, that's the tone that will ensure the sustainability of it, because it's part of the way you do things.”

Check out their REZponse Roundtable YouTube channel to see how they’re revitalizing the indigenous perspective in the workplace.

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Worst Business Ideas in History: Atari Jaguar Aug 19, 2020

In this episode of Worst Business Ideas in History, the hosts break down what went wrong with the release of the Atari Jaguar and what a disappointment it was to its target audience, mainly teenagers.

This product essentially killed Atari as a corporation, as it leveraged its console to bait and switch the audience with false claims that the product was better than those of its competitive counterparts.

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119—Ronnie & Lamar Tyler—Entrepreneurial Spirit and Diversity Aug 12, 2020

Ronnie and Lamar Tyler of Tyler New Media join Small Biz Buzz to discuss the role of diversity in entrepreneurship and how small business owners can support each other through allyship in their respective communities.

“There's a huge wealth gap, and it's not getting smaller between different groups in this country,” said Lamar Tyler. “And right now, African Americans are pulling up the rear, and we want to help close that gap through entrepreneurship.”

“We are clear about our mission to uplift, equip, and support the community, to support families in our communities so that we can build strong families, we can close in the wealth gap, and just build up our communities. That's what our mission is,” said Ronnie Tyler.

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118—Don Capparella—The Basics of Travel and Tourism for New Consultants Aug 05, 2020

Don Capparella, the CEO of Quality Travel Solutions, joins Small Biz Buzz to discuss how he adapted his travel agency through the hardships of COVID-19 when the travel industry took a major hit.

“We're going to save this industry. We're going to save our business and we created five pivots that we had to do to make sure that we were going to survive,” said Capparella. “We had to pivot our marketing. We had to pivot our client communications, pivot our offerings and destinations. We had to pivot our own internal process. And then we also had to pivot our mindset, which sometimes was the hardest.”

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117—Josh Collins—Using Experience Architecture to Connect with Audience Jul 29, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Josh Collins, who works for an agency called Streetsense, is a TEDx alum, a speaker, and an expert in experience architecture. He will be discussing how he helps businesses design and create by leveraging experience as a strategy.

“Essentially what we're talking about is serving our audience from awareness to advocacy, and everywhere in between,” said Collins. “Experience design, experience architecture really is about accessing empathy to understand where your audience is, how they experience your brand, your communications, and what they might offer, how they respond.”

This leads to the idea of feedback loops, and learning to design intentional feedback loops that allow businesses to understand what those experiences are as quickly as possible. All small businesses intend certain things, but many times, those intentions don't deliver. Without feedback loops, and without really thinking critically about that, small businesses end up talking to themselves more often than not.

“At the end of the day, it is the responsibility of everyone wanting to become a great brand, everyone wanting to grow their business, to make connections that your consumer, your audience never forgets,” said Collins. “That's how you get them to advocacy.”

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116—Kristin Rowan—Leveraging PR and Logistic Strategies during a Large-Scale Event Emergency Jul 22, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Derek Harju are joined by Kristin Rowan, the director of marketing and public relations and sales for Square Egg Entertainment, the parent company for Phoenix Fan Fusion, who discusses how to pivot and adjust when a large-scale event suddenly faces an emergency.

In this case, the coronavirus pandemic. When it started getting bad, everything changed when everybody started to realize this didn’t look like the seasonal flu, this was different.

Rowan’s team started planning early when it became apparent that Phoenix Fan Fusion wasn’t happening. For her small, but mighty team of six, they didn't have a team of PR people or lawyers or all of those who can revise what they needed to do. Any revisions, any statements that they made came down to one person and long hours were experienced by all.

“We pivoted from, ‘Hey. Here are all the guests we have coming out, and here's all the events we're planning and look at all this fun,’ to virtually nothing,” said Rowan. “When you're planning an event that gets postponed like that, we don't know which panelists are going to be available. We don't know which rooms we're going to have in the convention center. We don't know what guests are still going to be available. And their filming schedule was stopped the same as our schedule was stopped. So for us, it was not so much a pivot as it was a full stop.”

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115—Chris Ducker—Why Personal Branding is Essential for Entrepreneurs Jul 15, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Chris Ducker, a personal branding expert, serial entrepreneur, and successful podcast host, who helps people monetize their expertise and their personal brand through the work he does at his company, Youpreneur.

Ducker stands by the mantra of when you build the business of you, it's future-proof. It can't be copied, plain and simple. Because of your uniqueness and the way that you lean into that uniqueness is what ultimately makes you future-proof.

“Regardless of what crisis you might be going through or what problems you might be facing, or whatever competitor has stolen your product idea, they can have the exact same product with the exact same packaging, but ultimately, people buy from you because you are their favorite,” said Ducker. “That's what the personal brand business model is all about. It's about becoming somebody's favorite.”

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114—Frank Gerola—Perpetuating Real Estate Business During a Pandemic Jul 08, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Frank Gerola, a real estate agent in the Phoenix Metro Area, who discusses how he’s adapted his business during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gerola’s business represents both buyers and sellers. One area of concern that came up for his clients was safety while looking at houses during the coronavirus.

“A lot of it is comfort level, how comfortable they are,” said Gerola. “One of the things that we try to limit is the buyers' exposure, and the exposure they're bringing to the property.”

Gerola requested that no children were to be brought to a home showing. If people had to bring their children, each parent would view the home individually while the other parent stayed in the car with the kids, then they would switch. As children tend to “look with their hands,” this was a way to mitigate the spread of germs.

During home showings, Gerola provided booties and gloves to his clients as well as wiped down the house once they were done looking at it. He requested the homes to have all of the lights on, all of the doors open in every one of the rooms, the closets open, a couple of the cupboards open so the only doors that visitors would have to touch are the front door, the rear door, and the garage entry door.

“It’s working all together as a whole. And then letting the consumer know, the seller know, ‘We have your best interest in mind as well. We understand your concern and we hear you,’” said Gerola. “A lot of it is up to the consumer, but when you show them that you're proactive, it's a win-win.”

You can find Frank Gerola’s business on Instagram, @GilbertNOW and on Facebook, GilbertNOW. His personal handle is @RealtorFrankG on Instagram and Frank Gerola on Facebook.

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113—AJ Wilcox—How Your Business Could Benefit from LinkedIn Ads Jul 01, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by AJ Wilcox, who works for an ad agency that helps with the account management side of LinkedIn Ads as well as teaching, training, consulting, auditing, and anything else individual teams need to attract leads.

Wilcox expressed that the big limiting factor for LinkedIn Ads is their cost. The average cost per click, when you're using their ad network in North America, ranges from $8 to $11. This isn't traffic that's ready to buy–these are individuals who are interested in learning more about topics, or they're interested in consuming content. So $8 to $11 a click for something that is more mid to top of funnel.

“What I tell people is, if you have a lifetime value of $10,000, $15,000 or more of one of your future customers, then LinkedIn Ads is a great place to get to know them and get in front of them,” said Wilcox. “If less than that, smaller B2C offers, even smaller B2B offers, you're going to have a really hard time getting a return on your investment.”

Wilcox said you're launching a combination of AMO–your audience, your message, and your offer when you present your LinkedIn ads. The first thing you're going to be looking for is your click-through rate.

“I think most people who start using LinkedIn Ads should use one ad format. It's called single image sponsored content,” said Wilcox. “It's the simplest, shows up in your newsfeed type of ad. Very versatile. And the average click-through rate on these across the network is a little bit less than half a percent.”

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112—Brett Curry—Creating Compelling Content for YouTube Ads Jun 24, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Brett Curry, who discusses how to leverage YouTube Ads to grow your business with a focus on ecommerce.

For those small businesses that don’t have a video crew or can’t invest enough money in video production, Curry breaks down how to create a compelling YouTube ad on a budget that will still see sufficient viewership.

He explains you can set your campaigns up to drive conversions, but you can also just set them up to optimize for views. Get creative when you start to build what's called a viewed video audience that has viewed your video before, so now you can run another ad to them or show them a display ad or a search ad next time they're searching on Google. If you approach it the right way, you're building an asset and an audience as well as potentially driving conversions right away.

When crafting a video, you don't have to go full production. You don't need special effects and trained actors or to hire a scriptwriter for $50,000. If you just remember that the most important elements are the script or the story that the video tells, and the simple visuals, the message can still be compelling.

“You could even use stock images if you had to, or basic footage that you add to it. So you don't have to go full production, in fact, I recommend you don't,” said Curry. “Start with some concepts, test those out. Once you know a concept works, then increase the production value and kind of take it a step further.”

Curry also reveals three types of content that businesses can use to build brand awareness on YouTube.

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111—Jason Komosa—Creating Work-Life Balance for Business Owners Jun 17, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Michael Van Dusen are joined by Jason Komosa, a mental coach who helps leaders achieve their goals by creating a better balance in all areas of their lives.

A mental coach is a person who supports you, champions you, is your sidekick, your accountability partner, being very open, very authentic, very vulnerable. The idea is to just make you better while training your mentality, mind, and spirit.

“Leaders and entrepreneurs need to make sure that they're prioritizing their life. Not just their work,” said Komosa. “If we're just constantly focusing on work and ignoring all the other things that we need to have that quality energy, that quality work, it doesn't make sense to work 15 hours if eight of those hours are really quality, awesome work and the other seven are just half-ass mediocre work.”

“The message I preach is, ‘You might think you're doing yourself and your company a favor by putting the extra two or three hours of work. But the reality is you'd be much better off taking a break, stopping work, getting some rejuvenation, spending time with your family, go outside, get some exercise, get some movement, eat healthy, and get a good night's sleep,’” Komosa added.

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110—David Freedman & Kurt Donnell—Create Great Content via Growth Hacking Jun 10, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Michael Van Dusen are joined by Freestar’s Co-founder David Freedman and President and CEO Kurt Donnell, who discuss how being advocates for publishers has maximized their revenue.

Freestar maximizes publishers’ programmatic ad revenue specifically. Basically, every time you see an ad that appears on the internet, there's an entire auction that's happening in milliseconds behind the scenes. Freestar puts pressure on that auction to drive up the price to help publishers make as much money as possible and be competitive in a world where Google and Facebook continue to take a lot of the market share.

Freedman and Donnell deliver a real service that's very black and white in the sense that they drive revenue and people see it. It's also a revenue share model, so there's no upfront cost or fees for the publishers to work with them. “We're very passionate about the technology side and also giving a voice and a fighting chance for publishers these days, because it is a tough industry for them to survive in,” said Freedman.

“Our industry is pretty much all geared towards the advertiser. Everyone's focused on satisfying them, which typically results in the publisher getting screwed,” Freedman continued. “We wanted to flip that theory on its head and go the opposite direction. Publisher first is one of our core values and kind of our guiding decision making on everything that we do.”

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109—Paul Ramondo—Secrets to Successful Facebook Ads Jun 03, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Paul Ramondo, who helps small business owners and entrepreneurs generate highly-qualified leads and sales using Facebook ads and digital marketing funnels.

Ramondo divulges how to use the tools that are available both intra-Facebook and extra-Facebook to find your audience, refine them, build an audience avatar, build an ad set for targeting so you can then run ads and test to see what resonates and what doesn't resonate with your target audience.

“It’s important to define what the internal emotions are in which your product or service solves or activates for your audience, and how that relates to the avatar that you're targeting,” said Ramondo.

Ramondo recommends spending $5 on targeting a cold audience in a cold audience campaign and $5 a day targeting a warm audience, which are based off your retargeting audiences and include retargeting people who have visited your website, retargeting your email list, retargeting people who have engaged with your Instagram or Facebook profile, etc. and then run ads variable to the audience that you're speaking to.

“Customize to the audience that you're speaking to because the way that you speak to a cold audience is going to be different from the way you speak to someone that's already brand aware,” said Ramondo. “A warm audience already knows who you are, whereas, a cold audience needs to learn about who you are. You need to build trust, you need to build rapport with them before you can actually get them to take out their wallet and buy from you.”

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108—Mike Kim—Writing Brand Copy that Connects with Your Audience May 27, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Mike Kim, an online educator of marketing who focuses on the personal brand and copywriting space.

Kim’s business operates on two arms: copywriting for personal brands–meaning a speaker, a coach, an expert, a trainer, a thought leader, an author, anyone who's paid for their thoughts, and being a marketing consultant for some of the bigger thought leadership brands.

“I always say that when you influence language you influence thinking,” said Kim. “We have that opportunity right now because the world is in a very, very unique place and we can use our words to bring comfort, to bring hope, to bring leadership, to bring clarity.”

When Kim is ever asked, "What is unique about the way that you see marketing?" he says, marketing isn't about closing a sale. It's about opening a relationship. If you filter everything you say and do, marketing wise, through that lens, that's going to help you, because you're going to approach people as friends. You're going to approach people as people. People do business with people.

“My marketing isn't just a nice slick campaign with a nice slogan. It's actually part of a bigger context, which is a movement I'm trying to start,” said Kim. “I'm not trying to be a religious leader, a cult leader, political leader, but in a sense, I'm trying to help the folks who want to become their own boss at a personal brand and help them through using the power of marketing to do it.”

During this unprecedented time of the "coronapocalypse" as Kim refers to it, it is a golden opportunity for businesses to pivot the way they brand themselves and let their personal voice come out.

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107—Mel Kettle—The Importance of Connecting Your Audience May 20, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Mel Kettle of Mel Kettle and Associates, who is a Communication Specialist whose area of expertise is helping people connect.

“I work with clients so that they can get a clear understanding of how to connect with compassion, with conviction,” said Kettle. “I help people communicate so they connect and engage with their people. Whether it’s their people, their workforce, their customers, their stakeholders, their investors, their volunteers or whoever else they need to have that strong relationship with.”

She also has a podcast called This Connected Life where she discusses what’s important when it comes to connection and her audience, as well as welcoming many guests.

“Probably 50% of my episodes are guest interviews where I talk to leaders about how they stay connected with their people so that they can achieve the outcomes that they want to achieve both personally and professionally,” Kettle said.

Kettle believes that connecting starts with yourself. You need to have that self-connection piece and you need to be comfortable and competent with who you are and to look after yourself physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally. If you don't do that, then you're never going to present your best self as a leader to your workforce or to your client base, which is what many people forget when it comes to connection.

Kettle also provides insights on what small businesses can do to connect to their audience, their family, and themselves during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and what they should be doing to anticipate permanent changes in the workforce for the future.

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106—Grace Abruzzo—Solopreneurship in Women’s Health May 13, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Grace Abruzzo, the owner of Rooted Physical Therapy, who is a physical therapist specializing in the pelvis area, and discusses how her business aligns with her passions, her calling and how she uses it to provide a service.

Abruzzo typically works with women, but also works with any gender, any transitioning transgender and any age group. She got into physical therapy because she has a history of needing from when she was a child what she now provides. She has been trained in treating the whole body, but specializes in the pelvis.

“When I was in physical therapy school, I learned that this is the thing that I always needed that I never knew existed and that most people don't know exists,” said Abruzzo. “I was immediately hooked.”

Abruzzo also tackles the subjects that people don't feel comfortable sharing with a medical provider or the conversations that they hardly have with their spouse–helping those overcome the stigma behind discussing pelvic health issues.

“I'm working on one person at a time, but the change I'm making, I'm hoping that we're all going to experience it,” said Abruzzo. “Because if you do healing, your partner is going to feel it, your kids are going to feel it, your friends are going to feel it, it's going to change the world.”

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105—Jasmine Star—Using Instagram for Your Business May 06, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Jasmine Star, a photographer and business strategist who empowers entrepreneurs to build a brand and market it on social media to grow their business.

“Your net worth is your network and that network is really built on social these days and that has been a game changer for my business,” said Star.

The secret to a successful social media presence is the ability for people to show up consistently. It wasn't until Star had crafted a plan for consistency that people would expect her to show up as a representation of her business and her brand. She had created a brand using a blog with nothing more than her words and being consistent, and applied that same ideology to Instagram.

Her social curator business will help any type of content or organization see authentic engagement on social media.

“You are enough. Do you have the willingness to keep on pushing forward to get to where you want to go? I believe that we all have that wild ability for success as long as you remain undaunted,” said Star.

Jasmine Star can be found on all social platforms @JasmineStar. You can also find her at jasminestar.com and all of her social media membership. For those who want to create a brand in marketing and social media, you can find her at socialcurator.com.

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104—Odeen Domingo—Balancing an Entrepreneurial Mission and Growing a Family Apr 29, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Derek Harju are joined by Odeen Domingo, founder and owner of CO+HOOTS Coworking in Phoenix, Arizona, who discusses his experience being an entrepreneur, a husband and a father and how he balances it all. “You're a team. A family is just not a family. You have to work together,” said Domingo. “For me, I feel like you have to have the introspective what you want in your life. We go through stages where your business is everything. Then you have a family and then your family is everything but then you'd still have a business.”

Domingo believes if you're trying to be a family person, that's all you can do. If you're just trying, that's perfect. As a business owner, or someone who wants to be a business owner or entrepreneur or a startup founder, you learn that your time is valuable and that time blocks are critical. “Any time that you can give to your family, even though your business is taking over your life, that's perfect. It's fine. As long as your child knows that you love them, that's all they really need,” Domingo expressed. “As long as you're trying, as long as you're being intentional about it and everything else, it's perfect.”

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103—Susan Baier—Finding Your Target Audience Apr 22, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Susan Baier, the owner and founder of Audience Audit, who talks about attitudinal segmentation and identifying an audience that actually works for a small business.

As a small business owner, your audience is not based on what it looks like. Your audience is based on the problems your small business is solving, and who has them, and why your customers haven't solved them already–that is attitudinal segmentation.

“In our research, what we're doing is looking at populations, customers, prospects, whatever it may be, B2B, B2C, and saying, we can look at company size for these people, or we can look at their age or their gender, but instead let's look at the kinds of attitudes that they have about this category, the kinds of experiences they've had in the past, the things that are important to them and the things that aren't, and let's group people that way,” said Baier.

“You don't have to choose just one audience, but you have to be super clear, for the audiences that you choose, and choose is the operative word,” Baier continued. “The ones that you want to serve, the problem that you want to solve, you have to be crystal clear about why they're looking, and what is involved in their choice, and who they're putting you up against, so that you can provide relevant marketing content, product services, whatever it is.”

“Who” is not the question you have to answer in marketing. “Why” is the question you have to answer and find your niche. Tune in for more.

102—Veronica Belmont—Product Management and Brand Evangelism Apr 15, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Derek Harju are joined by Veronica Belmont, product manager and evangelist at Adobe Spark, who divulges how those two roles at her company align in an effort to expand her brand, make decisions around products and how small businesses can leverage brand evangelists to supercharge their companies on social media.

“We use Airtable within our own organization to keep track of all the content that we're posting to social or on the blog to make sure that we are getting ahead of our publishing schedule and [having content] in the pipeline. That's one of the biggest tips that I can give to small companies,” said Belmont. “Understand that it's going to make it harder for you if you're posting off the cuff–have a plan, know what kind of engagement you want to drive, know what kind of voice you want to have on social and starting with those building blocks before you start working on campaigns is really crucial.” Belmont also suggests seeking those who may not have achieved the full evangelist level yet; they don't necessarily need to have a huge audience of their own but if they're already having conversations with other people about your product, you can find them by searching your hashtag on Twitter, replies or looking into other conversations on other platforms about the kind of work you're doing. Tune in for more.

101—Lindsey Schwartz—The Power of Masterminds Apr 08, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Lindsey Schwartz, the founder of Powerhouse Women and author of “Powerhouse Woman,” who discusses how she benefited from attending mastermind programs where she got the chance to dive deep with a group of other people on the same journey that she was, which reaffirmed all of the overwhelming feelings she was experiencing about starting her own business.

As far as focusing her business strictly on women, Schwartz said, “I never intended from the start to create a women's community only because in my past I worked with men and women, but I noticed most of the conversations I was having were specific to women.”

Schwartz believes there are so many women with really brilliant ideas who aren't getting into the entrepreneurial spirit because they only see the highlight reel and think they’re not meant for this journey.

“That whole conversation inspired [my book], which was really written from my own story of how not together I have it and showing women how you don't need to become more, you don't need to learn more in order to be this powerhouse, you just need to turn into what's already within us. And the fundamentals for creation, just creating things from nothing are within all of us,” said Schwartz.

She also hosts a podcast where she talks about how to equip women with the tools and the mindset to get out of their own way and into action around their own big ideas.

“That's actually one of the reasons I love having a podcast. We can just go a lot deeper into what a little caption can share, but I think it's more just about us realizing that if we're feeling icky looking at social media, we're just comparing our blooper reel to someone else's highlight reel,” said Schwartz. “You have to get it straight, social media is always going to be a highlight reel.”

Tune in for more.

100—Clate Mask—How to adapt your small business through COVID-19 Apr 01, 2020

In this very special edition of Small Biz Buzz, hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Keap CEO Clate Mask, who talks about overcoming challenges small businesses are encountering right now during the coronavirus pandemic and the different opportunities, processes and systems entrepreneurs can leverage to adapt and keep their startups alive.

“While this is an unprecedented event, there's certainly been events like it in the past in terms of taking down the economy, and causing all kinds of problems,” said Mask. “So I think it starts with the state of mind, and then it goes to the innovation and creativity, and the ways that you respond, and recognize opportunities to serve others and create solutions to problems that people are facing.”

This is the opportunity to give and serve and this is where building relationships with prospects and customers shines through. What businesses need to do, and what entrepreneurs should be looking at is, "How can I serve? Let me just be in the posture of serving and giving, and helping."

Mask also offers small business owners ideas on how they can adjust their products and services, specifically right now during the coronavirus outbreak, as now’s the time to work on your business, and put systems in place. Tune in for more.

099—Isha Cogborn—Using Your Personal Brand to Grow Your Business Mar 25, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by personal-brand strategist Isha Cogborn of the Epiphany Institute, which is her company. Per Cogborn when it comes to branding, it's about being able to share your expertise at a level where you can have the impact that you're really created to make.

“There are a lot of people who are very bright and shiny, and they've got very slick marketing and they look great, and unfortunately, they don't have what people are looking for. So for those people that are on the unknown end of that, I really want to help them to be able to develop the skillsets to be found by the people that need them, and to really be able to connect with the people that they're uniquely gifted to serve.”

Also according to Cogborn, there are three distinct categories when it comes to people building their own brands online: Influencers, experts and thought leaders. Which one do you fall under as a small business owner? Tune in to find out.

098—Tanya Moushi—Solopreneurship Executive Coaching Mar 18, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Derek Harju are joined by Tanya Moushi of Moushi & Co. to talk about solopreneurship executive coaching. Moushi discusses her experience as a solopreneur and starting her own coaching business and why this business model works for her personally.

She divulges about the importance of being empathetic in business, common missteps and oversights, and what criteria she considers when helping a business find its purpose and how it can improve.

She also discusses her GECKO model–gratitude, empathy, care, kindness, optimism, which is a framework that a business can use to be good. It helps instill virtues and shapes culture within a company and influences impact on stakeholders, employees, customers, shareholders and the community. “All of these things that would make you a good human, make you a great business,” said Moushi. Tune in for more.

097—Scott Martineau—Lifecycle Marketing Mar 11, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Derek Harju are joined by Scott Martineau, co-founder of Keap, who talks about how lifecycle marketing evolved. He created a movement around an approach to marketing. It's his attempt to explain to small business owners common problems that they’ll face as they're trying to acquire new customers. Keap helps small business owners hone in on how to use lifecycle marketing in what they're doing. Small business owners have a really unique advantage to show up in the lifecycle relationship and deliver value to their prospective customers in advance of a sale. It’s about engaging your customers with educational content using three different systems. Tune in to find out what they are.

096—Brendan Alan Barrett—Why Follow Ups are Critical Mar 04, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Jack Smithson are joined by Brendan Alan Barrett, founder of StartInPhx, who talks about how to overcome pushback when it comes to following up with B2B clients. It’s a matter of talking to as many people in the same area on the same day to build content, collateral or touch points that you can refer back to. While prospecting into an account, there's always something that can be learned. The rule with prospecting and follow up is questions. You're going for engagement, but if you're asking the right questions, you can decipher if this is engagement for their benefit versus engagement for your benefit. Know who your audience is so you don’t spread yourself too thin and make sure you're following up with the people who are going to move through the funnel and be acquired. At a certain point, you should also know when to cut your losses. In matters of work-life balance, the big themes are boundaries. To set good boundaries, you have to have good clarity and best practices put in place. Tune in for more.

095—Pam Slim—The Value Behind Tiny Marketing Actions (TMA) Feb 26, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Jack Smithson are joined by Pamela Slim, co-founder of the Main Street Learning Lab in Mesa, Arizona to discuss Tiny Marketing Actions (TMA). A TMA is a small, outbound marketing action you take each day to streamline your tasks, helping you establish direct connections, build your brand and provide value for your ideal clients and customers. Tune in to find out how taking baby steps can build a solid foundation when starting your own business.

094—JT Benton—Walking Away from Stability to Become an Entrepreneur Feb 19, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Rob Stevenson are joined by JT Benton, founder and CEO of WorkBook6, who divulged a powerful story on how he left his stable job as an executive to start a small business. After being very judicious with cash flows and investing some of his family’s personal savings, it gave him the freedom to have an individual mindset and be in charge of his own organization. His advice: If you really believe in what you're doing, you'll find a way. Tune in for more.

093—Paige Clark—The Terrifying Power of User Reviews Feb 12, 2020

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Rob Stevenson welcome guest Paige Clark to talk about how customers’ online reviews set the precedent for your company’s success. Consumer reviews hold more leverage and are more trusted than a simple business description. They also talk about how to maximize the power of positive reviews to drive revenue and relevance and how a company should handle negative reviews. Tune in for more.

092—Succeed With A Remote Workforce Feb 05, 2020

In this episode of Small Biz Buzz, Crystal Heuft and Rob Stevenson talk about the growing trend of working remotely and what the insights and predictions are for 2020. How will this affect employee engagement? Does it depend on the industry or the job position? Will it catch on with more corporations? Tune in for more.

091—Success and Employee Happiness Jan 29, 2020

Crystal Heuft and Rob Stevenson talk about how keeping employees happy contributes to their success. They discuss competitive salaries, benefits, perks, and company culture. Companies that show an interest in their employees’ success tend to make more of an effort to raise morale in many different ways. Some companies have even gone as far as to hire a Chief Happiness Officer. Tune in for more.

090—Personalizing the Customer Experience Jan 22, 2020

Crystal Heuft and Rob Stevenson define what personalizing the customer experience means, the steps it takes to make the customer feel welcome and catered to individually, and the psychology behind personalized customer experience. Tune in for more.

We're Back!!! Jan 15, 2020

It's been a while, but we're back with all new content, new hosts, new producers (and a few familiar voices) and hopefully, new subscribers. Tune in every week to learn how to take your small business and yourself to the next level.

089 - Ask the Expert - Daniel Bussius May 09, 2018

Dusey and Daniel talk about building partnerships, and the ever present need to focus your attention on the most important things first.

088—Ask the Expert—Social Media for Entrepreneurs and Small Businesses Feb 21, 2018

Today, Dusey, Scott and Crystal, our Social Media Manager, give you ideas on how to make the most of your social media presence, such as being proactive, saving time with bots, dealing with negative interactions, and time saving tricks.

Check out our guide to handling customer complaints at bit.ly/complaintbasics

087 - Ask the Expert Remarketing, Targeting and Tracking Feb 07, 2018

What’s the most important thing most small businesses should be doing, but aren’t? According to Dennis Yu and Logan Young from Blitzmetrics it’s “Digital Plumbing”—making sure you have the technical foundation in place to make sure your traffic isn’t being lost, but is getting the right message and experience at the right time.

086 - Ask the Expert - SEO for the Non-SEO Expert Jan 24, 2018

Our resident SEO expert Rachel Meyers talks with Clate & Scott about how a business improve their SEO, even if they don’t have a lot of free time to dedicate to it. From hiring the right contractor, to avoiding the Google-slap.

Check out our guide to SEO Basics for small businesses.

085 - Ask the Expert - Marketing Research and Sponsoring Events Jan 10, 2018

Nancy Seeger, the CEO of Seeger Consulting joins us in our final episode of our Partner series, which is packed with market research tips, as well as why the often overlooked tactic of sponsoring events might be a great move for your business.

To learn how to make sure your get a strong ROI on sponsoring an event, check out their Top 10 Things That You Can Do To Make Money When Sponsoring Events.

084 - Ask the Expert - Micheline, babel-team and a Dream Dec 27, 2017

Continuing our Partner series, this episode Micheline Christophe joins us from babel-team, a Brazillian agency that has helped countless businesses grow, as well as Jennifer Leslie, a Content Creator at Infusionsoft. Micheline walks us through the three things most small business forget to do that make a huge difference in their bottom line.

Babel-team attended Elite Forum and it made a big impact in their business, as did Michael Gerber’s books like The E Myth.

083 - Ask the Expert - Scaling Through Culture Dec 13, 2017

Dobbin Buck of GetUWired joins the podcast again as does Jennifer Leslie, and we tackle scaling your business without destroying your culture—which Dobbin knows all about as Entrepreneur Magazine says GetUWired is in the top 25 Company Cultures among small businesses.

Learn how to build your company from 7 to 8 figures at Infusionsoft’s Elite Forum.

082 - Ask the Expert - Most Important Thing, Most Urgent Thing Nov 29, 2017

Continuing our series where we met with small business experts who solve problems for entrepreneurs and small business owners every day. We are joined by Mauricio Rodriguez, Director General of mit-mut.com (listen to find out what that name means) and Erin Case, Partner Marketing Manager at Infusionsoft. Find out what Mauricio means when he says small business owners are terrible, and the how to overcome small businesses most common problems.

Announcement - 2 Week Schedule Nov 22, 2017

Announcement - 2 Week Schedule

081 - Ask the Expert - Get a Revenue Goal Nov 15, 2017

We’re fresh back from Infusionsoft’s PartnerCon where we met with a ton of small business experts who solve problems for entrepreneurs and small business owners every day. This episode we hear from Daan Schmidt of Schmidt Communicatie and host of SchmidtCast - Europe's #1 EntrepreneurCast for business. We talk about working with family, the importance of starting with a revenue goal, and more.

Check out the free trial of Infusionsoft to tackle the day to day tasks of running your business.

080 - Ask the Expert - Automate Follow Up Without Being “Robotronic” Nov 01, 2017

Join guest host Ben Snedeker and small business advocate Ramon Ray, the Editor & Founder of Smart Hustle Magazine. Topics include why it’s important for a small business to automate follow up, and how to make sure it doesn’t feel “robotronic.”

079 - Ask the Expert - Net Profit Explosion Oct 25, 2017

Join guest host Ben Snedeker and Sean Greeley, the CEO of Net Profit Explosion, as we chat about how to market your business problems that come along with a marketing and growth focused mind set.

Follow Sean and NPE on Twitter.

Check out the free trial of Infusionsoft to tackle the day to day tasks of running your business.

078 - Ask the Expert - Finding Your Target Audience Oct 18, 2017

Today we help you find your target audience—and talk about why it’s so important.

Learn more about How to Analyze Your Target Market

077 - Ask the Expert - Collecting Leads (and Celebrities) Oct 11, 2017

Clate & Scott talk to Mike Koenigs, CEO of You Everywhere Now! which teaches how you can build, engage and monetize an audience quickly and easily. Mike is a 12 time #1 best selling author and advisor to Tony Robbins, John Assaraf, JJ Virgin, Peter Diamandis, Paula Abdul and over 52,000 customers in 121 countries. They talk about how to grow your list, and methods of capturing leads, and making sure they are leads that will actually buy your product or service.

Check out How to Create Lead Magnets: A Step-by-Step Guide to get started attracting customers.

To try Mike’s demo of how to capture leads visit www.yen.tv/infusion or text “infusion” to 619-457-6248 to see how it works on mobile.

Start collecting leads today with Infusionsoft’s Free Trial.

076 - Ask the Expert - Don Miller from Storybrand Oct 04, 2017

Don Miller from Stroybrand joins Infusionsoft Product Marketing Manager Brina Kaiser, and teaches how to make your marketing as interesting as a blockbuster movie. Pre-order his new book Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen, and send the receipt bonus@storybrand.com to get two previously unavailable lectures for free.

To automate Storybrand across your marketing, sales and customer relations, try Infusionsoft for free at infusionsoft.com/storybrand.

075 - Ask the Expert - Design Bullseye Sep 27, 2017

We talk design methodology and user testing with James Archer & Stephanie Haworth. Listen to learn how to ensure your product and marketing are working you want them to.

Mentioned in the Episode:

Check out our Campaign Performance Tool to start testing your your marketing.

7 Reasons Why your A/B Split Tests Aren’t Working

Split Testing Guide for Ecommerce Sites

30 Email Split Test Ideas to Boost Conversions

How to Build a Culture of Experimentation

James Archer on Design Thinking

How to Do Graphic Design For Your Brand When You Have No Design Knowledge

074 - Ask the Expert - Hire Expectations Sep 20, 2017

Join Clate and Dusey as the talk to Brad Owens, who says traditional behavioral interviewing is out, and Attributional Interviewing is in. Brad brings 10 years of experience hiring for some of the most profitable companies out there, and shares his expertise so small businesses can have the same advantages as Fortune 500 companies. Brad is the host of the Small Business Hiring podcast, where he was recently joined by our very own hiring partner Lauren Borgeson.

Lauren also wrote the Hiring Kit we mentioned in the episode.

More resources to help you hire and interview:

How to Save Yourself from Bad Hiring Decisions

Strategies for Improving Your Hiring Success

Setting KPIs for Your Employees

Hire for Potential Not Just Experience

How to Pick the RIght Pre-Hire Assessment

The Three Most Revealing Interview Questions

Previous Episodes on Hiring:

How to Interview Candidates with Specialized Skillsets

Where to Find Job Candidates

073 - Q&A - Segmenting with Monkeypod Sep 13, 2017

Please take our Listener Survey to let us know what you want to hear.

Carla Miner is joined by Greg Jenkins from Monkeypod Marketing helps us answer a listener questions—how to segment your list, and how to keep promotions fresh? You’ll need to listen to hear to hear the full answers, but you can also find a bunch of ideas on our blog post 26 Best Examples of Sales Promotions to Inspire Your Next Offer. You can also check out our Cash In a Flash ebook, which walks you through the nitty gritty of managing a flash sale promotion.

Want to put the ideas in this episode into practice? Try Infusionsoft for free.

072 - Q&A - Org Chart Therapy Sep 06, 2017

How do you know when to hire employees and leaders? And how do you ensure they are invested in your business when you do? Clate and Scott give the answer on today’s episode.

How do you know when it’s time to hire another employee? Read “7 Ways You Know It’s Time to Hire Someone” to find out.

Join Infusionsoft executives at Elite Forum, which helps growing businesses lead their teams to success.

071 - Q&A - Competence v. Character Aug 30, 2017

A listener asks if competence or character is more important when running (or hiring new employees for) your business. Clate answers, and Scott refuses to. Listen to find out why.

Join Infusionsoft executives at Elite Forum, which helps growing businesses lead their teams to success.

070 - Q&A - Outward Bound Aug 23, 2017

Clate and Scott answer a listener question—when should you consider adding outbound sales, especially when you already have a healthy inbound flow of leads and sales?

Get the most out of prospects by refining sales pipeline with “The 7 Sales Pipeline Stages Every Small Business Should Use”

069 - Q&A - I Did a Webinar. Now What? Aug 16, 2017

Today we answer a listener question and bring in our content and email marketing experts to talk about getting and closing leads using educational and promotional webinars.

Check out our interactive email copy tool to help you quickly write effective emails, for your webinars or anything else, at infusionsoft.com/drip-now.

068 - Hot Seat - Holly DeVito Aug 09, 2017

Holly DeVito is the CEO and founder of Sum of All Numbers, a bookkeeping company that specializes in helping entrepreneurs increase their profits. Her burning question is how to change from a word-of-mouth business to a faster growing, marketing savvy company, all while no longer being the person doing face-to-face sales. Clate and Scott walk her through lead magnet ideas—and some equations befitting the name of her business—while discussing how much money is the right amount to spend to acquire new customers.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Profit First by Mike Michalowicz

To learn how to capture leads in your business, check out The Small Business Guide to Capturing Leads.

067- Hot Seat - Chris Prefontaine Aug 02, 2017

Chris Prefontaine of Smart Real Estate Coach has a great problem - he’s getting a lot of revenue out of his small list, but he wants to grow his list even more. How can he do that? Clate and Scott to the rescue! They advise Chris to step back and take a look at the fundamentals: Is he crystal clear on his target audience? Do you have goals and reliable ways to track them? Psychographics play a big role.

Check out our video on psychographic segmentation to learn more and this post about why psychographic segmentation is more important that customer demographics.

Once you know what you want to do with your psychographics, check out our guide to taking your CRM list to the next level with segmentation.

066 - The Cleanup HItter - Gosia Baran Jul 26, 2017

Gosia Baran started Helping Hands Cleaning Services when she was laid off from her law firm post-9/11. Since she’d been perpetually dissatisfied with the cleaning services she’d employed, and she had a six month old son to support, she decided to start her own cleaning service. She started out as the cleaner, then was forced to hire someone when she became pregnant again. Now 15 years later, she has a staff of 32 and is expanding from residential into commercial cleaning as well.

Gosia chats with Clate and Scott about the tough early years of starting a business, finding a balance with work and family, and how she’s worked through discouragement in tough times.

Gosia is a member of Elite Forum and a Stage 5 business owner. Want to know what stage of small business success you’re in? Listen to episode 38 where Clate and Scott take you through the stages and what they mean.

Gosia grew her business heavily on referrals. Check out our ebook, “Referential Treatment” for how to ask for referrals to grow your business.

065 - Hot Seat - Passinglane Jul 19, 2017

Lee Egstrom of Passinglane has this question for Clate and Scott: How do I know when to introduce a particular product or technology? It’s about making small bets, making them often, and looking for a 10x return. Listen to this hot seat as Clate and Scott help Lee figure out how to do it and use automation without seeming like Big Brother.

Learn more about automating the right way with our ebook “25 Things Every Small Business Should Automate.”

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

064 - Entrepreneurial Role Models - Lee Egstrom Jul 12, 2017

Lee Egstrom of Passinglane has been helping small businesses grow for 20 years. He chats with Clate and Scott about why he only takes clients who have been in business for five years; how he uses modeling to achieve his goals; and the entrepreneurs he looks to for inspiration.

Grow your business with purpose with our 2017 Strategic Planning Kit.

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

063 - Hot Seat - Newsletter Pro Jul 05, 2017

Get your business in the Hot Seat by going to smallbusinesssucess.com/quesitons.

Shuan Buck from Newsletter Pro steps into the Hot Seat with Clate and Scott, and asks what to do when it’s taking too long to make an necessary change with a loyal employee as they struggle to keep up with the growth of the company.

Clate and Scott answer with the three key concepts: preventing surprise with frequent courageous conversations; establishing objective, measurable goals; and highlighting previously success to add context to role changes.

Grow your business with purpose with our 2017 Strategic Planning Kit.

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

006 - Are We Going to Make it - Wes Clark (Rebroadcast) Jun 28, 2017

Firefighter Peter Thorpe had seen a lot of devastating fires started by stoves, so he developed FireAvert, which automatically shuts off stoves. Wes Clark, Peter’s business partner and our guest in this episode, shares with Clate and Scott what it was like to prepare for—and recover from—being on ABC’s Shark Tank, overcoming rejection, and figuring out the simplest way to solve business problems. Oh—and that time he exploded a can of beans all over the fire chief.

Mentioned in this episode: “How the Mighty Fall” by Jim Collins.

Want to get a leg up on your small business strategy? Check out our e-book “Your Game Plan”!

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

062 - Moo-ving to a Subscription Model - Pam Dierks Jun 21, 2017

Pam Dierks of Dierks Farms has moved past putting their grassfed beef in the grocery store - instead it’s shipped direct to customers. This idea was a major innovation for Dierks Farms, and this year they won our Small Business ICON award.

Pam chats with Clate and Scott about moving to a subscription model, marketing directly to a consumer instead of through the commodities market, and how automation has enabled her to help pass down the farm to her sons.

We visited Dierks Farms - watch their video here!

Learn how Pam’s Infusionsoft indoctrination sequence works here.

Want to learn more about automation? Check out our ebook “25 Things Every Small Business Should Automate”

061 - Fill the Cracks - Ronan Galvin Jun 16, 2017

Ronan Galvin is the co-founder of Kickstagram, one of this year’s Small Business ICON finalists. Ronan chats with Clate and Scott automation and how it simplifies things, and how he was able to use it to grow his client base without over-scaling his sales team.

Want to learn more about automation? Check out our ebook “25 Things Every Small Business Should Automate”

We visited Kickstagram to get their story - check it out here

Learn more about ICON

060 - Hot Seat - Brooklyn Music Factory Jun 07, 2017

Nate Shaw and Peira Moinester are business partners at Brooklyn Music Factory and they want to know, what do they do if they’re not confident that their people are the right people to get them to $3 million in annual revenue? Clate and Scott tackle this question in our very first hot seat.

Clate and Scott point out that, if you want your people to be the people to get you to a goal, you need to first be the owner that gets your company to its goal. Listen as they coach Nate and Peira on getting clear on how to move to the next stage of their business.

Want to learn more about Brooklyn Music Factory? Check out the story we wrote when we visited them, The Kids Are Coming Up From Behind.

Mentioned in this episode:

“Multipliers” by Liz Wiseman

Grow your business with purpose with our 2017 Strategic Planning Kit.

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com

059 - Ask the Expert - How to Delegate and Get More Done May 31, 2017

Author, business coach, and Entreleadership speaker Christy Wright returns to follow up on smartly managing your time. And a big part of using your time successfully in your business? Delegation. This means letting go and letting someone else do some of the work for you. Christy also suggests scheduling your time, and specifying what each block of time is for.

Check out Christy’s new book, Business Boutique.

Grow your business with purpose with our 2017 Strategic Planning Kit.

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com

058 - Ask the Expert - Christy Wright from Entreleadership Talks Time & Priorities May 24, 2017

Christy Wright is the author of the new book “Business Boutique” and teaches entrepreneurs around the world how to start, run, and grow their business. A Dave Ramsey and Entreleadership speaker, Christy shares her advice about how to create more time in your life by prioritizing the things that really matter, and how to be nice, honest, and say “no” all the same time.

Grow your business with purpose with our 2017 Strategic Planning Kit.

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com

057 - Ask the Expert - How to Work With Your Spouse May 17, 2017

Being married takes work - but what if you work with your spouse, too? Ronnie and Lamar Tyler have been doing that for 10 years now. They started BlackAndMarriedWithKids.com a decade ago and they joined us at ICON to talk about how they do that. If you’re thinking, “But how do they do that?” Well, you’re not alone.

So what does it take to run a business with your spouse? According to Ronnie and Lamar, it comes down to support, having appreciation for your spouse, mutual respect, and trust. Basically, the things you need for a great marriage are things you need to succeed in business together, too. Tune in to hear how Ronnie and Lamar actually make it work.

Dream big and grow your business with our ebook “Harness Your Inner Genius”

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

056 - Struggling to Make Sales? May 10, 2017

It’s the bane of nearly every small business - sales. When you’re not selling enough, do you need a new product, or is there a way to better refine what you already have? We bring in JImmy Talbert, Infusionsoft’s conversion marketing manager, to discuss this listener-submitted question about how to get more sales.

More often than not, the problem isn’t a tool, skill, or product. The problem is that the the process isn’t focused enough. Jimmy talks about what you sell specifically and who to sell it to, finding the perfect customer, creating a logical progression, and making sure you have the offering that your perfect customer needs.

Past episodes on re-engaging your leads:

Re-engage Your Leads Part I

Re-engage Your Leads Part II

Re-engage Your Leads Part III

Take your sales and marketing to the next level with “7 Steps to a Complete Small Business Sales and Marketing Plan”

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

055 - Running Your Business Debt Free - Chris Hogan May 03, 2017

Don’t want to run your business in debt? You don’t have to. Our special guest Chris Hogan, author and Dave Ramsey personality for Entreleadership, explains how and why you should run your business debt free. Hogan talks about why debt is a thief, how to deal with emergencies and big expenses, and creating a cushion for peace of mind.

We also bring in Infusionsoft VP of comptroller Scott Stagg to give his perspective on debt and small business finance.

For Entreleadership’s Guide to running your small business debt free, text debtfreeguide to 44222, or click here!

Grow your business with purpose with our 2017 Strategic Planning Guide

For more resources, check out entreleadership.com

054 - Overcoming Mental Battles and Getting Unstuck Apr 26, 2017

What do you do when you just can’t get past something - and that something is all in your head? Self-worth and confidence issues are real problems that entrepreneurs face all the time. Clate and Scott take on this listener-submitted question Dan Ralphs, Infusionsoft’s dream manager (aka fairy godmother).

Dan talks about getting out of mental ruts by getting out of physical ruts first; getting the brutal facts out there so you can deal with them, and getting paralyzed by the fear of perfection.

Want to learn more about dreaming big for your business? Download our ebook “Harness Your Inner Genius.”

Mentioned in this episode:

“Conquer the Chaos” by Clate Mask and Scott Martineau

“Loving What Is” by Byron Katie

“Startup Communities” by Brad Feld

“Power of Positive Thinking” by Norman Vincent Peale

053 - Pitching Your Spouse - Lamar Tyler Apr 19, 2017

Lamar Tyler is one half of Tyler New Media, which started ten years ago as a blog, blackandmarriedwithkids.com. He ran it with his wife, Ronnie, to promote positive images of marriage and parenting in the African American community. Though it started as a passion, today Tyler New Media has blossomed into a brand that encompasses live events, products, and even films. Lamar talks with Clate and Scott about being life and business partners with your spouse; how automation helped him grow Tyler New Media; and building a team and a culture.

Want to learn more about automation? Check out “25 Things Every Small Business Should Automate.”

052 - Content Creation, Hiring Talent, and Recurring Revenue - Laura Roeder Apr 12, 2017

Laura Roeder is the owner of Meet Edgar, a social media content scheduler that saves time and makes sure you’re getting the most out of your posts. Laura walks us through why content matters, the how to get outside of yourself and hire your first employees, and why recurring revenue should be every small business owner’s dream.

Learn how to market your business with “A Small Business Guide to Content Marketing”

005 - Disciplined Optimism (Rebroadcast) Apr 06, 2017

Enjoy this rebroadcast of Episode 5 - Disciplined Optimism. We'll back next with new content!

What do Clate and Scott think is the silent killer for small businesses? The inability to cultivate disciplined optimism. Disciplined optimism is a balance between having a positive attitude while being willing to face the brutal facts of your current reality. Clate and Scott talk about why that optimism is so critical to the survival of your small business and how to harness it to help your business and your team succeed.

Want to get a leg up on your small business strategy? Check out our e-book “Your Game Plan”!

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

051 - Marcus Lemonis, Secret Data Miner Mar 29, 2017

Marcus Lemonis, star of The Profit, joins us to talk about how small businesses can use data to attract new customers, and maintain the ones you have.

He expands on the importance of focusing on the data that creates the highest return on investment, and finding the balance between betting the farm on data, and doing nothing.

050 - Q&A - SEO for Small Businesses Mar 22, 2017

Our resident SEO expert Andrew Taylor answers your questions, including why regular content improves SEO, why it’s important to avoid “unnatural” activities, how to rank well for local search results, the cost of free content, and finding a good cadence.

Check out our interview with Moz’s Cyrus Shepard about how to improve your website with SEO

Also, download our own SEO Guide for Small Businesses.

Mentioned in this episode:

Google Analytics

Google’s SEO Starter Guide

Moz

SearchEngineLand.com

049 - Marcus Lemonis - Overcoming Broken Thought Processes Mar 15, 2017

Marcus Lemonis, star of The Profit, joins us to talk about how he helps struggling small businesses. In this episode we cover how to move past your broken thought processes, become the conductor of your business, and how focusing on the fundamentals of people, process and product keeps you on track to be successful.

048 - Ask the Expert - How to Turn Words Into Money Mar 08, 2017

Μost small business owners have two problems when it comes with writing copy: They don’t know what to say, or the do know what to say but don’t know how to say it. Infusionsoft’s head of copy Clare Kirlin chats with Clate and Scott about how to break it down to get people to do what you want to do, how to write to the right people, and how to overcome the blinking cursor of death.

Want more tips to more effective writing? Check out The Small Business Guide to Writing Copy That Converts

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

047 - Marcus Lemonis, The Profit Mar 03, 2017

Marcus Lemonis, star of The Profit, joins Clate and Scott to talk about his background, how he helps struggling small businesses, and how to define success. He also discusses what ICON attendees can expect from his keynote at Infusionsoft's annual conference.

046 - Duct Tape is like Chuck Norris - John Jantsch Feb 22, 2017

It took an FBI agent appearing at John Jantsch’s office for him to rethink his target market (the agent wasn’t interested in him, but in a client). But Duct Tape Marketing has thrived, and its founder John Jantsch talks to Clate and Scott about managing a business where all employees are remote, tools to help foster communication between people who aren’t together, why duct tape is like Chuck Norris, and how to be intentional about growth.

Grow your business with purpose with our 2017 Strategic Planning Kit.

Mentioned in this episode:

“The Wealth of Nations” by Adam Smith

“Built to Last” by Jim Collins

“Good to Great” by Jim Collins

Asana

Basecamp

Slack

045 - Ask the Expert - How to Interview Candidates With Specialized Skillsets Feb 15, 2017

How do you interview, say, a software developer for your business when you don’t know the first thing about, well, anything that has to do with that job? The stakes are high, especially for your first few hires.

Back by popular demand, Infusionsoft hiring partner Lauren Borgeson talks with Clate and Scott about exactly how to evaluate candidates who have skillsets completely different from your own. Here are her suggestions:

Online assessments like a Myers Briggs assessment or https://tests4geeks.com
Leaning on your network and asking them to be part of the interview process
Giving candidates projects or tests that align with what they’d be doing for you

Learn more about Infusionsoft’s culture: https://www.infusionsoft.com/about/culture

Plus, check out these articles that Lauren wrote for the Infusionsoft Knowledge Center:

3 Hiring Tips for Your Small Business

Three Tips to Make a Sales Hire That Aligns to Your Culture

Want more hiring tips? Check out our Sales Team Hiring Guide and our Hiring Kit!

044 - What Do You Think We Should Do? - David Finkel Feb 08, 2017

David Finkel started Maui Mastermind not because he had to - he had already grown and sold a coaching business - but because he wanted to help small business founders grow their business to operate independently of them. He talks to Clate and Scott about losing staff and clients, narrowing your focus and handing off ownership of key functions and responsibilities.

Grow your business with purpose with our 2017 Strategic Planning Kit.

Mentioned in this episode:

“Build a Business Not a Job!” by David Finkel and Stephanie Harkness

Elite Mastermind

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

043 - Ask the Expert - Where to Find Job Candidates Feb 01, 2017

One of the biggest, most persistent challenges small business owners face is finding - and hiring - good talent. So Clate and Scott talked to Lauren Borgeson, a hiring partner at Infusionsoft, to talk about the tools and resources that you can use to help you find and hire the best people.

Here are the resources that Lauren shared:

Online resources:

Facebook groups, Craigslist, Twitter, Monster, StartUp Hire, Indeed, LinkedIn groups

Networking groups, meetup.com, and referrals

Plus, check out these articles that Lauren wrote for the Infusionsoft Knowledge Center:

3 Hiring Tips for Your Small Business

Three Tips to Make a Sales Hire That Aligns to Your Culture

Want more hiring tips? Check out our Sales Team Hiring Guide and our Hiring Kit!

042 - Create a Customer Journey for Your Lead Magnet - Molly Pittman Jan 25, 2017

Good lead magnets are all about building a relationship, but how do you get people to see them? Director of content Carey Ballard and demand gen specialist Jared Kimball talk with DigitalMarketer’s VP of marketing Molly Pittman to talk about driving leads and eyeballs.

The biggest piece of the puzzle? Retargeting. It helps you pick up a conversation where it left off. Also, don’t be afraid to create content that covers a topic more than once. Remember: your audience is a revolving door, and they haven’t read everything you’ve written.

Want to read more about building your funnel around a lead magnet? Check out our ebook, “The Small Business Guide to Capturing Leads.”

Mentioned in this episode:

DigitalMarketer’s Facebook Ad Template lead magnet

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Announcing New Episode Formats - Submit Your Questions! Jan 20, 2017

Today we are announcing 3 new episode formats for the Small Business Success Podcast.

The number one change is that we are now looking to answer your questions or even have you on the show! Go to smallbusinesssuccess.com/questions to read about the new formats and submit your questions, or listen to the show!

041- What Makes a Great Lead Magnet? - Molly Pittman Jan 18, 2017

A lead magnet is a crucial centerpiece in your lead capture strategy, but determining what people want to read in exchange for their information can be harder than it sounds. For insight into all things lead magnet, our director of content Carey Ballard and demand gen specialist Jared Kimball speak with Molly Pittman, VP of marketing at DigitalMarketer.

Carey, Molly, and Jared talk about creating content that is relevant to the day-to-day pains your target audience experiences; how to determine what format your content should be in; and how to use that content and build your funnel around it.

Tune in next week to learn about driving people to your lead magnet and getting it to convert into customers.

Want to read more about building your funnel around a lead magnet? Check out our ebook, “The Small Business Guide to Capturing Leads.”

Mentioned in this episode:

Rev.com

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

040 - To VC or Not to VC? Jan 11, 2017

Clate and Scott are frequently asked about their experiences with venture capital. Last week’s guest, Drew Doolan, asked Clate and Scott after the recording about their experiience with venture capital. Would they do it again?

Short answer? Yes, but Clate and Scott delve into the why, the how, and the outcome of making the decision to seek venture capital.

Looking to purposefully grow your business? Check out our 2017 Strategic Planning Kit

Drew is a member of Elite Forum.

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

039 - A Sale Is Just a Story - Drew Doolan Jan 04, 2017

Drew Doolan started his business, Sites N Stores, in 2008 to help small businesses build their websites and “be the big brother” of the small businesses they were working with. Drew has since grown is company to have 35 full-time employees, but it was a long road.

He talks with Clate and Scott about the fear of hiring that first person and getting over viewing employees as “necessary evils”; the shadow of discontent that came over his business four years ago and how they overcame that; and the importance of continuing to tell your company’s story.

Looking to purposefully grow your business? Check out our 2017 Strategic Planning Kit

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Drew is a member of Elite Forum.

004 - A Man is a Success if… - Matt Leitz (Rebroadcast) Dec 28, 2016

Matt Leitz is a born entrepreneur—he even thought he invented social networking. Clearly he didn’t, but he brings that passion to his role as President of Clever Investor. He shares with Clate and Scott the struggles his company faced along the way—like losing every customer’s credit card information—as well as the big wins, like helping customers get results and taking a six-week vacation.

Want to learn how Matt uses Infusionsoft to automate her business? Check out his video by filling out the form in the sidebar at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

003 - Two Scientists Walk Onto a Pecan Grove - Abigail Olaya (Rebroadcast) Dec 21, 2016

Abigail Olaya and her husband went from corporate work to owning their own business during the U.S. economic downturn of 2008. They now run Venue at the Grove, a wedding venue and experience in Phoenix, Arizona. Their business journey hasn’t been easy—when Abigail was pregnant with triplets, her one remaining site coordinator resigned a mere month before Abigail’s due date. She talks with Clate and Scott about her founder’s story, how she and her husband leapt from corporate to entrepreneurs, building a team that aligns with company culture, and balancing family and business.

Want to learn how Abigail uses Infusionsoft to automate her business? Check out her video by filling out the form in the sidebar.

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

038 - Stages of Small Business Success Dec 14, 2016

All small businesses have the same stages of growth to go through. Which are you in? Click here to download a chart of these different stages so you can follow along as Scott Martineau interviews Clate Mask about the stages of small business success.

Why are these stages important? Because there’s no one-size-fits-all sales or marketing solution for small businesses. The stages of small business success depend on a business’ income and number of employees, and where you are determines what hurdles your business is facing.

What stage are you in? Find out by taking our quiz!

In this episode:

The 7 Deadly Sins of Solopreneurs

The 7 Deadly Sins of New Employers

The 7 Deadly Sins of Steady Operations

The 7 Deadly Sins of 7-figure Businesses

The 7 Deadly Sins of Growth Companies

Check out our e-book "Defining and Achieving Small Business Success” which walks you through the reasoning behind the Stages of Small Business Success.

037 - Always Be the Weirdo in the Room - Pamela Slim Dec 07, 2016

Pamela Slim started out as a director at Barclays Global Investors and quit her job to become a consultant and found she was made to be an entrepreneur. Two books and a brand new startup space later, she’s working with small businesses across the nation to help them find their community and develop a local presence.

She talks with Clate Mask and Scott Martineau about how entrepreneurs—especially solo-preneurs—can find all the resources available to them, and finding their watering holes for community and customers.

Check out “Your Game Plan” for insights into how to strategically grow your small business.

Mentioned in this episode:

“Escape From Cubicle Nation” by Pamela Slim

“Body of Work” by Pamela Slim

“If I Ran the Circus” by Dr. Seuss

“Conquer the Chaos” by Clate Mask and Scott Martineau

“Quiet” by Susan Cain

“The Quit Alternative” by Ben Fanning

Watch the Facebook Live version of this podcast.

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

036 - Getting Accustomed to Risk - Paul Tobey Nov 30, 2016

Paul Tobey, CEO of Training Business Pros, wasn’t always an entrepreneur–in fact, he “fell out of the music industry” after years as a professional jazz musician. He and his family lost 22 years of hard work and had to rebuild, starting out with him and his family living in his parents’ house. Paul talks with Clate Mask and David Bonney about making it after years of hard work and trying to find employees who weren’t just punching a clock. As Clate says, if you have employee problems pulling you back, it’s not the employee, it’s you.

What to do? Your purpose, values, and mission will really help you attract the right people who match your values and fit their role. Plus, David shares his 5 C’s for hiring right.

Ready to get started on hiring better? Check out our “Sales Team Hiring Guide.”

“The Alchemist” by Paolo Coelho

“The Pilgrimage” by Paolo Coelho

“Secrets of the Millionaire Mind” by T. Harv Ecker

“Property Prosperity” by Dolf De Roose

The books of Jim Collins

The books of Gary Zukav

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

002 - Sailing off the Cliff - Stephanie Holmes (Rebroadcast) Nov 23, 2016

Stephanie Holmes faced condescension when she floated the idea of deviating from just selling financial services. She wanted to help people change their spending habits, structure their debt, and have the life they want, and she had to start her own practice to do it. She later sold it when she started The Money Finder, of which she is currently the CEO. She chats with Clate and Scott about naysayers who tell her she’s a “stupid little girl,” seeing challenges as adventures, business inspiration, and how to grow a team and make sales happen without her direct involvement.

Mentioned in this podcast: “Banker to the Poor” by Muhammad Yunus.

Want to hire better like Stephanie? Check out our “Sales Team Hiring Guide.”

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

035 - Re-engage Your Leads Part III Nov 16, 2016

It’s time to get into the nitty gritty of re-engaging unconverted leads. David Bonney, Carey Ballard, and demand generation specialist Jared Kimball talk email subject lines, preview text, email layout, CTAs and more. It comes down to proving to your recipients that your email not only deserves to be read, but that you deserve to be engaged with.

Want to write better re-engagement emails? Check out our ebook, “The Small Business Guide to Writing Copy That Converts.”

Also check out our free email template pack, “10 Emails You Need to Close a Sale.”

Mentioned in this episode:

“Made to stick” by Chip and Dan Heath

Hemingway App

Project Planning Framework

The Typical vs Perfect Customer Lifecycle

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

034 - John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Clate Mask Nov 09, 2016

On Friday, November 4, 2016, Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney held a forum with Infusionsoft CEO Clate Mask at Infusionsoft’s headquarters.* Organized by McCain’s office during his re-election campaign, the forum’s focus was on small business growth and policies that enable that growth.

Romney talked about raising wages and strengthening the economy through helping small businesses succeed and what venture capital firms examine when considering making an investment in a company. McCain discussed the Affordable Care Act, the American spirit of entrepreneurship, and providing opportunities to veterans. Mask encouraged politicians to consider small business growth a matter of national security and shared the policies he thinks place more challenges on small businesses.

And of course, McCain and Romney discussed the presidential election and their thoughts on how our next president should work with Congress and the American people.

Mentioned in this episode:

“Conquer the Chaos” by Clate Mask and Scott Martineau

Register for ICON, Infusionsoft’s yearly conference

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

*This event and podcast episode are not a political endorsement from Infusionsoft. We welcome any policy maker of any political persuasion to visit Infusionsoft to discuss small business growth.

033 - The Fading Oasis - Aly Saxe Nov 02, 2016

Aly Saxe had already founded and grown a successful PR firm when, with two babies, she decided to start her PR software company Iris PR. Why would she leave the perfect business to start a new one? Aly talks with Clate Mask and Scott Martineau about tenacity, why it doesn’t work to chase two dreams, and creating a product that changes customers’ lives.

Growing your first, second, third or more business? Save time and automate. Check out “25 Things Every Small Business Should Automate.”

Connect with Aly:

Email: aly@myirispr.com

Twitter: @Aly_saxe

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

032 - Re-Engagement Part 2 Oct 26, 2016

Ready to re-engage your leads? Let’s talk strategy. There are three steps: Collect leads, re-engage and drive them to an offer, and make it easier to purchase. David Bonney, Carey Ballard, and demand gen specialist Jared Kimball talk about ways to do those three things through low-entry point offers. Got a bunch of small offerings? You can create campaigns to warm your cold leads and close a sale. Have a service-based business with high price tags and find it hard to get people to commit? We have a fix for that.

And watch for episode 34 in two weeks, when we drill down even further into the specific tactics for re-engaging your leads.

Mentioned in this episode:

“Yes” by Robert Cialdini

Project Planning Framework

The Typical vs Perfect Customer Lifecycle

Need some lost leads to re-engage? Try our “Top 10 Places to Find Lost Leads.”

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

031 - Lessons from the Squeaker Incident Oct 19, 2016

Way back in the early days of Infusionsoft, Clate and Scott had a truck that didn’t work so reliably. Nicknamed “Squeaker,” the truck is at the center of a certain nearly-infamous and humbling incident, in which the execs Clate and Scott just had a sales meeting with saw them unsuccessfully trying to start Squeaker—a few times. Clate and Scott share what that incident taught them, namely that it’s relationships, not appearances, that make a deal, and that everything is a season—with a bit of perspective and humor, you’ll get through the tough times in your business and your life.

It’s never too late—or too early—to plan for your business. Check out our ebook, “Your Game Plan.”

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

030 - Re-Engagement Part 1 Oct 12, 2016

Need more sales? Think that to get more sales you need to get more new leads? You could actually raise sales by re-engaging the leads you already have. All those leads who weren’t ready to buy, or went off the grid? What it takes is reigniting a relationship with those leads, providing them value, and solving their pain points. Jared Kimball, a demand gen specialist, joins David Bonney and Carey Ballard to talk about the concept of how to re-engage leads.

Make sure to tune in in two weeks as they dive deeper into what you need to re-engage leads and the strategy behind doing so.

Want to get down the basics of lead capture? Check out our ebook, “The Small Business Guide to Capturing Leads.”

Mentioned in this episode: Typical vs Perfect Customer Lifecycle

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

029 - The Small Business Success Method - David Bonney Oct 05, 2016

We’re introducing a new kind of episode to the mix! We’ve got director of content Carey Ballard teaming up with small business success expert David Bonney to talk through the strategies, how-tos, and tactics you need to grow your small business. Carey and David talk with Scott Martineau about the concepts behind Infusionsoft’s Small Business Success Method, which helps business owners go from where they are to where they want to be through incremental, repeatable improvements. And no, you don’t have to be an Infusionsoft customer.

They also chat about David’s experiences with entrepreneurship, the biggest mistakes he sees small businesses make, and making the incremental improvements that will be game changers for your business.

Get ready to grow your business! Get into strategic planning mode with “Your Game Plan.” Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

028 - The Determination Factor - Allison Werder Sep 28, 2016

One of Alison Werder’s toughest business moments was letting go an employee who just wasn’t the right fit. Upon departing, the former employee told Alison, “You think you’re big time, but you’re not.” But the mission of Alison’s business, Ali J Boutique, is big time. Alison chats with Clate about how she went from selling scarves to creating an online apparel company; balancing business with parenting; and all of the teaching involved in drawing in customers. The biggest takeaway for both these business owners? THat if you feel your business is commoditized, you’re probably low on passion, not teaching right, and not selecting the people who value what you offer.

Want to automate your online business like Ali J Boutique? Check out tips from our e-book, “The Small Business Office Automation Guide.”

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

027 - From Intern to CEO - Dobbin Buck and Melissa Allen Sep 21, 2016

Dobbin Buck and Melissa Allen didn’t start GetUWired, but they’re the brains and co-owners behind it now. They both came in when there were a handful of people on the staff, and in the ensuing eight years have built it to a robust team of 37. Melissa, who started as an intern, is now CEO, and Dobbin is the VP of business development. They both talk with Infusionsoft CEO Clate Mask about working with and hiring Millennials, mentoring interns, and the cash crunch of high sales and small creating teams.

Want to read about what more entrepreneurs like Melissa and Dobbin think about success? Check out our research report “Defining and Achieving Small Business Success.”

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

026 - Marital Judo - Mark & Alexis Breyer (rebroadcast) Sep 14, 2016

Mark Breyer once declared that he would never work with his wife, Alexis, but they’ve been running their personal injury law firm together for 20 years. In retrospect, they found that they set themselves up to have problems scaling their business and fall behind the times. Clate and Scott follow Mark and Alexis’ business journey and talk about going from generalist to specialist, letting half their staff go on one day, and keeping moving goal posts for your business.

Mentioned in this episode: “The E-Myth” by Michael Gerber

Learn to manage your business like Mark and Alexis did with our Small Business Office Automation Guide.

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

025 - Overcommit to Plan A - Budi Voogt Sep 07, 2016

At 25, Netherlands-based Budi Voogt is one of the entrepreneurial wunderkinder starting university businesses that take off into adulthood. At 20 years old, he started Heroic, a record label, incubator, and accelerator for artists. With 12 people between the label and his personal business, Budi Voogt, Budi talks with Clate about becoming a young leader, capitalizing on early-stage platforms, and how dropping the option of a plan B led to over performance and success.

What does it mean to be successful? Read our report “Defining and Achieving Small Business Success” to see what other entrepreneurs think.

Mentioned in this episode:

“Financial Intelligence for Entrepreneurs” by Ken Berman and Joe Knight

“High Output Management” by Andrew S. Grove

“Multipliers” by Liz Wiseman

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

024 - A Profitable Punch to the Face - Brian Young Aug 31, 2016

Brian Young has owned Home Painters Toronto for 28 years, but it took him almost 20 years to come to terms with getting off of cold calling and into online marketing. In fact, it took a literal punch to the face to get him to question the way he was running his business. Brian chats with Scott and director of content Carey Ballard about hitting bottom, making it through the Great Recession, and winning the Small Business ICON award in 2015.Curious about ICON? Check out what’s in the works for 2017.

Want to get a leg up on your small business strategy? Check out our e-book “Your Game Plan”!

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

023 - What is a Scott Martineau? Aug 24, 2016

You heard Clate’s side of the Infusionsoft story. Now hear it from co-founder and CCO Scott Martineau. Scott talks with director of content Carey Ballard about getting started in his dad’s business, suffering from “entrepreneurial seizures,” and holding on to business when you probably shouldn’t, only to reap the rewards later.

Mentioned in this episode:

“The E-Myth” by Michael Gerber

Want to get a leg up on your small business strategy? Check out our e-book “Your Game Plan”!

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

022 - The Long Road to Overnight Success - Sean Gagnon Aug 17, 2016

After 20 years in business, The Abs Company has seen a lot: The years leading up to the overnight success of infomercial legend The Ab Roller; negotiating patents and legal disputes; testing their products in gyms; and sending fitness care packages to troops overseas. Sean Gagnon, president of The Abs Company, chats with Clate and Scott about what success looks like, getting Fortune 500 levels of revenue per employee, and learning how to become a leader.

Got big plans like The Abs Company? Make those plans a reality with “Harness Your Inner Genius.”

What is ICON?

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

021 - Arrival Syndrome - Ryan Deiss Aug 10, 2016

Ryan Deiss, founder and CEO of DigitalMarketer.com, got his start in what some might say was a strange business for a teenage boy. But it taught him tons of marketing lessons, and he steps into the studio with Clate and Scott to share some of those business marketing tips. He talks about the importance of keeping your business market-centric and remembering that your business is NOT about your product; it’s about the problems that exist for your target customer.

Deiss also recalls the pains of trying to make payroll, the fine line between delegating and just being unwilling to do the work, and getting over the fear of hiring other people.

Want to learn more marketing tactics? Check out our webinar with Ryan Deiss, How to Convert Leads into Paying Customers with Email Marketing

Mentioned in this episode:

“How the Mighty Fall” by Jim Collins

“Rocky III”

Learn.infusionsoft.com

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

020 - Classic Mistakes - Cara Hale Alter Aug 04, 2016

Cara Hale Alter had built up a fully-booked business in leadership and communication skills—until the recession-induce crickets brought Speech Skills to a crashing halt, and only 5 percent of their previous business volume. She and her business partner/husband used that time to really build up the business so that once the economy recovered, they came out stronger than ever. Cara talks with Clate and Scott about the tremendous burden of being an entrepreneur and the sole breadwinner in her family; saying “no” to clients who monopolize your resources; and how much more fun it is to run a business when you’re not your product.

Stages of small business success

“The Credibility Code” by Cara Hale Alter

“Conquer the Chaos” by Clate Mask and Scott Martineau

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

019 - Trading Hours for Dollars - Bill Harney Jul 27, 2016

In 2006, Bill Harney’s father, a real estate broker for 25 years, realized something was rotten in the state of real estate, and that something bad was coming. So he started Keeping Current Matters, a real estate education business. Bill joined the business as employee number four, when his dad was doing 200 speaking events a year, which Bill saw was unsustainable economically and practically. Within a few years, Bill had taken over the business, and has grown it into an online education platform with 16 employees. He chats with Clate and Scott about knowing when it’s the right time to make a major change in business model; getting more than ten times the anticipated audience for their very first webinar; and making powerful and confident decisions.

Have an online business? Learn how to save time and stay organized with “25 Things Every Small Business Should Automate.”

Mentioned in this episode:

“Lean Startup” by Eric Ries

“The One Thing” by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan

“Essentialism” by Greg McKewan

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

018 - Connecting Personal and Planetary - Cate Stillman Jul 20, 2016

Cate Stillman did what many entrepreneurs dream of: starting and growing a business within her passion. Her background in international environmental politics and policy brought her to the teachings of Ayurveda, a system of natural healing and medicine that originated in India thousands of years ago. While learning both yoga and Ayurveda, she realized that those two communities, which are traditionally inseparable in India, were completely separate in the United States. So in 2001 she started YogaHealer.com and built a community of teachers and students. She chats with Clate and Infusionsoft director of content Carey Ballard about building that tribe and speaking to them; marrying desire with action in both life and business; and grappling with the realities of content marketing.

Build your community through content with our “Small Business Guide to Content Marketing.”

Mentioned in this episode:

“Tribes” by Seth Godin

“Primal Branding” by Patrick Hanlon

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

017 - Alpha & Domega Jake Fackrell Jul 13, 2016

Jake Fackrell is a born entrepreneur—as a kid, he started a lawn mowing business, and by the time he was 17, he partnered with his cousin to start a collections company in Las Vegas. Mackrell thought that what he really wanted to be was a doctor, so he worked part time as an athletic trainer in college while starting a coupon card business. Tired of “rubbing down 350-pound linemen,” Fackrell made a change and jumped all into being an entrepreneur. After a series of starts and sells, he’s run Domega, a subsidiary of his business Land Voice, for 10 years. Now he has 62 employees, and while he’s still focused on business growth, he talks with Clate and Infusionsoft’s director of content Carey Ballard about how committed he is to seeing his six children grow up instead of being a workaholic.

Have a lot of employees, or want to? Use our “Small Business Automation Guide” to help you save time and manage your business.

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

016 - What Is a Clate Mask? Jul 06, 2016

What did it take to get CEO and co-founder Clate Mask on board with Infusionsoft? Clate always wanted to be an entrepreneur, but first he went to law school and got an MBA. $100,000 in debt, it took almost a year for his brothers-in-law Eric and Scott Martineau to convince him to join the company. Clate talks with Director of Content Carey Ballard about how the business has grown since 2001 and the times that have brought him absolute joy.

Want to get a leg up on your small business strategy? Check out our e-book “Your Game Plan”!

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

015 - Clinging to Hope - Kim Duncan Jun 29, 2016

2008 was a dark time for Kim Duncan and her husband, Kirk. They struggled to buy their family groceries, and their neighbors donated Christmas. Things started to turn in early 2009, when they intentionally changed their mindset and threw their weight into their business, 3 Key Elements. Now, thousands of people flock to Salt Lake City every year to attend their workshops on personal development and self-mastery, and they even receive thank you drawings from the children of adults they’ve helped. They’ve even made the INC 5000 list four times. Kim talks with Clate and Scott about business inspiration, the importance of morning routines, and maintaining a positive mindset.

Check out the Duncans’ video especially for podcast listeners at 3keyelements.com/infusionsoft

Mentioned in this episode: “Conquer the Chaos” by Clate Mask and Scott Martineau

Want to get out of a funk like the Duncans did? Use our workbook “Harness Your Inner Genius” to push through to the next level.

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

014 - Selling is Serving if Your Product Doesn’t Suck Jun 22, 2016

A key factor to business growth is making sales, which is why Clate and Scott say that small businesses must grow a culture of selling. That means you have to get over rejection and become a master closer—like Scott! The key is having a great product. If you do that, then selling really becomes serving, because you’ll know you’re selling something that will improve the quality of someone’s life. You don’t have to put on on your plaid used car salesman jacket, but you do have to get persuasive, so Clate and Scott give their recommendations for fostering that sales instinct.

Mentioned in this episode: “The Master Closer” by Mike Kaplan

Want to hire someone to sell for you instead? Check out our “Sales Team Hiring Guide.”

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

013 - Just Let Someone Else Do it! - Bonnie Bowles Jun 15, 2016

Three days before your baby is due is best time to start a business, right? It was for Bonnie Bowles, an estate planning lawyer and founder of Wills and Wellness in Denver, Colorado. Bonnie decided to take a family-focused approach to practicing law—she doesn’t even bill by the hour. When she shares how hard it was to relinquish some responsibility in the business, Clate shares that he thinks a vital step in the business journey is to “fall in love with delegation.” Bonnie also tells Clate and Scott about her work-life balance as an attorney, the consequences of hiring impulsively, and why “sales cures all.”

Mentioned in this episode:

“Sprint” by Jake Knapp

“The Agony and the Ecstasy” by Irving Stone

“The Go Getter” by Peter B. Kyne

Want to dream (and act) big like Bonnie? Check out “Harness Your Inner Genius.”

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

012 - Destiny: Under Control - Jeff Corn Jun 08, 2016

Jeff Corn took a “super nasty” fall on his mountain bike and broke his pelvis, shoulder, and tore his rotator cuff. A long recovery time gave him time to think about what he really wanted to do with his life. That turned into Virtuance, a real-estate marketing company that developed the HDReal image processing system. Virtuance now has 10,000 customers, but back in the day the company had one server and it was kept in an employee’s house—and the employee quit in the middle of the day. He chats with Clate and Scott about establishing company values, small business tips, and being named one of the 10 best places to work in Denver.

Mentioned in this podcast: “Leading at the Speed of Growth” by Katherine Catlin

Automation helped Jeff grow his business, how could it help yours? Check out our e-book “25 Things Every Small Business Should Automate.”

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

011 - Small Wins, Big Payoff Jun 01, 2016

Clate and Scott have watched thousands of small business owners do all kinds of things to make their businesses more successful. Most of those things fall into two separate ends of planning: the behemoth master plan and the overly idealistic immediate attack. Neither of these work; what works is an iterative approach where you can experience quick wins and build quickly based on what you learn. Listen to hear why this works and how it can keep you from giving up.

Want to get a leg up on your small business strategy? Check out our e-book “Your Game Plan”!

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

010 - Marital Judo - Mark & Alexis Breyer May 26, 2016

Mark Breyer once declared that he would never work with his wife, Alexis, but they’ve been running their personal injury law firm together for 20 years. In retrospect, they found that they set themselves up to have problems scaling their business and fall behind the times. Clate and Scott follow Mark and Alexis’ business journey and talk about going from generalist to specialist, letting half their staff go on one day, and keeping moving goal posts for your business.

Mentioned in this episode: “The E-Myth” by Michael Gerber

Learn to manage your business like Mark and Alexis did with our Small Business Office Automation Guide.

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

009 - Working With Family May 24, 2016

Ever heard you shouldn’t go into business with a family member? Clate and Scott (who are brothers-in-law!) think that’s terrible advice, even though they don’t always see eye-to-eye. They find the care and love they have for each other as family members allows them to do things they can’t always achieve with others. Why? Because they had existing love and care before the business side of it started. Clate and Scott also talk about hiring family and how you usually end up holding them even more accountable than those who aren’t related to you.

Want some tools to hiring, whether they’re family or not? Check out our Hiring Kit!

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

008 - The Perfect Storm - Kay Walten May 24, 2016

In 2008, Kay Walten’s Mexico-based business Loco Gringo faced the perfect storm: The Great Recession, a hurricane, Swine Flu, and drug cartel activity, all of which tend to discourage tourism. Loco Gringo started in 1996 when Kay was in Mexico exploring underwater caves with a client who introduced her to a thing called the internet. After writing a business plan on a cocktail napkin, she started hosting Mexican vacation rentals online. She shares with Clate and Scott the mistakes she made during the perfect storm, working as an international entrepreneur in a place where phone lines weren’t accessible, and scaling and creating a company culture.

Want to rock content marketing like Kay? Download our Small Business Guide to Content Marketing.

Check out Kay’s podcast, LocoGringo Mexico Podcast.

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

007 - Avoid a Broken Face - Kathy Fettke May 24, 2016

Kathy Fettke’s husband Rich was given with six months to live—and she had to figure out how to take over their finances. Luckily, Rich’s doctor was wrong, but that scare was the impetus to start The Real Wealth Network. She leveraged her existing radio show to learn about investing, and now she and her husband teach people how to grow wealth through real estate. Clate and Scott talk with her about going through the Great Recession and real estate bubble burst, not giving up, small business tips, and hitting new highs.

Check out Kathy’s podcast, The Real Wealth Show.

Learn how to maximize your leads like Kathy with our Ultimate Guide to Maximizing the Value of Your Leads.

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

006 - Are We Going to Make it? - Wes Clark May 24, 2016

Firefighter Peter Thorpe had seen a lot of devastating fires started by stoves, so he developed FireAvert, which automatically shuts off stoves. Wes Clark, Peter’s business partner and our guest in this episode, shares with Clate and Scott what it was like to prepare for—and recover from—being on ABC’s Shark Tank, overcoming rejection, and figuring out the simplest way to solve business problems. Oh—and that time he exploded a can of beans all over the fire chief.

Mentioned in this episode: “How the Mighty Fall” by Jim Collins.

Want to get a leg up on your small business strategy? Check out our e-book “Your Game Plan”!

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

005 - Disciplined Optimism May 24, 2016

What do Clate and Scott think is the silent killer for small businesses? The inability to cultivate disciplined optimism. Disciplined optimism is a balance between having a positive attitude while being willing to face the brutal facts of your current reality. Clate and Scott talk about why that optimism is so critical to the survival of your small business and how to harness it to help your business and your team succeed.

Want to get a leg up on your small business strategy? Check out our e-book “Your Game Plan”!

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

004 - A Man is a Success if… - Matt Leitz May 24, 2016

Matt Leitz is a born entrepreneur—he even thought he invented social networking. Clearly he didn’t, but he brings that passion to his role as President of Clever Investor. He shares with Clate and Scott the struggles his company faced along the way—like losing every customer’s credit card information—as well as the big wins, like helping customers get results and taking a six-week vacation.

Automation helped Matt grow his business, how could it help yours? Check out our e-book “25 Things Every Small Business Should Automate.”

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

003 - Two Scientists Walk Onto a Pecan Grove - Abigail Olaya May 24, 2016

Abigail Olaya and her husband went from corporate work to owning their own business during the U.S. economic downturn of 2008. They now run Venue at the Grove, a wedding venue and experience in Phoenix, Arizona. Their business journey hasn’t been easy—when Abigail was pregnant with triplets, her one remaining site coordinator resigned a mere month before Abigail’s due date. She talks with Clate and Scott about her founder’s story, how she and her husband leapt from corporate to entrepreneurs, building a team that aligns with company culture, and balancing family and business.

Want to get a leg up on your small business strategy? Check out our e-book “Your Game Plan”!

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

002 - Sailing off the Cliff - Stephanie Holmes May 24, 2016

Stephanie Holmes faced condescension when she floated the idea of deviating from just selling financial services. She wanted to help people change their spending habits, structure their debt, and have the life they want, and she had to start her own practice to do it. She later sold it when she started The Money Finder, of which she is currently the CEO. She chats with Clate and Scott about naysayers who tell her she’s a “stupid little girl,” seeing challenges as adventures, business inspiration, and how to grow a team and make sales happen without her direct involvement.

Mentioned in this podcast: “Banker to the Poor” by Muhammad Yunus.

Want to hire better like Stephanie? Check out our “Sales Team Hiring Guide.”

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

001- Radio Voice Envy - Damien Sanchez May 24, 2016

Damien Sanchez started his business, DC Mosquito Squad, in 2007. Now it’s booming with 47 employees, but there was a time when he lost 30 pounds in two months trying to handle office admin tasks by himself all while he was still working as a firefighter and being a new dad. “If I had known how much work and time was involved when I started, I would have been discouraged,” he says. But he turned it around, and grew his business over the years to the point that he was able to take his family on a 30-day vacation. Clate and Scott talk about how he did it, his business journey, and how other small businesses can emulate what Damien did faster, smoother growth.

Mentioned during this podcast: “5 Dysfunctions of a Team” by Patrick Lencioni.

Want to learn more about how an automation can improve your business like it did for Damien? Check out our e-book, “The Small Business Office Automation Guide.”

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

000 - Small Business Success May 11, 2016

When Infusionsoft CEO Clate Mask and co-founder Scott Martineau started the company, they had no idea what they were getting into. It took years of hard work, financial struggle, and hustle until they experienced real business growth.

Clate and Scott don’t want it to be that hard for other small business owners. That’s why the Small Business Success Podcast is about the entrepreneur’s business journey. Clate and Scott will take you from entrepreneurship’s dark side to its mountain tops as they talk to one another and interview small business owners from around the globe. It’s a movement to organize the world to increase the likelihood of success for small businesses. Join the movement!

Want to get a leg up on your small business strategy? Check out our e-book “Your Game Plan”!

Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

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