I recently interviewed Reza Saeedi —a marketing strategist and former Director of Marketing at On Deck—about his transition from employee to marketing advisor to employee again with advising as a side venture. In this episode, we chatted about things like: How Reza got into marketing and eventually, as a mentor/advisor to entrepreneurs How he was able to get one fractional CMO and two advisory clients quickly after leaving his job at On Deck The role of casual networking and how it led to unexpe...
Mar 01, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Transcript available on Metacast So, you want to publish content to attract clients. Do you start a blog? Hammer out posts on LinkedIn every day? Start a YouTube channel? A podcast? Good question. I get asked it a lot. In fact, someone in Mindshare asked me about it again today, so I thought I'd break out my mental model for how I think about publishing and distributing content. Here is a visual breakdown to look at while you listen to the latest How to Sell Advice podcast episode:...
Jan 12, 2024•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast I recently had the privilege of interviewing Brad Hussey—a former web designer turned creator, educator, and community builder. In this episode, we talk about things like: How he made the leap from employee to full-time web designer How he successfully sells web design courses on platforms like Udemy, Awwwards, Teachable, and other places How these courses lead to people hiring him for web design services, training, coaching and even requesting more courses—creating a flywheel for his business H...
Sep 08, 2023•59 min•Transcript available on Metacast The other week, I chatted with former software consultant turned CRM SaaS owner, Reuben Swartz about how to do sales in a way that doesn't feel like selling and instead sets up your relationships for success. In this episode, we chat about things like: Why traditional sales processes don't work How he helps people win clients without being sales-y How having a clear target market helps your sales success Reframing "sales" as "educating" and "networking" as "connecting" Why having a strong market...
Aug 07, 2023•47 min•Transcript available on Metacast Do you have a proprietary framework or methodology you can build an entire business around? I recently recorded a podcast with Billy Broas, a copywriter, advisor, and educator who has built a business around his proprietary messaging framework, The Five Lightbulbs . In this episode, Billy and I unpack the Five Lightbulbs and then go deep into how his business works, how he gets clients, and a lot more. We discuss things like: Why having a proprietary framework like the Five Lightbulbs is key to ...
May 26, 2023•56 min•Transcript available on Metacast I recently decided to rebrand the Mindshare franchise (can I call it that?). Listen in for all the details! —kw
Apr 21, 2023•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Do you focus much on optimizing your website for search engines? Personally, I don’t really do much beyond the basic best practices. My strategy has been more focused on email, social media, and Golden Goose tactics to build awareness for what I do. But a part of me feels like I’m missing out—especially as I begin to sell knowledge products to a large potential audience. That’s why I wanted to talk to Tsavo Neal about how he approaches his marketing and business model. Tsavo gets almost all of h...
Mar 24, 2023•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast A few weeks ago, I invited Mindshare member and long-time marketing consultant, Mark Evans , to talk shop with me about the business of marketing consulting and fractional CMO work. This was a really fun episode. We went deep into the nerdy nuances of fractional/interim CMO and advisory work. Some topics we explored include: Mark’s transition from reporter to marketing consultant How he uses his training as a reporter to do positioning and messaging work The challenges and frustrations of fracti...
Mar 17, 2023•1 hr•Transcript available on Metacast The other day, I replied to a Twitter friend's (@RodBurkert) open question : My question: What is the 'right next best thing' you should do to create the biggest leverage and productivity boost for your practice? I replied with the following: Taking the expertise in your head and putting it into writing/audio/video, then organizing it into a system or framework so others can learn from you without having to repeat yourself forever. But then I wanted to expand on this idea further since it's core...
Mar 02, 2023•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast It's easy to believe that as advisors, we get paid to have all the answers. We feel like to add value, we need to be able to tell people what to do. What if instead, our value came from things like: Asking good questions Having good taste Running ideas through your filters Pattern matching against your experience Creating visions to consider Clarifying ideas that aren't well-considered Being an encourager of good ideas Wrestling with options Looking at things from different perspectives Playing ...
Jan 19, 2023•9 min•Transcript available on Metacast I recently interviewed Kevan Lee, the former VP of Marketing at Buffer and currently Senior VP of Marketing at Oyster . Kevan is a wealth of knowledge when it comes to leading tech startups to significant growth. To give you an example, he helped Buffer go from $5m to $20m in annual revenue and 100,000 new customers acquisitions per month. In his first year at Oyster, he helped the company 20x its revenue and build a marketing team comprising over 50 people. He's also involved as an educator and...
Oct 07, 2022•54 min•Transcript available on Metacast You may be a rock star when it comes to marketing your clients' business. But when it comes to your own, it might be an entirely different story. And you know what? That doesn't make you a bad marketer. It's incredibly hard to market yourself—especially if you don't have a system to follow. In this episode, I break down the three core pillars to attracting more clients: Looking good "on paper" to your ideal clients Having somewhere to invite people back to Opening conversations and fostering rel...
Sep 30, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast What if the way to get your emails read and subscribers to stay subscribed was to lower the bar a little? Not in terms of quality, necessarily. But in terms of format or type. Instead of trying to write a grand theory of mathematics every time you publish, what if we treated email more like social media? What if we aimed for a simple, concise, interesting, and/or fun piece of content? Something light and consumable. Not overthought. Not pre-judged. Just something you found interesting or valuabl...
Sep 27, 2022•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast The most successful businesses have a high degree of customer-centricity. Think Amazon or Google—they're absolutely relentless about the customer experience. And in the consulting world, the most successful advisors are the ones who have a high customer-centricity and low self-orientation . Not sure what this all means? In this episode, I break down how to put your client at the epicentre of your business, how to reduce your self-orientation, and the trade-offs needed to do all of this well....
Sep 13, 2022•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast The odds of you succeeding with new ventures or ideas out of the gate is low. It’s not fun but it’s true. Even if your idea is good, it might be adjacent to the one the market wants. A small set of tweaks and iterations to the format, offer, or audience might just be what it needs to take off. And that’s empowering! It means you’re not alone. Nobody figures everything out right away. It’s easy to get frustrated when things aren’t clicking for you —especially when you’re trying something new that...
Sep 07, 2022•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast Do you ever stop to wonder what it is we are really selling as consultants? Are we selling a website, strategy, or brand identity? Yes... and no. Those are features of our work. And people don't really buy features. Maybe we are selling new customer growth? Better retention? Ease of use? Those are all great benefits of our work. But let's dig a little deeper. What is the emotion behind those benefits? What feeling are we really creating with our work? People buy based on how they feel about the ...
Aug 15, 2022•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast It's incredibly easy to get sucked into being an employee-like figure when you do fractional leadership work. When I first got started as a fractional CMO, I basically had two part-time jobs. The money was good but I worked HARD. I knew I needed to create better parameters. In this episode of Mindshare Radio, I'll break down the five main ways to avoid turning into a set of employee-like hands when you sell fractional CXO services. We'll talk about things like: Setting expectations during sales ...
Aug 05, 2022•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast This post originally appeared at https://kevin.me/ways You can think about niching in a lot of ways. In many cases, the tighter you go, the easier it can be to sell what you offer. People are swimming in options, they want specific when they can get it. So there are two angles to consider when deciding on how specific you should go with your business. 1. You can get specific about who you serve The more specific your target market, the broader your focus can be in terms of what you help people w...
Jul 29, 2022•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast I don't position myself as a fractional CMO. I might have a fractional CMO service . Or in a sales conversation, I may say that I'm like having a part-time CMO on your team. But I don't call myself a fractional CMO as my top-level positioning. I'm a consultant. I'm an advisor. I help companies with their marketing strategy. But I'm not a part-time employee. I don't want to be seen as one. Nor do I want their actual marketing team to be threatened by what may seem like a new boss breathing down t...
Jul 22, 2022•14 min•Transcript available on Metacast What is your quiet inner voice telling you? The one that whispers. You barely notice it at first. But when you do hear it, you're inspired. Should you explore it? Maybe you don't take it seriously at first. Maybe it feels like a pipe dream. It's not always rational. Sometimes it's idealistic. Regardless, when you pay attention to it, it feels directionally interesting. Where does it come from? I've noticed that it shows up when I take time away from my business. It shows up on vacations, bike ri...
Jul 14, 2022•11 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode, I break down where my advisory clients came from. I also compare my niche (Everspaces) vs. general consulting clients came from to see if there was a difference. And let me tell you, it was enlightening. Do you analyze where your clients come from? Give this a listen and let me know what you find about your own business. —k
Jul 01, 2022•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Are you having trouble selling your productized service? In this new episode of Mindshare Radio, I break down the four main things to consider when trying to fix the problem. Give it a listen.
Jun 08, 2022•13 min•Transcript available on Metacast Companies are hiring in-house and outsourced marketers differently than they did before. I'm seeing less reliance on using a single in-house marketer or even one full-service agency to "do everything" for them. Marketing has gotten too broad with too many specialties to work like that. But there's still a long way to go. In this episode, I share a prediction on how marketing teams will continue to evolve toward a hybrid in-house/outsourced way. I'll get into how I see things evolving and why thi...
Jun 03, 2022•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast When a client requests your services, it can really help to have multiple options at different prices. You can do this with a product or service ladder at different prices and scope, or you can create multiple options in your custom proposals. In this episode, I break down the reasons why you may want to have multiple options and how to price them based on the value you're delivering. This seemingly simple idea can have a major impact on your average deal value—often increasing your revenue by 3...
May 26, 2022•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast What do you do when clients give you advice but then do their own thing anyway? In this episode, I talk about why this happens, how to prevent it from happening, and how to both give and get the best possible advice. —kw
May 17, 2022•7 min•Transcript available on Metacast I interviewed Dagobert Renouf of Logology last week on how he's been so successful on Twitter. Dagobert is extremely active and publishes a meme every day of the week, which is a big hit for his 30k+ audience. But like any successful story, there's an underlying mindset and strategy that makes the tactics more successful. So I wanted to dig into those. And he delivered. We’ll get into the specifics of: His overarching Twitter strategy Why he believes memes as a marketing tactic works so well ...
May 13, 2022•52 min•Transcript available on Metacast It can be nerve-wracking to propose a project that is more expensive or takes longer than a client is asking for. Our first instinct might be to charge the bare minimum to get the job done. Or to promise the most ideal timelines—assuming nothing will go wrong—to win the deal and avoid pushback and rejection. But we know that's not realistic. Something always comes up. The problem is, while you think you're giving the client what they want, you're actually undercutting both you and them. You're r...
May 11, 2022•3 min•Transcript available on Metacast I recently decided to switch from daily publishing to a more flexible format. In this episode of Mindshare Radio, I break down the reasons why I started publishing daily in the first place (549 days ago) as well as the reasons for giving myself permission to publish whenever I want. I'm still bullish on daily content. It's an extremely powerful tactic if it aligns with your strategy. But for now, I'm choosing flexibility. Listen to find out more. —k P.S. I'd love your thoughts. Hit reply and tel...
May 10, 2022•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast When you price your services, there's something called customer surplus to consider. Customer surplus, in this case, means the amount of profit your customers gain after deducting your costs. Not all profit is financial, but it's easier to think about it in financial terms. On the one hand, you want to price your services high enough to attract people who need and value the outcome of your services. People with the highest needs want to buy expensive solutions because they need them to work. Hig...
May 06, 2022•8 min•Transcript available on Metacast Mindshare member, Sean, had an interesting objection while selling his advisory services. This is a common question when selling advisory work, so it's worth unpacking this and other follow-up questions Sean had. "What if my marketing budget doesn't allow me to implement your advice?" In this episode, I talk about: How to answer this question succinctly in your FAQs or sales conversations The difference between cash flow/budget adherence and long-term ROI Breaking out a spreadsheet to show poten...
Apr 29, 2022•10 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
