Recent Updates
245: Wow Factor Marketing: Stop Spraying Bullets and Use Direct Response Techniques to Adapt and Thrive with John Dwyer
John Dwyer from TheInstituteOfWow.com has noticed that many businesses simply "spray bullets" -- they don't use direct response techniques to measure their marketing. They should use the Wheel of Wow:
- Identify your most profitable customer: not your target audience, an actual person... then market more people like that
- Add Wow Factor: get prospects to take their eyes off the price (the Happy Meal effect)
- Position problem/solution scenario: the same way weight loss companies market (before and after)
- Fix your website: make sure it has those sticky ingredients (welcome video, headline, testimonials, data capture)
- Repetitive trade: get customers to use a loyalty/reward system (think "sandwich punch card")
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:12 — 32.2MB) | Embed
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244: The Business of Life: Achieve Financial Freedom, Personal Freedom, and Create the Type of Business You Want with Keith Callahan
Keith Callahan is a husband and father of four who can show you how to get not only financial freedom, but freedom of time as well.
He's made money with real estate, financial consulting, network marketing, and life coaching. He has a number of insights about the difference between inspiration vs. perspiration, along with self-obsession, perspective, and gratitude.
Resources
- Keith Callahan (Official Website)
- The Business of Life Podcast (Podcast)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 31:07 — 28.5MB) | Embed
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243: Run Live Events and Workshops with Direct Response Event Planner Sherrie Sokolowski
Sherrie Sokolowski (email address sherriesokoevents@gmail.com) from SLSEventPlanning.com is an event planner who can structure, strategize, and fill seats in your live events.
She has tons of unique insights about "modern" soft-sell events and workshops with bonus days. She wants to tell you about common mistakes made with events, venues, overflow rooms, webinars, live streams, cancellations, and more.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:33 — 32.5MB) | Embed
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242: The Four D’s of Reputation Marketing: Discover, Define, Develop and Defend with Pamela Gockley
Pamela Gockley from Repuatus.com wants you to work on your reputation. Branding is who you are, but reputation is how you're perceived (which may be egotistical, narissistic, or aggressive). It's important to take the DISC profile test (every year if you can) so yoy find out who you really are, and then apply the four D's...
- Discover: discover your past and personal awareness, how do people perceive you?
- Define: set goals
- Develop: website, target marketing, and messaging
- Defend: how to react or apologize if the "shit hits the fan"
Resources
- Reputatus (Website)
- Email: pam@reputatus.com
- The Art of Running Red Lights (Book)
- The Reputation Factor (Book)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 27:08 — 24.8MB) | Embed
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241: Stop Overpaying Your Taxes and Avoid Entrepreneurial Mistakes That Cost You Thousands with Diane Gardner
Diane Gardner from TaxCoach4You.com is a tax superhero and wants you to avoid mistakes you're making on your taxes, such as using the wrong entity type or not deducting meals and entertainment. You can make use of your home office deduction, hire your kids, make use if health insurance and retirement if you know what to do.
Quotes:
“I firmly believe in being a giver. So if we can get that information into people's hands, they can start learning about some of these things that possibly their accountant or their tax preparer isn't really telling them about.” – Diane Gardner
“Choosing an accountant is an awful lot like dating because you want to get to know that person. You want to find out if they are entrepreneurial and if they understand your industry.” – Diane Gardner
“A lot of people don't feel comfortable doing it themselves, so I always suggest that you should hook up with a good, solid professional of some sort to make sure that those expenses are being recorded.” – Diane Gardner
Takeaways:
02:52 Small business owners can reduce tax burden by implementing strategic planning like hiring family members and writing off specific expenses.
04:52 Regular tax analysis can uncover hidden profit and potential savings opportunities.
08:00 Choosing the right business entity type can save entrepreneurs thousands in taxes each year.
14:25 Tracking and documenting business expenses is crucial for maximizing tax deductions.
21:49 Internet marketers and solopreneurs often miss significant tax deduction opportunities due to poor record-keeping.
Resources:
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:10 — 21.2MB) | Embed
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240: Web Design and SEO: Optimize Your Website Using Cutting Edge (and Common Sense) Tweaks and Factors with Jeremy Knauff
Jeremy Knauff is a US Marine Corps veteran, proud father, and husband who has dedicated over 17 years to helping businesses grow through digital marketing. As the founder of Spartan Media, he specializes in web design and search engine optimization (SEO). Jeremy is also an author for Search Engine Journal, a prominent industry publication. His expertise spans web development, digital marketing strategies, and helping companies improve their online presence.
The low-hanging fruit is to use the Google PageSpeed tool to measure your site's speed (remove slow plugins), as well as the mobile friendly test (refine your tap targets and adjust images that are too big).
Next, optimize your site for what your users want, as well as their intent (for those customers who come to your site for a specific purpose, for example, to find a phone number or address).
Quotes:
“When somebody comes to a website, they're coming there for their own needs. So that's an example of basically setting the stage for the customer, not for the owner.” – Jeremy Knauff
“Most websites tell you right off the bat how great they are and how they're the best. But that's not what anybody cares about.” – Jeremy Knauff
“You have to figure out what the particular visitor is trying to accomplish, and route them in a way that's going to be most efficient for them.” – Jeremy Knauff
Takeaways:
07:39 Website speed matters more than most business owners realize, with even a tenth of a second delay potentially impacting revenue.
12:53 Most websites make the mistake of talking about themselves instead of focusing on what users actually want.
14:00 Before building a website, understand the different intents of potential visitors and create pathways that efficiently guide them.
17:40 Mobile responsiveness is now critical, with Google using a mobile-first index that prioritizes mobile-friendly websites.
24:10 Adding too many plugins can dramatically slow down a website's performance, especially on WordPress.
Resources
- Spartan Media (Website)
- Spartan Media (Facebook)
- Spartan Media (Twitter)
- Amazon found every 100ms of latency cost them 1% in sales (Blog post)
- Jeremy Knauff on Search Engine (Journal)
- Mistakes Smart Web Designers Make That Can Kill SEO (Podcast)
- Google PageSpeed Tool (Tool)
- Mobile Friendly Test (Test)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 25:15 — 23.1MB) | Embed
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239: Escape the Rat Race: Learn, Take Action, Achieve Success, and Scale Up with Mark Walker
Mark Walker is a successful real estate investor who transitioned from a high-tech corporate leadership role to becoming a full-time entrepreneur. He founded Lux Mana Investments, focusing on residential and multifamily property investments. Mark began his real estate journey in 2004 after reading "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" by Robert Kiyosaki, which inspired him to pursue passive income strategies. He successfully purchased and developed properties, including a 64-unit apartment complex, and ultimately quit his corporate job in January 2015 to pursue real estate investing full-time.
In our discussion today, Mark talks about discipline, lifestyle, decision-making, priorities, procrastination, and inspiration.
Quotes:
“Learning leads to action, and it's the action that actually leads to success.” – Mark Walker
“I'm never done learning. I'm constantly focused on learning more, figuring out what's working, what's not working, and what can improve.” – Mark Walker
“Procrastination really is a self-inflicted stress that we all have complete control over.” – Mark Walker
Takeaways:
02:10 Successful entrepreneurs prioritize learning and continuously seek ways to improve their skills and knowledge.
08:48 Breaking free from the corporate paycheck mindset takes time and mental preparation, even after achieving financial independence.
11:33 Creating passive income requires setting clear lifestyle goals and building financial strategies around those objectives.
15:04 Procrastination is a self-inflicted stress that entrepreneurs can control by making daily conscious choices.
21:43 Making time for important goals happens naturally when you're truly passionate about your objectives.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 23:16 — 21.3MB) | Embed
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238: Repurpose Your Career: Find a Career or Business That Fulfills You At Any Age or Skill Level with Marc Miller
Marc Miller from CareerPivot.com is a professional career changer for his clients. He's here to help you discover not only who you are, who you work best with (environment). For example, some people are "structured anarchists" and "stealth competitors."
Listen in and discover the difference between talents (things you do innately) and skills (things you learned). Speak authentically, develop your brand, find out how people see you, what's different about you, and where you fit best.
Quotes:
“The key piece here is understanding who you are and where you are going to fit.” – Marc Miller
“For most of us, it's more important who we work with in the environment than what we actually do.” – Marc Miller
“If you have skills that are not essentially attached to your innate talents, and you overuse them, that's when you get burnout.” – Marc Miller
Takeaways:
02:06 Career changes are normal and necessary in today's fast-changing job market, with professionals potentially switching careers 3-5 times in their lifetime.
08:35 Understanding your innate talents and skills is crucial to finding a fulfilling career that matches your true personality.
22:28 Entrepreneurship isn't for everyone, with only about 10% of people naturally suited to starting their own business.
30:44 Learning problem-solving skills is more important than mastering specific technical tools that may become outdated quickly.
44:06 The future of work involves continuous learning and periodic reinvention across different stages of life.
Resources
- Career Pivot (Website)
- Repurpose Your Career (Book)
- 100 Year Life (eBook)
- Will It Fly by Pat Flynn (Book)
- Who Moved My Cheese by Kenneth Blanchard (Book)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 46:35 — 42.7MB) | Embed
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237: Money Answers: Setup Your Business Structure, Get Financing, Put Your Money to Work for You, Refinance Student Loans and Optimize Your Mortgage with Jordan Goodman
Jordan Goodman from MoneyAnswers.com has a number of financial solutions to not only setup your business structure correctly, but obtain business financing, optimize your mortgage, and more.
Quotes:
“One word that is the key to success in life and business is leverage. And by leverage, I mean leveraging other people's expertise, finances, and contacts.” – Jordan Goodman
“The two greatest forces of personal finance and business finance are inertia and apathy. People don't do that, and they don't care.” – Jordan Goodman
“I wish people learned more of this stuff in school, but they don't. You can go through the finest university, and they don't give you anything about how to start a business.” – Jordan Goodman
Takeaways:
05:00 Choose the right business structure from the start to protect personal assets and make future selling easier.
16:06 Banks are tough on small business loans, so explore alternative financing options like peer-to-peer lending and specialized lending platforms.
21:21 Don't let money sit idle in low-interest bank accounts; seek out investment opportunities like commercial real estate income funds that offer better returns.
29:19 Student loan refinancing can dramatically reduce interest rates and help borrowers pay off debt faster.
30:54 Mortgage optimization techniques can help homeowners pay off their mortgage in 5-7 years instead of 30 years.
Resources
- MoneyAnswers.com (Official Website)
- Business Answers Today (877-627-5555): Setup Your Business Structure (sole prop, S-corp, C-corp, LLC, or LLP)
- Corporate Lending Solutions (877-290-2510): Get Business Funding
- Commercial Real Income Funds (888-444-2102): Invest In Small Commercial Property Renovation
- Dream Funded (Quity Crowd funding)
- Credible Money Answers (866-540-6005): Refinance Student Loans to 2-3%
- Truth In Equity (Optimize Your Mortgage With A Home Equity Line Of Credit)
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 34:07 — 31.2MB) | Embed
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236: Get More Clients with Less Marketing, Overcome Burnout, and Develop Profitable Habits with with Mary Cravets
Mary Cravets is a business growth and development expert who specializes in helping driven entrepreneurs expand their businesses effectively. With a professional background spanning real estate, business-to-business networking events, and business consulting, she has developed a unique approach to helping business owners get more clients and create sustainable growth strategies. Mary is known for her speaking engagements and strategic business development guidance.
Mary Cravets from MaryCravets.com/bigimpact says that instead of drowning people in content, you should build your own path and breeze through the "what the hell" period.
Develop better habits, delegate sooner, narrow ideas, land your favorite clients, and become more productive.
Quotes:
“The way that I work is I start with real fundamental concepts that help people build their own path, using their strengths, their values throughout every area of their business.” – Mary Cravets
“In client generation, there's no queue; you just have to be self-motivated. So you have to build structure into your business so that there is some kind of self-imposed queue.” – Mary Cravets
“You have to be willing to build from your priorities, and not someone else's, even if it's fun, even if you've made a commitment.” – Mary Cravets
Takeaways:
05:21 Focus on 3-4 marketing tactics that actually work instead of trying 27 different strategies.
09:26 Build a system of rewards for consistent marketing actions to overcome the lack of immediate feedback.
12:01 Delegate tasks and hire help sooner than you think you need to in order to grow your business.
16:23 Be willing to say no to commitments that don't align with your business priorities.
19:22 Prepare your to-do list the night before to hit the ground running and maximize morning productivity.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 26:21 — 24.1MB) | Embed
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