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MBA1437 Lessons Learned From a 1:1 with Every Team Member + Free Ride Friday Jan 10, 2020

Show notes

What do your employees really think?

It can be hard to find out. People are naturally more reserved in meetings, and can feel “evaluated” or cornered if asked too much in front of others. That’s why we decided to do individual, one-on-one sit-downs with each of our employees to get their feedback.

In other words, we had the employees evaluate the employers.

By having a private, intimate, low-stakes conversation, you can get the truth from the people you trust to run your business. You can discover hidden problems, and reveal assets you never considered. You can resolve issues you never knew existed, and strengthen your business overall.

Sometimes, just being heard is the greatest motivator.

Today, we discuss how to execute these 1:1 conversations — what to ask, how to ask, and how to act on the information you get. How well you know your team may determine how far they’re willing to go for you, and how invested they feel in the company’s success. Click Play!

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MBA1436 Sharing Your Long Term Strategic Plan With Your Team Jan 09, 2020

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You and your team: are you in it together?

Recently, we made a significant decision. We decided to share our biggest, longest-term, most ambitious goals with our entire team — every single employee. While we used to reserve our Grand Plans for ourselves and a few managers, we decided it was time to put our cards on the table.

Why did we do that? Should you?

Today, we discuss the reasons for sharing everything with everyone, and the effect that doing so can have on your business. While it can be nerve-wracking to put it all out there, we believe it increases personal investment from our team, and makes our goals more likely to be achieved.

We unveiled a 10-year plan, with specific benchmarks and SMART goals that are more than just hopes and dreams. In this episode, we’ll help you determine what to include in your plan, how to format it, and how to present it to the people who will help you make it a reality.

Start envisioning the future together, as a team. Click Play!

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MBA1435 Q&A Wednesday: How can I successfully pre-launch an online business? Jan 08, 2020

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Prepare for launch! Actually, scratch that. We need to start even further ahead, with a pre-launch strategy.

It’s Q&A Wednesday, and one listener is wondering how to maximize their launch by marketing well in advance. This doesn’t just apply to the debut of your whole business; product launches, updates, and other milestones all require the same planning to get maximum results.

A launch is an opportunity — one that’s wasted if you don’t seed the ground.

Today, we’ll discuss how to build buzz, grow and stoke the audience, and tee yourself up to capitalize on Launch Day. While we often think of launches as a beginning, smart entrepreneurs treat launches as the culmination of something as well.

This episode is your pre-launch guide. Before you announce anything new in your business, make sure the news hits the right people in the right way. Otherwise, you miss the chance to leverage a rare and special event for growth. Click Play!

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

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MBA1434 Do You Need to Work More Than 40 Hours a Week to Be Successful? Jan 07, 2020

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Is hustling effective? Does more work mean more results?

Maybe not. Today, we’re discussing the math on work hours. While it might seem logical to assume that more work = more success, that approach forgets a key principle of productivity: working smart, not just hard.

Which brings us to the “standard” work week of 40 hours.

Is independent success really possible within that limit? Do entrepreneurs need to put in more hours than everyone else to make it? It’s time to get brutally honest, and explore the relationship between the quality of our work and its quantity.

The truth is this: every sacrifice of your time has diminishing returns. You can accomplish more in a few focused hours than an entire day of burnt-out, bedraggled slogging. That doesn’t mean you don’t have to put in the hours — especially at the beginning — but it does mean you have to keep a careful eye on the cost/benefit ratio of your time investment.

Finding a balance between time and effort is the key to real productivity. Tune in, and let’s figure out how much you should really be working. Click Play!

Deep Work by Cal Newport

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MBA1433 Must Read: Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss Jan 06, 2020

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Sometimes, abandoning logic is the most logical decision.

That’s the (somewhat controversial) premise of this week’s Must-Read book, Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss. While it’s tempting to think that fact-based, rational reasons are the most persuasive, the reality of business says otherwise.

In other words, appeals to emotion are more effective than appeals to reason.

In business, this principle works for everything from your marketing copy to your sales pitches to your negotiations with potential partners. According to Voss — a former hostage negotiator — logical arguments are vastly over-valued.

This flies in the face of a lot of business advice, and of common sense. But sometimes, it’s the uncommon advice that really works.

Today, we’ll discuss some of the key takeaways of Never Split the Difference, and how it can help you cultivate the skill of emotion-based persuasion. We are not rational animals — and the entrepreneurs who recognize this have the advantage. Click Play!

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

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MBA1432 Paid Marketing Ideas for Under $300 + Free Ride Friday Jan 03, 2020

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What kind of growth can you get for $300? The answer might surprise you, but only if you’re willing to experiment.

If your marketing budget isn’t exactly…flush, but you need a nice boost, it’s time to think outside that proverbial box. This is the beauty of entrepreneurship: how a little creativity can give you exactly the spike you need.

And boy, do we have some bang for your marketing buck.

These ideas occupy a funny space: they’re unusual, and unexpected. But they’re so effective it’s difficult to understand why more people don’t use them. They don’t require anything special, other than the willingness to stake a few hundred dollars on something different.

Are these ideas typical? No. But can they work? One way to find out.

This is what being “lean” is all about. Taking roads less traveled to produce more results from fewer resources is what startups do. With a little hustle, a little creativity, and — yes — a little independent-sized budget, you can move the needle. Click Play!

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MBA1431 What Will Stop You From Making 2020 a Success Jan 02, 2020

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This is your year…unless it isn’t.

We all hit January wide-eyed and full of big plans. But why do some entrepreneurs hit the goals they set, while others don’t? Why do some businesses actually make the progress their founders envision, while the rest of us keep dreaming?

What’s stopping us?

Today, we’re discussing a few things that get entrepreneurs off track. Year after year, a few common pitfalls derail all the would-be could-be independent business people, leaving them right where they started come December.

The good news? You can neutralize these notorious derailers pretty easily.

We’ve got some almost shockingly simple steps you can take to preempt interference from these business-killers. With some basic mental adjustments, you can get on course, stay on course, and end 2020 with milestones reached — not wished for.

Don’t wait ‘till February to make these adjustments. Start 2020 on track, and keep it that way. Click Play!

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MBA1430 Q&A Wednesday: Not enough cashflow to pay my cofounder a salary. Should I buy him out? Jan 01, 2020

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Your co-founder wants in. You need them out.

This is awkward.

It’s Q&A Wednesday, and we’ve got a doozy. One listener co-founded a business a while back, but the co-founder in question took a back seat — only just maintaining their involvement while they pursued other things. Now, said co-founder wants to commit full-time to the business, and expects a full-time salary.

The problem? The company can’t afford it.

Business has no shortage of uncomfortable situations with conflicting wants and needs. Navigating such situations fairly, professionally, and productively takes finesse. Today, we’ll help our listener work it out with their co-founder in way that considers everyone’s needs — and those of the business.

It’s easy to work with your team when things are going great, and there’s enough to go around. It’s the difficult situations that make or break an entrepreneur.

Tune in, and learn how to talk openly and fearlessly about that ugly necessity of business: money. Learn how to prepare for a conversation with multiple possible outcomes, and find the sweet spot between personal interests that don’t align. Click Play!

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

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MBA1429 Why You Should or Shouldn’t Change Your Brand Name Dec 31, 2019

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To rebrand or not to rebrand? That is the question. Today, anyway.

If you feel like you chose the wrong name for your business, or something about your business name is holding you back, it might be time to rechristen. But you can’t do so without considering the costs — and not just in terms of dollars and cents.

Sometimes, it can be better to keep a…less-than-ideal name, especially if you’ve already sunk a certain amount of time and resources into it. It all comes down to a simple cost/benefit analysis of how a name change would affect your budget, your online presence, your overall marketing, and more.

Spoiler alert: rebranding involves more than a redirect from your website URL.

Today, we’ll discuss all the arguments for and against rebranding. There are several examples of rebranded businesses out there, some more successful than others. There’s even one that turned back, un-re-branding itself when they realized the price was too high.

If you’re considering a fresh handle, do the research first. Make sure that whatever you decide, your business can move forward no matter what you call it. Click Play!

Watch the episodes on YouTube: https://lm.fm/GgRPPHi

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MBA1428 Guest Teacher: Kenneth Aldrich – How to Create an Entrepreneurial Mindset Dec 30, 2019

Show notes

Skills don’t matter, without the right mindset.

There’s a ton of advice out there about what to do if you want to start and run a business. But there’s not enough about how to be, mentally and emotionally. If your frame of mind isn’t optimized, it doesn’t matter how great your product idea, marketing strategy, or SEO is.

Call it woo-woo if you will-will. But there’s no substitute for an entrepreneurial mindset.

Kenneth Aldrich has built multiple companies, and financed dozens more. Some have succeeded — wildly. Others, not so much. You might think his decades of experience are his single greatest asset, but he might argue otherwise.

He might argue that his mindset is what made all of it possible. Today, he’ll explain exactly where your head needs to be, and how to get it there.

There’s a million ways to be successful, but all successful entrepreneurs have the mindset in common. It’s one of the fundamental differences between entrepreneurs and people with normal jobs — and it’s the foundation of any independent business’s success.

Of course, you don’t just stumble onto the right mindset. You cultivate it. Mental conditioning for business is like physical conditioning for athletes. It’s something you choose to do every day. On today’s episode, Aldrich offers some “exercises” to get you there.

It might sound philosophical, practicing the right mindset is as necessary to entrepreneurship as building an email list. Tune in, and learn how. Click Play!

The Dream Toolbox by Kenneth Aldrich

Watch the episodes on YouTube: https://lm.fm/GgRPPHi

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