Marley Majcher, The Party Goddess turned Profit Goddess, was running a business but not making money — despite her degree from Georgetown. But she managed to turn it around with this “one weird trick.” OK — so that sounds clickbaity, but it’s true. See, Marley didn’t have a system in place for her business. She, like many creators I think, wasn’t spending her time wisely. So, she decided to do something about it: she decided to learn how she was spending her time, organize those tasks, and figur...
Feb 13, 2023•44 min•Season 1Ep. 301
Paid Memberships Pro is the lifeblood of my main product offering, The Podcast Liftoff Playbook . So in this first bit of 2023, I want to tell you everything I love about the plugin, and why I thought it best for my membership/learning site. This clip is brought to you by Paid Memberships Pro ———— Streamlined Solopreneur is the podcast for solopreneurs who want to automate their business and take time off worry-free. Each week, Joe Casabona shares practical systems, tools, and strategies to help...
Feb 10, 2023•6 min•Season 1Ep. 201
It's episode 300! I thought I'd wax poetic on the top 10 things I've learned from both running this show, and the guests I've had on. After that, I talk a little bit about what's in store for How I Built It, and where I'd like it to go in the future. Plus, in the PRO show, I talk about what life without Twitter has been like. Become a Pro Top 10 Lessons Build Your Email List Talk to your customers Experiment Niche/Specialize/Focus Don't be afraid to say no People care about the problem you're so...
Feb 06, 2023•34 min•Season 1Ep. 300
Most attempts to start a community these days feel a lot like the approach the Underpants Gnomes from South Park took in making money. Step 1: Launch a Discord, Step 2: ???, Step 3: Community! But it’s not like that at all. And Drew Dillon, founder of Burb and community expert, is here to set the record straight. Top Takeaways: You need to think of the community as a business. Create a reason for people to care and engage. And close the look by making sure the community isn’t just about you - it...
Jan 30, 2023•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 299
Molly Keyser made half-a-million dollars selling a 15-page, $59 eBook without spending money on ads. How do you ask? She created something SUPER valuable, that immediately made the buyer money. And throughout this episode, Molly is going to tell us how she went from professional photographer to online educator making digital products, all by knowing and serving her niche. There’s A LOT to unpack, and I know you’ll find a lot of actionable tips here. Top Takeaways: Clearly define your niche so yo...
Jan 23, 2023•51 min•Season 1Ep. 298
We’ve been told for years that creating an “ideal customer avatar” is the best way to understand your audience. But the truth is that’s just guessing on your part. Do you know how you actually get to understand your customers? Have customers! Talk to them, and then write content for them . That’s what Will Shultz recommends. And as a Sales and Marketing coach, he knows a thing or two. Top Takeaways: You need someone in-house to make your content. That’s how you’ll create great content that shows...
Jan 16, 2023•52 min•Season 1Ep. 297
I know what you’re thinking. Budgets? That’s what you’re going to base your entire year on. I know this because that’s what my wife said. But fear not, my friends. Like Transformers™, it’s more than meets the eye. Show Notes: My 2023 Yearly Theme Cortex Podcast Join the Creator Crew Sponsored by: Paid Memberships Pro | Ahrefs | LearnDash ———— Streamlined Solopreneur is the podcast for solopreneurs who want to automate their business and take time off worry-free. Each week, Joe Casabona shares pr...
Jan 09, 2023•27 min•Season 1Ep. 296
Earlier this year, Amazon announced the Kindle Scribe -- their competitor to the reMarkable 2. It's more affordable, they had an initial deal for Prime members, and a good trade-in price for my Kindle Oasis . SO the $500 device got down to $238. I bought it. Here are my initial impressions. Show Notes Kindle Scribe reMarkable 2 Read my initial thoughts Want to see a video demo? Join How I Built It Pro ———— Streamlined Solopreneur is the podcast for solopreneurs who want to automate their busines...
Dec 08, 2022•14 min•Season 1Ep. 296
The show is on break, but that's not preventing me from adding a bonus episode or two! It's no secret I love automation, and invariably those automations spill out into my personal life. I view the holidays as a great opportunity to flex some home automation muscles. Here's what I did, what I use, and some improvements. In the PRO show, I get into the gory details, share my shortcuts, and talk about Matter and the future of home automation. Show Notes Become a PRO member Phillips Hue Color Bulbs...
Dec 05, 2022•16 min•Season 1Ep. 1
It’s the time of the year were small business owners and creators have some extra time to tinker with (or fully redesign) their websites. I’m here with Copywriter Ame Proietti to tell you to skip the new design and focus on the copy instead. We get into what makes good copy, blog posts vs. sales copy, and we finish out with how to write good scripts. As you prepare for 2023, good copy will be at the heart of what you do thanks to Ame’s advice. Plus, in the Pro show, we broke down the sales page ...
Nov 28, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 295
It’s a good old fashioned podcast swap with Good People, Cool Things ! I really enjoy this show, and the interview we have queued up for you is great. This is a conversation with Jessi Burg , who started Outgrow Your Garage so she could answer the questions and develop the resources for small business owners that she wished she had when starting out as a business owner. Some of the top highlights include how to overcome common struggles for business owners, the benefits of online courses, and wh...
Nov 21, 2022•38 min•Season 1Ep. 294
How I Built Bits is back, and better than ever! The focus on the show moving forward will be highlighting helpful tools and processes for creators to run a better business. And I'm excited that the first episode is presented by Groundhogg. Groundhogg is an open-source CRM & Marketing Automation suite for serious agencies, small businesses, content creators, eCommerce experts, and WordPress professionals. Let's take a deep dive into what it is, how it works, and why it could be perfect for yo...
Nov 16, 2022•13 min•Season 1Ep. 294
With the Podcast Liftoff Playbook out, and Jennifer Bourn’s Profitable Project Plan is open for enrollment right now, I thought it would be a great time to re-air her interview where she talks about running a cohort-based course, and how she built the PPP. I listened to it again as I was looking for inspiration and best practices to realize the Playbook fully. And let me tell you, this episode really holds up! For members, I talk about how my webinar → paid members sales to funnel went. Top Take...
Nov 14, 2022•1 hr 1 min•Season 1Ep. 293
In May, I was at a bit of a crossroads. I wasn't sure what I should do with the many things I was working on, and I felt like I was being pulled in too many directions. I couldn't focus on one thing to help take my business to the next level. So I decided to focus on Podcasting. The path from them to now lead me to cutting away a lot of projects (including projects I like doing), all in the service of growing my business. And the centerpiece: my brand new Podcast Liftoff Playbook. So today, we'r...
Nov 07, 2022•31 min•Season 1Ep. 292
We must make content to serve the almighty algorithm to make money on YouTube, right? Wrong! Over the last couple of weeks, you’ve heard from creators who are doing a video that works for them — and today’s guest is no different. Hannah Smolinski is a Fractional CFO who grew her YouTube channel to 38,000 subscribers and doesn’t pay attention to analytics. Instead, she answers questions her target audience has, is generous with her time and her knowledge, and knows it’s all about the long game, n...
Oct 31, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 291
It’s easy to think your content will get better if you just have the right gear. Alas, a $1000 camera can’t save you if you’re not spending time on the content. But that doesn’t mean you can’t look and sound good. So today brought in Dan Bennett, who’s built his business on making people look and sound great on camera. Spoiler alert: This almost never results in buying new gear. Instead, we talk about small tweaks you can make. Then we talk about the growing importance of videos for podcasting. ...
Oct 24, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Season 1Ep. 290
If you’ve been listening for a while, you’ve heard this lesson 100 times: ship with what you have. Ship what you have. In other words, don’t waste time looking for the perfect tool or process. Instead, ship quickly and iterate. And no one embodies this credo better than Marie Poulin. As one of the best Notion instructors out there, Marie has illustrated time and time again that shipping early and iterating leads to success. We chat about how she uses Notion from delivering her course, gets feedb...
Oct 17, 2022•58 min•Season 1Ep. 289
How do you get the NY Times (or the WSJ) to publish your article? Do you just email them and hope for the best? Well…you can, but according to Stephanie Lee, you shouldn’t. See, Stephanie is a media strategist who’s been published in the NY Times, and has gotten her clients into publications like Entrepreneur…through cold pitching! She says the important thing for you is to build clout markers to show you are trustworthy. And today, she walks us through how to do that using her Slingshot method....
Oct 10, 2022•52 min•Season 1Ep. 288
Most brands don’t care about your numbers! It’s true, and I’m not the only one who thinks so. Justin Moore knows a thing about brand deals. He’s done 500 himself, and over 1,000 through his agency. Today he teaches creators how to get paid brand deals through his cohort-based course, Brand Deal Wizard. And in today’s episode, we cover a lot, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg. Top Takeaways You need to be able to articulate why brands should pay you — and it’s not just about your numbers. Most...
Oct 03, 2022•1 hr 2 min•Season 1Ep. 287
Starting a business has never been easier. We can now sign up for a free ConvertKit account, get a nice-looking landing page, and even start selling products in mere minutes. Because of that, it can be tempting to jump into “making” the business without thinking about why your business exists. According to Cara Chace, that is a recipe for disaster. Listen on to learn why. Plus, in Build Something More, Cara tells us about her previous career as a special agent. Top Takeaways You need to define w...
Sep 26, 2022•44 min•Season 1Ep. 286
“Get a real job.” “If you’re going to start a business, you need to grow.” “Hustle.” If you’re starting a business, you’ve probably heard this “advice.” You’ve also probably heard that you need to do exactly what someone else did. But all of that is poison to our creator businesses. And Dr. Shante Cofield has the antidote: Moar You. If you want to know the importance of values-based marketing, how to be vulnerable enough to grow, and the seasonality of life, this episode is for you. My conversat...
Sep 19, 2022•48 min•Season 1Ep. 285
Perhaps it’s fitting that today’s interview is a play in 3 acts. After all, I’m talking to Melanie Deziel, speaker, author, and founder of Story Fuel. It makes sense that we talk about creating good content in 3 acts: idea generation, brand deals, and coming up with headlines. This discussion is completely packed with fantastic advice to help up your content creation game. Top Takeaways: When it comes to content, we often focus too much on the format, and not the actual message. instead, determi...
Sep 12, 2022•1 hr•Season 1Ep. 284
Imagine being perfectly positioned to deal with the pandemic from a k-12 school's standpoint. That’s Jeff Utecht. Instead of just being in the K12 space, he specializes in technology implementation for K12 schools. But he didn’t just fall into that. He spends years building a brand, understanding his audience, and giving away content. How has that helped him? Listen to find out! Plus, we get deep into education during the pandemic in Build Something More. Top Takeaways: You create great content ...
Sep 05, 2022•54 min•Season 1Ep. 283
When I was in college, building a community felt pretty easy. Have some event, get free food, people come, people talk. Maybe they will bring some of their friends. This happened all the time – campus events, weekends at the bar, over the summer. So I thought building a community online would be similar. Easier even! There are no geographic boundaries. I would just invite people to come to my community, and they'd go and hang out. But that didn't happen. In fact, my community was a baron wastela...
Aug 29, 2022•28 min•Season 1Ep. 282
Today’s episode is a little different. Sara Loretta and I met through Jay Clouse’s Creative Companion Club. I mentioned I was offering free podcast coaching for episodes of this show, and she pitched coming on to talk about podcast guesting. While I thought we were going to talk about her advice for being a good guest, what we ended up doing was having a great conversation about our experiences. But don’t worry: it gets tied together at the end. Because we’re constantly told that online business...
Aug 22, 2022•54 min•Season 1Ep. 281
It’s another live coaching call. Scott Cowan runs a podcast called Explore Washington State. It’s part of a greater site all about Washington. The podcast publishes 3-4 times per week, and he’s looking to grow his audience and potentially increase his output to 5 times a week. Listen in as I give Scott advice about SEO, website improvements, and pointing his enormous Instagram following to the show. Top Takeaways: Having a good website with easy-to-speak URLs is the best way to send people to yo...
Aug 15, 2022•51 min•Season 1Ep. 280
Interested in starting or growing a podcast that actually generates revenue? Check out my new show, Make Money Podcasting! Listen to all of the episodes and subscribe at https://makemoneypod.com/ ———— Streamlined Solopreneur is the podcast for solopreneurs who want to automate their business and take time off worry-free. Each week, Joe Casabona shares practical systems, tools, and strategies to help you reclaim your time and run your business without sacrificing your the rest of your life, or yo...
Aug 10, 2022•15 min•Season 1Ep. 280
We all deal with grief. It could be the loss of a loved one. Maybe the loss of a job. Or the feeling that you’ve lost control of your life or your business. Throughout the pandemic, many of us experience grief in one way, shape, or form — and Dr. Sherry Walling is no different. But she decided to write about her grief. First, it was just for her. Then she shared it. Then she decided that her writings could help countless people and turned them into a book. I’m grateful she took the time to talk ...
Aug 08, 2022•49 min•Season 1Ep. 279
Grow your audience. Get leads. Sell your thing. Make money. This seems to be the formula for creators…but these are just nebulous ideas. How do we actually implement them? That’s what today’s guest, Anna Tutckaia, is here to talk about. She’s the Head of Marketing at ManyChat, and she’ll tell us all about how we can find leads by learning about our audience, how their virtual event garnered thousands of potential customers and helpful tools for personalization. In Build Something More, we answer...
Aug 01, 2022•54 min•Season 1Ep. 278
What’s the difference between making money on the side, and running a business? There are probably dozens of ways to answer that, but if I had to answer, I’d say that it has to do with how you manage your money. Early in the WordPress space, people were learning they could make money with their work, but we’re managing it properly. I think we’re seeing something similar in the creator space, so I’ve brought in Profit Expert Nev Harris to tell us the 4 ways to find hidden profit in your business ...
Jul 25, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Season 1Ep. 277
