My biggest fear has been producing an inferior product or a product that won't pass muster. What that has done is it has really shown and taught me that first of don't release something unless it's at least minimally viable. Don't release a crappy product. If you do release one, you are going to have to deal with it in the future. That is what I have learned over these last few months.
Jun 09, 2021•30 min•Ep. 237
This is a very hard lesson I learned. Be careful in how you spend your time. We always are going to get a very rewarding feeling from being busy. And it is going to be answering emails, taking phone calls, and doing marketing. But, if you do not actually evaluate the impact that all this busyness is having on your return on investment (ROI) and what the income is. How are you actually making progress? Are you growing your audience? If you are a podcaster, what your income or profit is. Whatever ...
Jun 08, 2021•29 min•Ep. 236
I can't tell you the power of networking and reaching out to people and just asking for things directly and not beating around the bush. I think we really underestimate the power of being super direct with someone instead of just sending in your resume and hoping for the best. Find the side doors. That's not just for starting a business and getting your dream job. Find the side doors for everything. Do you want to start a podcast or write a book or anything like that? I guarantee you your networ...
Jun 07, 2021•24 min•Ep. 235
Constantly believe in yourself and your product. If you feel like your product has value, you will have a lot of people who will dismiss it or say that's really cool, but that's as far as it goes. And you will have a lot of days where you are thinking, maybe this was a mistake and maybe I shouldn't be doing this. Then you will have a lot of times where your doubtful but, I would say just continue to keep the faith. Keep holding on to your belief that you have come up with something valuable. Kee...
Jun 05, 2021•27 min•Ep. 234
The biggest piece of advice is just get started and don't get crippled in revision mode and, oh, I have got to have a business plan and, it's got to be perfect. Just right the business plan and get it out there. Get started working so that you can figure out all the answers to your questions. I guess the saying is, fail fast.
Jun 04, 2021•33 min•Ep. 233
Get your website up and figure out your sales process. I think that has been the hardest businesses to work with is when they don't have a clear sales process. We can get you all the web traffic you need and want. We can set up ads and do everything organically that we know-how. But, if you don't have a way to close, then it's all for nothing. Figure out your sales process, figure out how you close people. Figure out what you actually need to do to increase revenue. Then most agency owners that ...
Jun 03, 2021•33 min•Ep. 34
Before you go into the fun stuff like, what is the design of my logo going to look like, really figure out what transformation you are going to take your potential clients through. They are here and, you want them to be here. Figure out what those places are and how you fill that gap. Without that, you are just going to be spinning your wheels you are going to be pivoting a lot as I did. Figure out and ask those questions. Where are my potential clients at? Where do they want to be? How can I he...
Jun 02, 2021•25 min•Ep. 232
You have to invest in yourself. A lot of people say go and talk to everyone else but you have to know your weaknesses. And you definitely have to work on those. That's one of the things I have done. Still to this day, I have a book in front of me and, I write down listen before every meeting that starts right on top. Because when you are starting off a business, you think you know everything. One thing is to learn to listen. That's one of the things I have to learn for myself. Invest in yourself...
Jun 01, 2021•37 min•Ep. 231
You are the authority. You had touched on it a little bit just thirty seconds ago. You have to drive the ship. If you are a startup, a CEO, an owner, or a director, that's your job. You need to steer the ship But, the funny thing is the captain says go that way there's a helmsman crew actually steers said ship. There is an engine crew that's driving the engine and maintenance and mechanics who are keeping those things ticking. You have to see the big vision. You have to know what you know and kn...
May 31, 2021•41 min•Ep. 230
My advice is going to be from the perspective of the entrepreneur who is bootstrapping their business. It is to crawl before you walk and walk before you run. I think it's really important to not grow too fast and keep a gradual pace. Growing a business is about figuring out how you can sustain the business. Every step of growth reduces the stability of the business. You have to grow into that larger business so that you are on top of it and can then get to the next level.
May 29, 2021•37 min•Ep. 229
Start earlier. Don't think about it more and more and wonder when you are going to do it. If you have the idea and passion to do it, don't wait. Start today. Start right now, make that first phone call, get your business licensed, get set up, name your company. Start moving. Don't waste time because what you will find is once you get into this, you never have enough time.
May 28, 2021•22 min•Ep. 228
So they think their last step is running the payroll, hire an employee, coming out on the front. We want to create the other last step which is let's take a look at your expenses. Maybe beyond having an expense on your profit loss, we can convert that into a tax credit. If we could use it for the payroll tax credit, that would be great, or else it counts as income tax. We do a lot of planning, phone calls, exchange information. I also want to say that we use technology. We do a lot of zoom and t...
May 27, 2021•29 min•Ep. 33
Make sure you are getting into the business for the right reasons. I would say: don't chase the dollar signs. Don't get involved in an opportunity solely because you believe you are going to make a fortune. If you really don't enjoy doing what you do, it's pretty easy to give up when you run into some roadblocks.
May 26, 2021•28 min•Ep. 227
Be really clear on what your goals are in this situation. I think we did it well, even some of the groups that I have worked with over the years. Being clear on what the goals are and what the responsibilities are amongst people really helps.
May 25, 2021•33 min•Ep. 226
Take every opportunity. Don't even hesitate about it just do it. Of course, you want to think about it. But, from what I have learned: when you hesitate when there is an opportunity in front of you, it really slows you down, especially with a startup. One of the pros of a startup is you can move at a certain pace. You can quickly change your model. And adapt faster than most businesses. If you see an opportunity, take it. Either joining a podcast or spreading your name out there.
May 24, 2021•17 min•Ep. 225
It's along that product-market fit. You've got to get out there and take advantage of every introduction that you can get. Talk to those potential customers or those potential people who are not customers. They may just be someone who knows something about the domain or has tried or seen it before. Get out there and take advantage of every introduction you can get and have those talks and learn from them.
May 22, 2021•29 min•Ep. 224
Surround yourself with people who are going to challenge what you are saying in a positive way. But also that you can learn from. Before I moved to Austin I did not have a wide network of people that I could leverage from a connection, network, or from an intelligence standpoint. Nor did I have people who would challenge my ideas. Not in a bad way just why do you think this? Why do you think this product is important? I think the last couple of years especially over Covid I have tried really har...
May 21, 2021•31 min•Ep. 223
The best way to get the highest evaluation for your business and sell your business for maximum value is proprietary. The fourth P is proprietary. This is the number one value driver. This can take you from a five multiple to an eight multiple to a ten multiple to a fifteen multiple. This is all proprietary. Why am I saying you should start with this? Because if you get this wrong, then you can practically be out of business.
May 20, 2021•40 min•Ep. 32
Start. Do it. Just do it. Figure out what your risk tolerances are, leave everything else behind. Give yourself a period of time. Do it. Just do it. Once you put it out there, people are going to rally. It's amazing.
May 19, 2021•36 min•Ep. 222
I call it a discovery task list. What we do is we take inventory of everything you do for a week. Then we figure out is this something that you can delete? What happens if we just don't do it? How much effect does it really have on the business as far as ROI vs people's perceived value? Then the second thing we ask is, can I delegate this? And the question that we must ask ourselves for each one of those is if I knew I was going to be hit with a mac truck tomorrow, what would I do today to trans...
May 18, 2021•30 min•Ep. 221
It might be boring but planning before you start is a big key to success and then obviously executing on your business plan. But first, you need to write it down.
May 17, 2021•24 min•Ep. 220
Do it. Do that thing you need to do. I mean, you have that idea go chase it down. Go learn what you need to learn to get it done and get it done.
May 15, 2021•31 min•Ep. 219
Start. I think people really struggle to get started. I will say that action is the most important thing. If you are thinking about an idea and you can't quite decide, you just gotta go. And you have to go fast. You are going to bump into walls and say, oh, ok, we are going this direction now and, that's all normal. Startups are not normal. I think that's something a lot of people struggle to understand. It's like these are these really weird experiments and, you just have to test and see what w...
May 14, 2021•28 min•Ep. 218
Talk to maybe another business owner. Just because you talk to someone does not mean you have to hire them. If someone wanted to contact me and has questions, that would be fine. I would not mind talking to them. Just ask, ask around, ask people you know. Or, if you have emails for a virtual assistant, shoot them an email and ask them questions. If they are good enough and, classy enough they will answer any questions that person has, without expecting them to automatically become a client....
May 13, 2021•31 min•Ep. 31
Try to surround yourself with people who believe in you. So in that same example that I mentioned, that was my biggest mistake and biggest learning. My wife was absolutely amazing. She was a rock and, she was picking me up off the ground when I was in the corner crying and rocking back and forth when the project was going south. She was like, no, you've got to keep going this is just a part of the journey. We are going to get through it, and it will be fine. So she really picked me up. You have ...
May 12, 2021•26 min•Ep. 217
Always make sure that you are establishing your relationships. Always say to people what can I do for you? And Never burn a bridge even if people are wrong. Wrong things have happened to me, and it does not matter.
May 11, 2021•25 min•Ep. 216
Get a coach and or mentor. You probably think it is self-serving saying getting a coach. It may be a little self-serving, but it's also speaking from experience because I have benefited tremendously through the years from having tremendous coaches but, also have had some mentors. If you not in a place where you can hire a coach look up people in your industry, look up people who are doing what you are doing, look at people who are successful at what you are trying to do, and just contact them....
May 10, 2021•30 min•Ep. 215
I would say be fearless it really does take that. I have talked to so many people. I was coaching football for my son, just the little league football. One of my assistant coaches, a great guy still good friends to this day, came up to me and says I have an idea that I know will make me a millionaire. I was like, well, awesome, what is it? And he said I am not going to tell you you will go do it. And I said well, one I won't but two fine don't tell me I don't care what it is. Why don't you go do...
May 08, 2021•43 min•Ep. 214
First, I would try and make sure they are ready to do it in the first place. I don't necessarily take my own council right here but, particularly for a younger entrepreneur, you got to put in your time. I mentioned earlier that I considered my 10-year at Deloitte an apprenticeship. That's really what it was. I didn't roll out of bed at 25 and start Kalypso. I put in a decade learning the industry, developing my skills, developing a management model, and leadership philosophy. That was the founda...
May 07, 2021•30 min•Ep. 213
In my experience, this is why the bottleneck of so many businesses is the CEO. It's because they are not making decisions, opportunities are being lost, and everything else is falling behind. They within themselves are not showing up as the CEO in their business. And that is why I am such a firm believer that your business growth can't outgrow your inner growth. If you really want to not just perform at that level but breakthrough to the next you really have to evolve within yourself. You need t...
May 06, 2021•27 min•Ep. 30
