The $100 MBA Show

Latest Episodes:

MBA1447 How Much Money Do You Need To Start a Podcast? + Free Ride Friday Jan 24, 2020

Show notes

What does a podcast cost?

It’s a good question, and one you should definitely ask before you get on the mic. The good news is that it’s more affordable than ever to produce a decent quality, competitive podcast in your space.

But a good entrepreneur always crunches the numbers.

We’ve gotten a ton of exposure and opportunities thanks to our humble little show. And take it from us, it started out very humble indeed. Almost 1,500 episodes later, we only wish we’d started sooner. Podcasting is a viable, economical brand builder for any entrepreneur with a point of view and a (surprisingly) few bucks.

Today, we’ll ring up the price on a bare-minimum-quality podcast. Your “starter podcast” won’t cost a prohibitive amount, but it will require some investment.

We’ll discuss initial one-time costs as well as recurring costs you can expect. We’ll also offer lots of recommendations for hardware, software, and resources to use.

Get ready to podcast. But first, let’s do the math. Click Play!

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MBA1446 The Best Time To Start A Business Jan 23, 2020

Show notes

What are you waiting for?

No, seriously. What should you wait for before starting a business?

One of the first, biggest hurdles new entrepreneurs face is taking the first step into the game. You’ve researched, you’ve planned, you’ve studied. But when is the right time to actually move? When does the light turn green, and how can you know?

There’s a shockingly simple answer.

Knowing what conditions should be in place to start a business is important to your chances of success. But those conditions probably aren’t as hard to align as you think. There’s an overlap in the venn diagram between planning and execution that anyone considering independent business should understand.

The answer to the question of “when” is the same for almost every business. We’ll discuss what that answer is, and why it’s correct. When this episode is over, you’ll know exactly when the time is right. Click Play!

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MBA1445 Q&A Wednesday: Do I need to also buy the .net and .co for my domain? Jan 22, 2020

Show notes

Every business needs a website, and therefore a good domain name. But do you need all the domains with that name?

Good question.

It’s Q&A Wednesday, and one listener wants to know if you should buy up the .com alternatives: the .co, the .net, even the international domains like .uk and .au. How many domains is too many?

How many is not enough?

Domains aren’t exactly expensive, but a few ventures into the game can ultimately cost you hundreds if you’re not picky enough. On the other hand, you don’t want someone else using your name and causing all kinds of brand confusion.

Today, we’ll discuss what you should do before you start snapping up domains. If you buy too many too soon, you can end up burdening your business instead of protecting your brand. Find out what needs to happen first, and proceed from there.

To submit your questions, visit 100mba.net/q.

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MBA1444 How To Minimize Stress When Traveling For Business Jan 21, 2020

Show notes

Business travel got you stressed out, tired, and feeling low? It’s not just you.

Traveling for work can absolutely suck. The airports, the baggage, the time zones, the bad food, and a million other inconveniences can turn any trip into a draining experience. As entrepreneurs, business travel is supposed to be part of the fun.

So why isn’t it?

We’ve put a lot of miles on our own business ventures, schlepping from conference to conference and managing a remote team spread around the globe. We know business travel, and we’ve picked up a few tricks along the way that make it a much less stressful experience.

The work we do on the road is invaluable to our business. That’s why it’s important to have strategies for staying on top of your game, wherever you are. Get there, get it done, and get home without the drama. Come back feeling just as good as when you left — mentally and physically.

Find out how. Click Play!

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MBA1443 Must Read: Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell Jan 20, 2020

Show notes

We’re not good at understanding each other. And that’s bad for business.

Malcolm Gladwell has made a massive career out of noticing — patterns, syndromes, common social threads. He’s sold millions of copies of books like The Tipping Point and Outliers. His latest, Talking to Strangers, tackles another big, broad topic: human interaction.

How we relate to people we don’t know has a massive impact, especially for entrepreneurs.

The way you handle new people has implications for everything in business, from customer service to networking to partnerships. The skill of getting to know someone can change everything — but it’s a skill you have to develop.

In fact, Gladwell argues that generally, we’re awful at figuring each other out.

Today, we’ll discuss how business people can utilize the lessons of this book, and why we all need to question our instincts and assumptions about others. As Gladwell illustrates with a variety of real-world examples, failures in our evaluation of others can have drastic consequences.

It’s something most of us don’t even realize we don’t even realize. See what we mean: Click Play!

Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell

Discover all our must-read book reviews at https://100mba.net/bookreviews.

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MBA1442 3 Simple Ideas To Improve Your Customer Service + Free Ride Friday Jan 17, 2020

Show notes

Customer service: the forgotten weapon. The power move. The brand-defining differentiator that sets you apart from the competition. The secret to long-term customer retention and increased CLTV (Customer Lifetime Value).

It’s kind of a big deal, so you have to get it right.

Great customer service doesn’t just solve customer’s problems. It creates loyalty and reduces one of the worst diseases a business can struggle with: churn. So how can you make sure you’re offering customer service that works?

It’s almost shockingly easy to improve your customer service.

Today, we share 3 ridiculously simple ways you can make sure to be there for your customers. With a little strategy, you can pre-solve a ton of problems, and build a reputation for customer service that keeps people coming back — and inspires new people to come on board.

We run a SaaS (Software as a Service) business, so we know better than most how important customer service is. When people don’t feel confident, when they don’t feel secure in your support, they live on the fence. Great support attracts, onboards, and retains customers, especially with a digital product.

Take these 3 steps. It won’t be hard! And it’ll be well worth the effort. Click Play!

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MBA1441 How To Feel Good About Your Decisions Jan 16, 2020

Show notes

Second-guessing: some would say it’s a sign of healthy skepticism. But if it becomes a habit, it’s fatal to entrepreneurs.

When you run your own business, you are constantly faced with high-pressure decisions — way more often than people with conventional jobs. With every call you make, that little voice can be heard talking: was I right about that? Should I have [fill in the blank] instead?

Don’t “what if” yourself out of business.

There are simple steps you can take to make sure that while you don’t always make the right call, you make the call that made the most sense. While nothing can ensure you bat 1000 with all your decisions, you can rest easy knowing you didn’t make the kinds of mistakes that put your judgment into question.

It’s just a matter of preparation.

You can maximize the odds of every decision turning out to be correct by laying the groundwork. Today, we share the surprisingly easy precautions you can take that make all your decisions better — and let you sleep soundly knowing you did your best. Click Play!

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MBA1440 Q&A Wednesday: What’s the biggest difference between a content business and a software business? Jan 15, 2020

Show notes

Content business vs. software business: which is right for you?

Today’s episode is a good place to start answering that question. It’s Q&A Wednesday, and we’re helping one listener understand the biggest, most fundamental difference between the two business models.

That difference is critical.

Content businesses (like The $100 MBA) require different skill sets, resources, and personnel to pull off than software business (like our webinar platform company, WebinarNinja). As you can see, we do both, so we’re intimately familiar with the differences — including the big one.

Hint: it’s about what customers expect from you in return for their money.

We’ll discuss how this difference affects your role as founder, the relationships you’ll have with customers, and your decision to choose one model or the other. Both have their challenges — which one suits your skills and talents?

There’s one way to find out: Click Play!

To submit your questions, visit 100mba.net/q.

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MBA1439 How Do Your Customers Decide to Buy? Jan 14, 2020

Show notes

To get more wins, study the ones you have.

The “buyer’s journey” is a much-studied topic that CRM (Customer Relationship Management) experts have spilled thousands of gallons of digital ink on. What is the process by which people go from awareness of your brand to a final purchase?

What gets them to that final decision? What triggers them to pull the trigger?

The short answer is that it’s different for every business. That’s why you have to do the work and find out why your customers bought from you. Then, you double down. Today, we discuss how to take a deep dive into your sales funnel, and come out with the information you need to optimize your approach.

This is Lead Nurturing 101.

We’re doing some research into our own business, and preparing to experiment with some new adjustments to our own process. On this episode, we’ll share exactly how we gather the information and data we need to construct those experiments and measure the results.

Don’t “trust the process.” Study it. Improve it. Start with today’s lesson — Click Play!

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MBA1438 Guest Teacher: Dr. Cindy McGovern – How a Simple “THANK YOU” Can Make You a Better Leader Jan 13, 2020

Show notes

Thank you.

Was that so hard?

Actually, effective gratitude is more than just stringing two words together. It’s something today’s special guest teacher, Dr. Cindy McGovern calls a “lost art” — the ability to thank employees in a way that values, motivates, and inspires them.

Thanking isn’t just a social reflex. For real leaders, it’s a strategy.

Genuine appreciation is a massive motivator, right up there with pay! Seriously; research shows that employees generally don’t quit “bad” jobs. They quit “bad” managers and employers. If you’re not making your team feel vital, you’re not giving talent a reason to stick around.

Fortunately, Dr. Cindy can help with that.

As she explains today, gratitude isn’t just an act. It’s a skill. And it’s not just politeness; it has a substantive impact on team performance. Dr. Cindy has a 5-step formula that any business owner can use to hone their gratitude game, and get the best from everyone on the team.

Don’t let your business’s culture be an afterthought. Take Dr. Cindy’s advice, and prioritize your thanking skills. You might be surprised at the results. Click Play!

Every Job Is a Sales Job by Dr. Cindy McGovern

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