Archive for May, 2017
322: Ardor SEO: Build Links, Boost Your Search Ranking and Think Outside the Box with Reputation Engineer and Authority Marketer Kris Reid
Kris Reid is the founder of Ardor SEO. He's developed several tools to build backlinks and increase website ranking. Listen in to discover his advice about search engine optimization, including quick wins and low hanging fruit (for example, buy an aged domain, or increase your ranking on links on place #11 or #12 to bump yourself up to the first page).
Quotes:
“We win when you win. It's in our best interest to get you a positive ROI as quickly as possible.” – Kris Reid
“Digital marketing is like any other form of marketing. You can spend a million dollars a month on it, or you can spend $10—it depends on what your goals are.” – Kris Reid
“You really want to try to understand the customer's goals, work out a plan, and show them how to achieve it.” – Kris Reid
Takeaways:
05:12 Google constantly updates its algorithm to push websites toward creating better, more user-focused content.
14:23 Search results are personalized based on location, search history, and user context, making global ranking comparisons tricky.
20:35 Creating authentic testimonials and content about products or services you genuinely use can be an effective link-building strategy.
25:28 Focusing on improving rankings from page two to page one can dramatically increase website traffic with minimal effort.
28:17 Booking a free strategy call with an SEO expert can help businesses understand their digital marketing potential.
Resources
- Ardor SEO (Kris' SEO Agency)
- Kris Reid (Personal Site)
- Mob Warrior (Online Game)
- Ahrefs (All-in-one SEO toolset)
- Moz (SEO software)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:07 — 26.7MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | RSS
321: Coaching Certification: Create a Coaching Program, Bootcamp, or Course and Make Small Adjustments for Massive Business Success with Jessica Nazarali
Jessica Nazarali teaches people how to coach through her coaching certification training. If you like the idea of charging money to help others reach their goals in health, relationships, mindset or business, then you'll want to listen in to discover how you too can create a coaching program of your very own.
Quotes:
“If you don't have the skills to work with a client, it doesn't matter how great your funnels are; it doesn't matter how great your marketing is.” – Jessica Nazarali
“You need to be able to say the price of your program out loud, without hyperventilating, without going into a story of ‘nobody's going to pay this.’” – Jessica Nazarali
“When people are confident in their product, what they're offering, and their ability to work with clients successfully, that's when they get more glowing client testimonials.” – Jessica Nazarali
Takeaways:
00:21 Building a successful coaching business starts with having deep expertise in a specific field before becoming a coach.
07:17 Price your coaching services at a rate you can confidently state, starting around $500-$1000 per month, and gradually increase as you gain experience.
11:37 Begin coaching with one-on-one sessions to understand your audience and perfect your program before scaling to group formats.
22:29 Plan to cap your one-on-one client load at 8-15 clients, then transition to a group program for business growth and time management.
29:31 Your previous professional experience is a powerful differentiator and should be strategically integrated into your coaching narrative.
Resources
- Jessica Nazarali (Official Site)
- Coaching Mastery certification (Coaching Site)
- Business Mastery certification (Get New Clients)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 33:17 — 30.5MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | RSS
320: Credo: How to Hire an SEO Consultant or Agency with John Doherty
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:24 — 32.4MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | RSS
John Doherty is a Denver Colorado based entrepreneur and marketing consultant. He's the founder of Credo, which helps you find the best SEO or digital marketing agency for Facebook ads, SEO audits, content marketing, and more. Listen in as he explains what information you need in order to hire an agency, why Credo exists and what he's learned about search engine optimization and hiring a team for your website.
Quotes:
“You'll think an expert is expensive until you hire an amateur.” – John Doherty
“Hiring the wrong agency or consultant can be a really expensive mistake. If you hire the wrong one, it's not only about money, but also time.” – John Doherty
“SEO is a long-term play. It's a marketing channel that works for everyone. It can take a solid three to six months to really start seeing any tangible gains.” – John Doherty
Takeaways:
02:00 Hiring cheap SEO services often leads to poor results, so invest in quality experts who understand your business needs.
12:24 Marketing strategies like SEO and Facebook ads require patience - give them 3-6 months to show meaningful results.
16:27 Vetting marketing professionals is crucial - look beyond surface-level claims and verify their actual work and client results.
20:49 Entrepreneurs should focus on their core strengths and hire specialists for tasks outside their expertise.
29:17 When seeking marketing help, be prepared to discuss your budget openly and understand that professional services require significant investment.
Resources
- How to Hire an SEO (Website)
- John F. Doherty's Blog (Blog)
- Credo (Site)
- Calendly (Site)
- John (Twitter)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:24 — 32.4MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | RSS
319: Live Events, Non-Profit Fundraisers, Sponsorships, Partnerships, Referrals and More with Small Business Consultant and Event Manager Melissa Forziat
Melissa Forziat is the founder and principal of Melissa Forziat Events. She's run live events of all shapes and sizes, from Rugby World Cups to fundraisers for non-profits. She works with clients to develop possible opportunities for growth, for example, partnership marketing (a photographer could send business to a videographer and vice versa.)
She also discusses how to make those calculated risks (look at the upside, pain of not doing it, and reward for doing it), developing confidence, and knowing your value.
Quotes:
“You can learn the skills you need to. Sometimes, you just need to be motivated by what you're doing.” – Melissa Forziat
“When you get creative, you can probably find another business or influencer to collaborate with, so you can mutually help each other gain more exposure, more clients, and more income.” – Melissa Forziat
“You have to know your value, because if you're getting less than your value for the thing you're providing, you're going to feel it.” – Melissa Forziat
Takeaways:
02:53 Skills from one career can transfer successfully to another with creativity and motivation.
12:56 Live events are just one of many marketing options for small businesses.
21:47 Partnership marketing offers powerful ways to expand business reach by collaborating with complementary businesses.
27:21 Taking calculated risks and believing in your business value is crucial for entrepreneurial success.
29:39 Undercharging early in your business can lead to long-term resentment and burnout.
Resources
- Melissa Forziat Events (Website)
- Melissa (Facebook)
- Small Business Marketing on a Budget (Free E-Book)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 32:39 — 29.9MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | RSS
318: Add Storytelling to Your Marketing for Amazing Results in Any Startup Pitch Meeting, Stage Presentation, or Job Interview with The Pitch Whisperer John Livesay
John Livesay is The Pitch Whisperer which means you should use micro-stories in your presentations, at job interviews, or perhaps at a pitch meeting where you're seeking funding. Every good story contains exposition (who, what, where, why), a problem, solution, and resolution.
You can discover your own stories by thinking about your family or vacations you've traveled to. Then fit that interesting material into a narrative. For example, Johnny Walker uses a rags to riches story in its marketing and Prudential uses a rebirth story. Think about your origin story of tenacity and perseverance, what inspired you, and then test that material on others to get feedback.
When you're speaking and pitching, people are asking themselves: do I trust you and do you make eye contact? (gut), do I like you and do you display empathy towards me? (heart), and will this work for me? (head) You can also build your confidence by being prepared: know your opening, closing, and takeaways to bring to that presentation.
Quotes:
“Storytellers rule the world. Forget selling—tell stories instead. Then you'll pull people in, get hired, gain new clients, or secure funding.” – John Livesay
“A good story has four elements: exposition (who, what, where, when), a problem, a solution, and a resolution.” – John Livesay
“People buy emotionally and then back it up with logic. If all you're doing is talking numbers, you're going to bore people.” – John Livesay
Takeaways:
05:28 A good story has four key elements: exposition, problem, solution, and resolution.
11:02 Everyone has interesting stories to share, often found in family histories or personal experiences.
15:01 Practice and preparation are critical for building confidence in high-stakes presentations.
19:47 When pitching, focus on building trust through eye contact, showing empathy, and demonstrating how your solution works.
21:24 People make emotional decisions first and then justify them with logic.
Resources
- The Pitch Whisperer (Official Site)
- The Successful Pitch (Podcast)
- John Livesay (Twitter)
- John Liveway (LinkedIn)
- Text "PITCH" to 66566 to overcome the three mistakes with preparation, confidence, and correction
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:22 — 25.1MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | RSS
317: Business Building for Musicians and Rockstars: Use Your Website, Email Marketing and Social Media to Build a Following with Female Entrepreneur Musician Bree Noble
Bree Noble is a female entrepeneur musician who noticed that musicians share quite a few similarities with entrepreneurs in other niches: they all tend to be plotting/crafting/tweaking but are stuck on a path of creating new projects without finishing them. As a result, they've spent most of their time recording an album but very little time marketing, and as a result, their business somewhat half-baked.
Bree explains that musicians need to setup a real web presence, especially a homebase. That doesn't only mean posting on Facebook... it also means creating a modern looking blog with a .com domain name and landing pages. It means building an email list with a squeeze page, running Facebook ads, recording behind the scenes videos, posting on Twitter and Instagram, possibly using crowdfunding, and using Facebook Live to build that following.
Quotes:
“They've got all these ideas coming into their head all the time—new songs, ways you can market, shows you can do. Those are cool. Those are great. I don't want to stop you from having those. But if they don't have anything to do with your 90-day goals, I want you to write them down, put them in what I call an inspiration vault, and save them for later.” – Bree Noble
“The CD does not create fans. Your fan base is your vehicle to sell CDs, do live shows, and actually make money—not the actual recording of the CD.” – Bree Noble
“They don't realize that if they don't work on the marketing side, they're eventually going to run out of money and won't be able to keep doing the thing they love.” – Bree Noble
Takeaways:
02:22 Musicians must treat their music career like a business, not just a creative pursuit.
12:09 Focus on one big goal for 90 days and create a clear plan to achieve it.
33:06 Spend 80% of your time marketing and 20% creating content to build a successful music career.
07:14 Build a fan base before expecting industry professionals to discover and support you.
17:54 Create a strong online home base with a well-branded website that represents your music and allows fans to connect.
Resources
- Female Entrepreneur Musician (Official Site)
- 19 sources of income for musicians (Website)
- NoiseTrade (Website)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 38:51 — 35.6MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | RSS
316: Run Your Business and Your Life with P.I.E.K. Efficiency: Organize, Experiment, and Course-Correct Your Path to Freedom and Success with the 5 Dollar Dinner Mom Erin Chase
Erin Chase from 5DollarDinners.com is a busy mother who realized she could help others live their lives by becoming more organized through PIEK efficiency: Plan, Implement, Evaluate, Kill.
Listen in as she explains how she grew from affiliate ads into paid classes and membership sites. She explains how she made her course and membership site different compared to "recipe" or "meal planning" sites as well as how she developed the software to make it truly stand out.
Quotes:
“When you go from spinning backward to spending forward, you can use all that emotional and mental energy on whatever else in your life you need to spend it on, instead of food.” – Erin Chase
“I want you invested in this, and I want you to succeed. The best way to do that is for you to invest in it.” – Erin Chase
“I've always been a bit obsessed with efficiency—more so than productivity. I’d call myself a pretty productive person, but I want things to be efficient, both in my own work and within our team.” – Erin Chase
Takeaways:
06:36 Efficiency and productivity are critical skills that can be developed and applied across personal and professional life.
14:58 Creating a list of 20 family-favorite meals helps break routine cooking patterns and expands meal variety.
21:46 Small morning decisions and organizational habits can prevent a cascade of stress and poor choices throughout the day.
25:08 Developing software or tools should focus on intuitive design that allows users to navigate without extensive instructions.
28:49 Many entrepreneurs struggle with implementing plans and evaluating project progress, which hinders business growth.
Resources
- 5 Dollar Dinners (Website)
- Grocery Budget Makeover (Website)
- PIEK Efficiency (Website)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:14 — 28.6MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | RSS
315: Delete, Delegate, Do: Defeat Overwhelm, Maximize Your Revenue, and Create Time with Business Productivity Expert Nancy Gaines
Nancy Gaines is a business productivity expert who wants to remove your stress, give you more time in the day, and help you live up to your full potential by becoming your best self. Done is better than none, so you need to throw out that to-do list and find a better way of getting things done. Nancy can help you to free up one hour in the day, overcome fear/overwhelm, chunk light tasks together, and so much more. Make money, save, then systematize.
Quotes:
“Anything you do in your business more than twice should have a repeatable system. Anything you do more than three times should be automated, so it runs by itself.” – Nancy Gaines
“Done is better than none. Most people are too afraid to take action because it's not perfect.” – Nancy Gaines
“Everything can be undone. There are very few things in life that you can't undo.” – Nancy Gaines
Takeaways:
04:28 Focus on your highest and best use of time by outsourcing tasks that cost less than your hourly rate.
08:46 Chunk similar tasks together to reduce time wasted switching between different types of work.
14:33 Use the "333" method: delete three tasks, delegate three tasks, and focus on three priority tasks.
17:50 Create systems for any business task you do more than two times to increase efficiency.
21:22 Take action, even if it's not perfect, because "done is better than none."
Resources
- Nancy Gaines (Official Website)
- HireMyMom.com (Website)
- Full Contact: (Get Additional Information About Your Leads)
- InfusionSoft: (Small Business CRM Software)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 28:38 — 26.2MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | RSS
314: Day Job to Dream Job: Have a Plan B, Become Your Own Boss, and Enjoy What You Do While Making Money with Kathy Brunner
Kathy Brunner says that you must have a Plan B where you hope for the best but plan for the worst. She's an expert in helping people either change career paths or retire and become full-time entrepreneutrs. 70% of her clients end up starting a business and 30% simply need a career change. Many times, her clients initially come to her feeling burned out, a disconnect, or no way to control her work day.
Her solution is to ask a series of thought-provoking questions, such as:
- What decisions in the past have you regretted? (very few, so take the risk that improves your life)
- What decisions have you made based on the opinions or suggestions of others? (most likely ones that you're unhappy with today)
- What decisions are you glad you made? (usually, those that involved taking a leap of faith)
If you're ready to break the cycle of being too comfortable, then listen in to what Kathy has to say.
Quotes:
“Sometimes people need to leave a job because, even if they've had expert training in it, done it for many years, and done it well, they just don't have a passion for it anymore.” – Kathy Brunner
“The number one thing that holds many people back is what their mind tells them they can't do.” – Kathy Brunner
“For many people, what someone else has already planned for them is what they've settled on for themselves.” – Kathy Brunner
Takeaways:
01:37 Always have a Plan B, as job security is never guaranteed.
07:57 Passion and skills can be transformed into successful business opportunities.
10:55 Burnout often stems from feeling underappreciated and lacking control in your work environment.
18:46 Your mindset is the biggest barrier to making significant career changes.
23:46 Identify past decisions driven by others' opinions to break free from limiting beliefs.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:13 — 26.7MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | RSS
313: CPA on Fire: Market Yourself, Setup the Proper Legal Business Structure, and Save More of the Money You Earn with Josh Bauerle
Josh Bauerle is the CPA on Fire. He provides accounting advice and services for many successful entrepreneurs such as John Lee Dumas of Entrepreneur on Fire. Listen in as he explains what entrepeneurs need to know (choose the right business entity, don't want until tax time, separate your business and personal bank accounts and credit card) as well as how he's marketed himself online and discovered his unique hook.
Quotes:
“Anytime you can show people exactly how it's going to correlate to their money and put more money in their pockets, that gets people interested.” – Josh Bauerle
“You have to constantly be willing to fail. You have to constantly be willing for people to say no to you. And every once in a while, it's going to work—and when it does, it makes up for all the no's and all the failures, and more.” – Josh Bauerle
“You need to have those numbers. You should be able to go at any point in the year and say, ‘Okay, year to date, I've made this much, I've spent this much. This is what I can do to improve.” – Josh Bauerle
Takeaways:
06:01 Separate your business and personal finances to track expenses accurately and maximize tax savings.
10:07 Choose the right business entity based on your income level to potentially save thousands in taxes each year.
19:20 Build your business by providing value to other entrepreneurs' audiences through podcasts, blogs, and strategic partnerships.
21:53 Understand your business numbers to make smarter financial decisions about reinvestment and personal income.
24:45 Always be willing to fail fast and test new business ideas with minimal upfront investment.
Resources
- CPA on Fire (Website)
- Four Finance Lessons Entrepreneurs Can't Afford to Miss (Free Report)
- Contact Josh: josh@cpaonfire.com
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:01 — 28.4MB) | Embed
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Podchaser | RSS
