The SuccessLab Podcast: Where Entrepreneurs Collaborate for Success: Recent Episodes

View Details

When something is broken, oftentimes, the natural instinct is to turn a blind eye and hope someone else will fix it — but this wasn’t the case for Paul Roetzer. While working at a public relations agency early in his career, Paul was having a hard time reconciling the services he was providing for clients with the cost of their retainers. So, he set to work on a solution that would standardize PR services and prices. And in 2005, Paul launched PR 20/20, a marketing consulting and services firm that became the first firm in HubSpot's certified partner program which now includes thousands of agencies from around the world.

According to Paul, success isn’t solely financial — it’s about bringing true value to others and aligning yourself with people who have a similar take on life. He truly believes his career successes — from growing PR 20/20 to authoring two books (The Marketing Performance Blueprint and The Marketing Agency Blueprint) to launching the Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute — is a direct indication of this.

In this episode, Paul discusses why getting uncomfortable and making small bets on yourself is one of the best ways to fuel your career and achieve the goals you set for yourself. This mindset has helped him successfully manage the rapid growth of PR 20/20 while dealing with the tragic passing of his best friend — an event that forever changed his perspective on life and business.

Read on for a selection of questions, and listen to the entire interview by clicking the player above.

What led you to create PR 20/20? In the early 2000s, I was working at a PR agency and I didn't really understand the business model. Everything was billable hours and in my young mind, it didn’t make sense. I would send invoices to clients every month and it'd be a block of text of all the things we did. The client would call me and say, “this looks great, but what did we get for $12,000 last month?”. I wanted this process to be more tangible for myself and for clients, so I started working on this idea of standardized services and set pricing.

“PR 20/20” was originally a paper I wrote about how the industry needed a new vision for how it did everything. A year and a half after writing it, I went home and told my wife that I'm going to start a business. She said, “okay, what does that mean?”. I said, “I don't know, but I'll make sure we have health insurance and a paycheck when I do.” That was a Wednesday and on that Sunday, I got a $25,000 loan from a family member and I started the business two weeks later.

What was one of your darkest moments, and how did you emerge from it? I was 27 when I started the agency. I didn't have any kids and my wife and I had been married for four or five years at that point. Life was pretty good and then my father-in-law passed away suddenly of cancer. We tried to figure out how to move on with life after that and then the following year, my best friend died in a tragic accident. Here I was in the midst of 100% growth, and from the outside, it seemed as though I had everything figured out. On the inside, I was a wreck and was trying to figure out how to piece together the next day. I threw myself into business even harder because it became my escape and the growth distracted me from dealing with the reality of life.

It was the reality that took me a long time to kind of come to grips with. No one wants to live through that stuff, but I have a totally different perspective on life and business once I eventually made it through.

What has been one of the best things you’ve done for the business to grow it? I made a bet on HubSpot in the very early days. I think what I've done well in my career is finding people I wanted to surround myself with — people who had really interesting visions and who I thought had the will to see them through. HubSpot was very much a bet on its people, not on its technology. I truly believed Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah were committed to building a different kind of company and eventually a much better product that would help our clients and us. Many of the doors that opened in my life — like writing books to eventually moving into the AI space — came from these early days and the relationships I built at HubSpot.

How have you managed to juggle the growth and sustainability of both 20/20 and the Marketing Artificial Intelligence Institute? Part of the way I balance everything is that I never get too high or too low on anything because stuff goes sideways all the time. I teach my team that when something goes sideways, you can't get caught up in the totality of the thing that went wrong. You have to break that thing into little pieces — and then attack those pieces and solve them one at a time. As long as you stay focused on the thing you can actually affect, then you don't get caught up in the bigger problem that can make you feel overwhelmed.

Are there one or two connections you’ve made along your journey that made a big impact? Dharmesh Shah and Brian Halligan at HubSpot. They're just good people. Jay Baer also comes to mind. He is one of those people who is bigger than life on stage, but is probably a 10 times better person in real life. Other people I can think of include Ann Handley, David Meerman Scott, Mitch Joel, Marcus Sheridan, Joe Pulizzi, and Andrew Davis — they're just incredible humans. I've been really lucky to not only become peers with them on the speaking circuit and in the author world, but actually become friends with them to the point where we can grab dinner, jump on a call or drop a text message. They've always been there and that's just the kind of people they are.

What's advice would you have for fellow entrepreneurs looking to launch a side hustle or second business? Having talked to a lot of entrepreneurs, they think success is what their family, friends, peers or competitors think of what they're building, but none of their opinions matter. I think not enough successful entrepreneurs tell the emerging entrepreneurs that they get to define their own success, so that would be my takeaway for them.

Speed round: * Coffee drinker, yes or no? Yes. Three to four cups a day.

• One business tool you’re geeking out over right now? I'm real keen on what we're doing with MarketMuse.

• Favorite piece of technology? I really love the Philips Hue lights. I like being able to have a million different colors and control it from my phone.

• What’s one book you’d pass along to a fellow entrepreneur? Human + Machine. It does a really good job of laying the groundwork for how marketers, agency professionals, and people will work with AI in the future — without a bunch of technical jargon.

• One person you’d like to make a connection with? Mark Cuban

• What would be your icebreaker if you were to meet Mark Cuban? I would probably ask him what AI tools he's using now because he's got to be using some cool stuff.

• How many hours of sleep do you get each night, on average? Six to seven hours.

• Which Lil’ Wayne song is your favorite? I love his remix of “Imagine” with Imagine Dragons. He just has the one section in the song, but I think it's really cool and it's the only Lil’ Wayne song my daughter can listen to.

• How can people connect with you? Twitter and LinkedIn. Just make sure to add a little note that you heard me on this podcast.

View Details

When a routine –– and very common –– medical procedure went awry, it prompted a major career and life shift for Stephanie Schull. Stephanie’s mother underwent a procedure that hundreds of thousands of women have undergone, and like many that have –– which they would soon come to learn –– her outcome was unsuccessful, leaving her in pain for the rest of her life.

Refusing to accept this fate, Stephanie left her career as a philosophy professor in pursuit of a better solution for the many women who—like her mother—experience pelvic floor issues.

Today, Stephanie is the founder and inventor of Kegelbell, the only FDA-registered external vaginal weight that provides a natural way to get stronger pelvic floor muscles. Through Kegelbell, she is aiming to remove stigmas around women’s health and bring a voice to pelvic floor issues that have been kept quiet far too long.

In this episode, we learn about Stephanie’s sweeping move from academia to the business world, the challenges she faced in producing solutions for what is still mostly a taboo subject, and the creative ways she’s been able to run her company with a lean team.

Read on for a selection of questions, and listen to the entire interview by clicking the player above.

What led you to create what is today known as Kegelbell? My mother got a pelvic mesh surgery that didn't work well for her and she will be in pain for the rest of her life. When I learned about this, I was shocked to know that she had problems with her pelvic floor for all these decades. And I was shocked that there was a surgery with such a questionable success. My response to the problem was to research it. That's when I realized that most women have problems with their pelvic floor and as of five or so years ago, people weren't talking about it. The solutions, as a result, were flawed because there wasn't enough conversation. As I dug, I saw that there was a good option, it was just not being utilized. When I talked to people about it and discovered they weren't going to make it right, that's where I decided I had to get involved, so I quit academia and started Kegelbell.

What's been one of the biggest challenges you've had to overcome in building Kegelbell? The first challenge was that the subject of pelvic floor issues was taboo. My mother had the problem for decades and didn't tell us about it. When I started wanting to fundraise, I heard a lot of “no, that's not really a problem” and “it's too expensive to educate people about it.” Something else that I got pushed back on was the solution I was proposing to fix, treat and prevent weakened pelvic muscles. A lot of investors were saying, “you need to provide an ongoing band-aid solution that keeps the customer on the hook.” I ran into some pretty systemic problems right out the gate.

What was one of your darkest moments, and how did you emerge from it? The darkest moment is an ongoing, everyday concern. With a physical product, I'm looking down the barrel of bank account and cash flow issues every day. Looking at cash flow problems is uncomfortable and it's like I'm flying too close to the sun all the time. As I get bigger, it's the same problem, just with larger numbers. This isn't going to go away. I have to adjust to this reality, which is a bit different than the things I've been used to up until this point.

What keeps you going? Listening to podcasts like these so you don't feel alone. It’s important to hear from other people with multi-billion dollar companies and hearing them say it's never comfortable and that they're always close to the edge. I recently heard the founders of Lyft talk about how some of the scary moments just don't go away, and I’ve been telling myself that. Finding comfort in hearing from others is why I wanted to share my experience in hopes it helps someone else.

What has been one of the best things you’ve done for the business to grow it? Not giving up. If you stick with it, it grows a little bit incrementally and then that growth becomes exponential. It's been hard because I haven't paid myself this whole time. We have very few paid people, but that helps us grow. Also, finding the right people to have around. In this case, it's people willing to work as a volunteer for free or at a reduced rate because they really love the mission. I need their energy and talents for this to work, so bringing on more people, even though I didn't have the money to, really mattered.

What does the future look like for Kegelbell? More products. I have so many products on the shelf that I want to launch. Everyone has warned me that it’s too soon and to wait until Kegelbell is strong enough. But, you have to innovate and offer more. The investors are right in that having just one product isn't sufficient. Once you've acquired the customer at that cost, you need more than one product. So, rather than give them a solution that isn't permanent, I'm just going to give them more products that do different things and solve different problems. I hope to be known as a company that solves problems in a novel way.

Are there one or two impactful connections along your journey that made a big impact? I think a big deal for me was getting connected to SEED SPOT, which is an incubator/accelerator for businesses with a social impact. I went from having no business network to immediately being connected to a world where people were helpful.

One of my favorite memories of another impactful connection stemmed from an architecture trip to LA I went on with a friend. During one of her meetings, I went to a pot pie place. There was a nice gentleman there behind the cash register. He came by and asked me how the pot pie was. Eventually, I began to tell him all about Kegelbell. He started asking questions and then he offered some advice. I found this guy to be really resourceful and that he had some useful information. He said he'd be happy to look at my website and give me some feedback. Later, I found out that this guy was not the cashier at a pot pie place. He was a former CMO at Pixar, Disney, Nestle, and was the current CMO at Sears. He’s also one of the Harvard Business School Angel Association and has been a mentor and one of my advisors since that day.

What's one piece of advice you would give to fellow entrepreneurs looking to make impactful connections? Hopefully that story of the pot pie place is a lesson that you never know where a connection will be made. I’d also say that too many people are hesitant and take the safe route. Be a little more risky, because bold gestures often end up resonating.

Speed round: Coffee drinker, yes or no? Yes.

One business tool you’re geeking out over right now? Gorgias

Favorite piece of technology? The cell phone

What’s one book you’d pass along to a fellow entrepreneur? The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss

One person you’d like to make a connection with? Tim Ferriss or Sigmund Freud

What’s your favorite ice breaker when introducing yourself to someone (either online or off)? If someone says you look familiar, I say, do you watch a lot of porn? And then they're like, “Oh wait...no. Do you?” I say I don't but that I was just looking for a conversation starter. It slays every time, and if someone runs away scared, you probably didn't want to hang out with them anyway.

How many hours of sleep do you get each night, on average? At least eight hours, sometimes seven.

How can people connect with you or Kegelbell? You pretty much can find us on any platform—TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. You can also email hello@kegelbell.com.

View Details

Seven continents, 70 countries, countless books, studies in psychology, philosophy and physiology at Oxford with a specialization in brain chemistry were all part of a quest to figure out how to live a good life and what a good life even means.

And that search eventually led Arthur Worsley to create The Art of Living. Prior to, however, he had been working 80+ hour weeks at McKinsey for three years. Burnout and several other life events prompted him to leave and finally start to uncover what it means to live a good life. Today, after immersing himself in studying this, he is helping others get more out of life and achieve self mastery through his TRACKTION Masterclass and The Art of Living.

The following is the transcript from the show. But first, a few helpful links:

• More about the TRACTION Masterclass (tip: use code “wiredpr75” to get 75% off the class! Only the first 50 people)
• GTD (Getting Things Done) book summary
• Productivity & Performance: Do More, Better
• How to accelerate learning

What led you to create The Art of Living?

I left McKinsey and I'd been doing a whole load of things. I'd been studying, I learned five languages, I did an ultra marathon through the Sahara desert, I'd been traveling and reading books, and I wanted a way to capture all of that. I stumbled on the Fineman method of learning –– learning by teaching it to someone else. I started putting this stuff down and people started reading it.

I've always been fascinated with being good at life. I had a father who was an alcoholic and despite having all of the advantages that he could have possibly had, he sort of threw his life away. If I look back at my decision on why I wanted to study psychology, why I've always been so interested in reading and why I went traveling, a lot of them link back to trying to get to the bottom of these questions, which is how can we live a good life? How can we not throw away everything that we're given? What does a good life even mean? That's where The Art of Living really came from.

What was the turning point when you realized you had stumbled onto something viable with The Art of Living?

When I started out and people started resonating with the stuff I was writing, that was the first moment where I thought, maybe this is possible. The moment that I realized that this was really going to be something cool was when I was with one of my partner's friends who’s a retired CEO. I was chatting to him and his wife about the life philosophy that I'd put together, the way I organize my weeks and my days and how I avoid burnout and they said, “Hey, would you give us some coaching?” I'd never really thought about coaching people on that, and that is when I realized that the business was probably going to be viable.

What were the early days like? Once you knew you wanted to build this, how long did it take you?

I started out reading a lot of books and it was a huge learning curve for me. Some people start a business and they come from a strong marketing background and then they find a product that they can sell. Some people have a product or a cause that they believe in, and then they're trying to work out the marketing aspect of it.

For me, even though the product had been evolving, I knew what it was I wanted to help people with from a very early stage and I focused on one channel. I’m a big search engine optimization guy. I love the idea of just optimizing something and then leaving it out there and having it slowly accrue more people. That was my top-of-funnel and then I had to work out how to turn those readers into subscribers and those subscribers into buyers? That was a long process of trial and error and learning from people who'd been there before me.

It’s quite a different path than McKinsey, was there anything you had to overcome mentally to let go of that chapter and pursue this as a new path?

I think it's surprisingly similar to McKinsey in two ways. The first is that what I do involves taking really big problems and breaking them down into really small problems that are easy to solve. The reason I'm able to help people find more balance and meaning in their lives is when you break it down into eight different areas and five different time horizons, suddenly it becomes a set of much smaller problems. The second thing is that it's all about learning super steep learning curves. I would start a project at McKinsey knowing nothing about oil and gas or defense or healthcare or supermarkets in the UK and within three months you're helping the CEO clarify decisions they're going to make. One of the things that I did struggle with is I've always loved problem solving for the sake of problem solving and that tends to mean that I put more energy into solving the problem than it necessarily needs. I have to keep catching myself not to get sucked into spending more time than I need solving the problems that are in front of me.

One of the things you’re most known for is your TRACKTION productivity system. In that, one of the first steps is to diagnose what’s holding you back. Can you share some tips on how to identify that?

There's two kinds of people in this world: those who know what they need to be doing and aren't doing it, and the people who genuinely don't know what they need to be doing. For a lot of people, getting clear on which of those they are, is important. A lot of people know what's going to move the needle and what the most important thing in their business is, and they just can't seem to focus on it. For those, I think one of the most important things you can do is start tracking your time and creating a bit of an inventory of what it is that you're actually working on. When you track your time, it creates accountability. I don't mean on a minute by minute basis or with an app where you build pie charts. You can do this very simply on a piece of paper. You say, 7:15am start breakfast, 7:45am start work, whatever it is that you do. You get a lot of clarity around how much of that time is not being spent on the stuff that's important.

For the people who genuinely don't know what to do, the most important thing is to just sit down and work out what that most important thing is. You can go through a basic planning method where you work out what it is you're trying to achieve. The model I use is ‘what, why not, how, what if and what next’. You ask yourself, what’s the what? Then you write down all the reasons that you're not already there. Then you go, how can I solve all of those things? Then you go through a what if phase, which is where you anticipate anything that could come up that could derail you. Then you look at that entire list and go, what's the most important thing on this list that I could be working on and you get on with that. If you do that, you'll naturally squeeze the stuff that doesn't matter off your plate.

How do you then identify things you may be doing on a daily basis that don’t really matter?

The most powerful way is when you have a vision of what awesome looks like for each area of your life. Something I like to get people to do is write down all the things they're working on right now and then you give each of those things a score from minus five to plus five. Minus five is any activity that's taking you strongly away from that vision that you've written down. Plus five is anything that's taking you strongly towards that. It creates a huge amount of clarity to go down that list and give everything a number. What people who are really struggling tend to do is they have a few minus ones and minus twos on that list and those are things you can easily get rid of. What people who are very productive but are struggling to get to the next level find is they have a lot of plus ones and plus twos and those are things that are hard to give up because they're not doing you any harm and might be slightly pleasant, but they're not as important as the plus five and plus four stuff that’s getting you towards your vision. Doing that process is super helpful for getting clear.

If you don't have time to think about what awesome looks like or you haven't done any visions for the different areas of your life, you can use a few heuristic models. I tend to use three nets. The first is the ABC method. A is something that if you did or didn't do, it would have a big impact and C is something that would have no impact at all. B is something that would have a little impact. You go down the list and you go, this is an A task and if I stopped doing it, stuff's really going to start going wrong. This is a C task, if I stopped doing it, nothing will really happen. The second model, I call “hero-based thinking”. Think who's your business hero and then look at each of the things on your task list and go, would my hero be doing this or not? The last net is the $10 task test. Go down the list and ask, how much would it cost to outsource this to a freelancer and that will give you the final clue, which is, is this something that I personally should be doing? If you're an entrepreneur and you aspire to be paid $1,000 an hour, and you've got a lot of $10-tasks on your list, or even a lot of $100-tasks, then you're short changing yourself. Those three nets will tell you, is it important, should it be done at all and should I be doing it?

You work with a lot of entrepreneurs who are facing burnout whether because their work has taken over their lives or they feel like they have to compromise their lives in some way to grow the business. Is there a common thread among these entrepreneurs that you’ve seen –– something that’s keeping them in that pattern? How can they start to break free from that?

The two most common ones are lack of energy and lack of clarity. For lack of energy, I talk about three kinds of days: A days, B days and C days. An A day is a work day where you're working on the most important projects. B days are planning days where you work out what success looks like or get clear on your inboxes. C days are recovery days where you get to the end of the day with more energy. For the last four weeks, mark in your calendar as an all day event if it was an A day, B day or C day. Suddenly people go, I haven't had a C day in four weeks, no wonder I'm feeling a bit run down. Or, I've only had two C-ish days because I was at a wedding and that doesn't really count.

A lot of the time, it's just creating clarity. It's so easy to forget how long and how hard we've been working as an entrepreneur. And then you can put for the next four weeks when are you going to do your A, B and C days. My rhythm is five A days, one C day and one B day every week, and every four weeks, I try and take at least three or four consecutive C days to recuperate my batteries. The second is, a lot of the reason people end up just working on work is because they don't have a best alternative to working on work. I encourage people to get really clear on what it is they actually want out of the other areas of life. What does success look like for their family, their health, their wealth, the learning and growth that they want to through? When you're offered a choice, it doesn't just become a default of I'll do more work.

On The SuccessLab Podcast we talk about the idea of impactful connections and how they can really transform the trajectory of your career or your business. Are there one or two along your journey that made a big impact?

One of the most important set of relationships that I've had are the mentors in the books I've read. There are two ways that you can approach a book. You can approach it as you listen to what it is that's being said to you, or you can treat it as an active dialogue with the author. Those relationships are very powerful. That's a kind of academic answer so I think the most important relationship that I've got at the moment is my partner, Erin. She's amazing. Lastly, I have a very specific set of values that I look for in the friends that I keep around me and all of those people are constantly inspiring me, making me feel grateful to be alive and showing me new ways of thinking and challenging some of the parts of me that need more development.

What's one piece of advice you would give to fellow entrepreneurs looking to make a change in their lives?

It’s really helpful to get smart at breaking problems down. Peter Drucker says, if you give two highly competent people a role and they both fail at it, the chances are it's not the people, it's the role that needs to be broken down into more specific roles. I think the same is true of problems. If you throw a lot of people, time and effort at a problem and you can't solve it, it's probably because you haven't worked out how to break it down yet. One of the most important pieces of advice I got when I started out with my blogging was to split my efforts into readers, subscribers, and buyers. That seems like such an obvious thing to do but the moment you break that problem down, it clarifies everything you need to do. Learning to break problems down into smaller pieces is really helpful. Another general problem-solving tip is to invert things. If someone says what does success look like for your business or what should you be working on? You can invert that question and ask, what's the thing that I shouldn't be working on or what don't I want from my business? That will help you narrow the solution space in a way that makes getting to the positive answer more easy.

Speed round:

• Coffee drinker, yes or no? No.

• One business tool you’re geeking out over right now? ActiveCampaign

• Favorite piece of technology? My iPad Pro and Apple Pencil

• What’s one book you’d pass along to a fellow entrepreneur? Getting Things Done by David Allen

• One person you’d like to make a connection with? I really wish I could have met Stephen Covey.

• What’s your favorite ice breaker when introducing yourself to someone? Smile. I think the positivity, energy and interest that you show in other people is almost always reflected back.

• How many hours of sleep do you get each night, on average? I always give myself an eight-hour sleep opportunity and then I also have a siesta every afternoon that's usually 20 minutes to 60 minutes, depending on how well I slept the night before or how tired I am.

• How can people connect with you and The Art of Living? theartofliving.com You will find the blog organized by the different areas of life. There's book recommendations, book summaries, articles and courses. If you're overwhelmed, you can sign up to my mailing list and I spend the first week guiding you around the very best content on the site.

View Details

To leave the corporate world at the beginning of a financial recession to start a company requires big thinking and even bigger action—and Rebecca Clyde has both in spades. Add that to her ability to outhustle and outwork her competitors and it’s no wonder Rebecca was able to quickly find innovative paths to revenue and growth for her clients despite all odds.

Today, Rebecca has built one of the most highly sought after marketing communications agencies in Phoenix, Ideas Collide, in addition to co-founding her newest venture Botco.ai, a platform that offers chat-nurturing solutions for businesses. How does she do it? By leading with value and operating under the mentality that if you pay it forward, the rest will follow.

In this episode, we talk with Rebecca about the forces that drive her enterprising spirit, the hard lessons she’s learned along the way, and how she creates channels for paying it forward.

Read on for a selection of questions, and listen to the entire interview by clicking the player above.

What led you to leave the corporate confines to build your own company, Ideas Collide?

At the time, I worked at a good company and really enjoyed everything I did while I was there. But I wanted to take more control of my destiny and my income and I realized the corporate world had a lot of limitations. I realized I had outgrown my ability to work for somebody else and was ready to spread my own wings.

In those early days, what were some of the challenges you had to overcome to achieve growth?

We started the company in the middle of the recession in 2008. The very beginning years were scrappy. Our goal was to help our clients find a path to revenue and growth despite all of those downward forces. We were also lucky that we were a startup. We didn't have the overhead of a big agency so we could charge less, be nimble, try different things and experiment without a lot of risks. Our clients really appreciated that and as a result, some of our fastest growth years were during that period where most other companies in our industry were contracting.

What was the turning point when you realized you had stumbled onto something viable with Botco.ai?

My co-founders and I had a hypothesis that the world has shifted to become on-demand. Everyone was struggling to keep up with that on-demand world because the marketing technologies, processes and frameworks that have been built were not designed for it. If we could shift that, and make businesses really responsive, then they would be able to attract more customers and retain them for longer.

Last year, one of my customers at Botco.ai A/B tested a campaign where half of their customers were driven to a ‘chat with us’ experience in which they got to interact with the Botco.ai chat. The other half went to their typical landing page to book an appointment. What we learned was when people have a chance to ask questions and get an instant answer, they're twice as likely to convert and become customers. As soon as I saw the results from that effort, I knew we were onto something.

Was it tough to make the decision to leave Ideas Collide and go full time with Botco.ai?

It was a transition I had to plan over a good amount of time. I couldn't just walk away from it without being very thoughtful. One of the things I did was make a list of all of my duties and responsibilities and slowly began training people to take on each one of those tasks. It was a way to be able to step away from that business so I could start a new company, but it was also a really great way to develop my team. It created that growth trajectory for many of the team members to step up, take on ownership, and truly have an opportunity to run the business, not just be an employee. It was also a growth opportunity for me because it was time for me to build a new company. There was a lot I needed to learn. I needed to have that space to be able to fully give Botco.ai the attention it deserved.

What was one of your darkest moments and how did you emerge from it?

With both companies, it had to do with the loss of a major customer or client. With Ideas Collide, there was one particular client that was doing a lot of work with us until they essentially shut down and disappeared. I felt like a punch in the stomach. We had all these outstanding payments with this one client and I had not put in good measures to protect ourselves against that. It was a good lesson. Sometimes these learnings can cost a little bit from a dollar standpoint, but we recovered.

With Botco.ai, we also had one client that was hit really hard with the pandemic. Unfortunately, their business contracted almost down to zero overnight. They had to go dark and having to deal with that again was a big blow. Very quickly we had to pivot our value proposition to target customers and industries that were not affected by the pandemic, or at least were affected in a different way. We realized that everything we had put in place could be easily adapted into other sectors. We took those knowledge bases and workflows we had created for our old industry and customers and pivoted those for the sector that was going to be having a lot of movement and activity as a result of COVID.

What’s one of the best things you’ve done for Botco.ai to help propel its growth?

Getting really plugged into the Arizona startup ecosystem. Phoenix is a very young scene for the startup world. Many people would say we're largely underdeveloped, but because of that, there's a lot of desire to help and a lot of great resources. What specifically helped us was winning last year’s Arizona Innovation Challenge. We were one of 10 companies to receive a $150,000 grant. It also came with incredible wraparound services that I am incredibly grateful for. We got to participate in a 500-startup entrepreneurship bootcamp that was really transformational for the business. It's resources like that that have helped us get more visibility and teach me things that I didn't know.

Are there one or two connections along your journey that made a big impact?

I could write a list of the people in my life to whom I am deeply grateful. Mike Denning has been my coach for many years and has been instrumental for me in terms of my leadership development. Meghan Bednarz, one of my first bosses at Intel, was one of those people who believed in me and my abilities and presented opportunities to me that propelled my career in many ways. Dorothy Dowling at Best Western has also been an incredible mentor and opportunity provider. She’s super visionary and an incredible leader that I admire hugely. Gina Corley is one of those quiet forces here in Arizona who is doing a lot to move businesses forward and to modernize the state of digital marketing in this town. Zack Ferris over at Coplex has been an incredible mentor and friend. Eric Miller at the Arizona Tech Council.

One of the big things I really believe in is surrounding myself with positive, high energy, experienced leaders because they have so much they can share and if I'm willing to listen and pay attention, then maybe some of that will rub off onto me.

What's one piece of advice you would give to fellow entrepreneurs looking to make impactful connections?

The most important thing is to always give and provide value first. For every ask I make, I give 10 times. In my case, I do a lot of giving back through Girls In Tech. I also get asked to support a lot of other organizations here, whether it's teaching a seminar for Local First Arizona and helping small business entrepreneurs, or helping a friend that just wants to learn a little bit about software or sales. Or supporting a fellow founder that just needs a friend to listen to or confide in. There's so many ways we can give back, but unless we're willing to do that on a pretty regular basis, I think the asking will fall short and we'll ring hollow. Make sure you have channels for paying it forward, and then the rest will just take care of itself.

Speed round:

Coffee drinker, yes or no? Sometimes

One business tool you’re geeking out over right now? Botco.AI, obviously.

Favorite piece of technology? The Hypersphere. It's a workout ball that helps loosen up your muscles so that you're not so tight.

What’s one book you’d pass along to a fellow entrepreneur? Pitch Anything

One person you’d like to make a connection with? The founder of Infusionsoft/Keap, Clate Mask.

What’s your favorite ice breaker when introducing yourself to someone? I would say, “My name is Rebecca Clyde. I'm the CEO of Botco.Ai and I'm helping businesses double their conversion rates with intelligent chat.”

How many hours of sleep do you get each night, on average? Not enough. Probably about five.

How can people connect with you and Botco.ai? It's probably best on LinkedIn. Just mention in your note about how you heard about me, whether it was on this podcast or at a conference or wherever. Just include a little note because I'm most likely to see it that way. You can always email me at rebecca@botco.ai

View Details

When MeiMei Fox submitted her first book proposal, never in her wildest dreams did she think it would lead to a life-long writing career. But, a fateful connection to the right person (combined with her innate writing talent) soon catapulted MeiMei into the ranks of the New York Times bestselling authors.

Today, she is also a contributor to Forbes, The Huffington Post, and Self Magazine, among other publications, and has co-authored several other notable titles. On top of all that, she manages to find the time to serve as a life coach and mother to twin boys. What’s her secret sauce? Fear less, love more.

In this episode, we talk to MeiMei about how she fearlessly pursues audacious goals, how she overcomes challenges and her approach for getting big things done: worst first.

Read on for a selection of questions, and listen to the entire interview by clicking the player above.Your background is in psychology, so what led you to writing?

I studied psychology then I went to work at McKinsey as a management consultant and I intended to go down that path, but I was really unhappy. It was fascinating and I was surrounded by brilliant people, but I didn't feel that my work was meaningful and helping the world be a better place. After I finished my two-year program with McKinsey, I was lost and I didn't know what to do next. I was talking with a friend who was a doctor, and he wanted to write a book about supplements and I said, “I can help you write that.” I bought a book called “How to Write a Book Proposal” and I wrote up a proposal for this book that we would co-author. One of my friends knew someone at Penguin Putnam so I sent her the proposal and she wrote back about a week later and said, “I never do this, but we're going to buy your book.” That's how my career in writing got started.

What’s been one of your favorite subjects or pieces to write?

I've been blessed to have been taken down this path through my mentor in the publishing world. She got me into writing books on spirituality. When I began to work on a book with Robert Thurman, who's a professor of Buddhism at Columbia University (one of the Dalai Lama's oldest friends and also Uma Thurman's dad), I was taken with Buddhism. It's been fascinating to work on several books about Buddhism, learn more about it and find that it really resonated with everything that I believed about the world. I feel like I was almost called down that path during my career in writing. From there, I went to work on The Art of Happiness in a Troubled World with Howard Cutler, which was co-authored with the Dalai Lama.

How have you accomplished so much over the course of your career?

I expected, and wanted, to have children at a younger age, but I ended up getting divorced and spent most of my 30s being single and not getting remarried until I was almost 40 and starting to have a family then. Even though that wasn't what I wanted, I ended up with all this time. So, I just kept pursuing my interests. Everything I've done has been driven by my passion and my purpose. I don't seek out to win awards or be the wealthiest or most successful. I just go after what excites me and gets me up in the morning with a smile on my face.

What, if any, was a significant challenge you’ve had to overcome in your career?

Choosing this path is the biggest challenge. There's a great deal of instability and in the world of book editing and ghostwriting—it can be feast or famine. I get a really huge project and get a big chunk of payment upfront and then another chunk when the book is finished. Other times, it's like I'm scrambling to pay the monthly bills. You have to be really comfortable with uncertainty. The trade off has been the excitement and the freedom. I've literally spent most of my career working whenever and wherever in the world that I wanted to.

As a life coach, are there any common threads you see in what tends to limit individuals from pursuing or realizing those dreams?

I definitely think so. I have a mantra that I've developed over the years, which is “fear less, love more.” What I've seen with a lot of my coaching clients is that it's fear that's holding them back from taking a risk. I think everybody's suited to different levels of risk and different levels of stability. There are ways that you can keep working a steady job and have a reliable income while also beginning to explore some of your passions. What I often find helpful is breaking it down into smaller steps. The other big part of it is holding people accountable. It's so easy to put off our dreams and our passion projects and to procrastinate them or push them to the bottom of the pile. A big part of what I do is holding people accountable to say, “here's this small goal that you set to reach your big dream. What's the timing of that? What are you going to have done in two weeks? What are you going to have done in a month? How can we just start moving there step by step?”

Are there one or two impactful connections that shaped your journey significantly?

Amy Hurts. She's the one who was the senior editor at Penguin Putnam who bought and published the book. We became friends as we were working on that book together. At the end of that process, she said, “You know, you can do this for a living.” Even though I now had a published book, I still was in denial over the fact that one could be a professional writer. She said, “I will get you a literary agent and your first freelance editing project.” And she did. She remained at my side, guiding me through that process for a decade. I'm immensely indebted to her.

What's one piece of advice you would give to someone struggling to achieve an ambitious dream?

I think it's so important to break big audacious goals into smaller, more manageable chunks. I also think that you don't have to work with a coach. You don't have to pay anyone. It could be a partner, a parent, a best friend, but I think it's really critical to state your intentions out loud and make them known and have someone who is holding you accountable, checking up on you and seeing if you're continuing to make progress to your goals. Another thing is, a long time ago I heard one piece of advice that I really love –– “worst first.” It's the idea that you have your to-do list and in the morning you do the worst thing first.

Speed round: Coffee drinker, yes or no? Yes.

One business tool you’re geeking out over right now? Zoom

Favorite piece of technology? My smart phone

What’s one book you’d pass along to someone who may be looking for new inspiration or a change? The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle

One person you’d like to make a connection with? Oprah

What’s your favorite ice breaker when introducing yourself to someone (either online or off)? My name. MeiMei is Chinese and means little sister. It was a nickname that my brother gave me when I was born, but stuck my whole life. It's a really fun topic of conversation.

How many hours of sleep do you get each night, on average? Seven to eight

How can people connect with you? All the social. You can find me on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, My Forbes Author Page. And my website is meimeifox.com.

View Details

When was the last time you paused, reflected on what was going on in your life, and took a hard look at how it was affecting your happiness, health and overall success? Has it been awhile? More than likely, the answer is “yes.”

Often we rush from one task, milestone or accomplishment to the next, in constant pursuit of what we think we need to make us happy, successful and fulfilled. In other words, we’re always looking for more and it’s exhausting.

For Karen Mangia, VP of Customer & Market Insights at Salesforce, this was her reality until a health issue forced her to press pause. But as they say, it’s often life’s most challenging situations that present the best gifts. Through this journey, Karen learned that success, happiness and fulfillment wasn’t about more. In fact, it was just the opposite –– a topic she explores in her book, “Success With Less”.

In this episode, we talk to Karen about how the idea of “pause, ponder, prioritize” came about, how to peacefully coexist with old habits, and how to identify when you’re at a crossroads and what to do about it.

What led you to write “Success With Less”? I think back to those early days when my mom would do this chore chart. It would be a list every day of the things that you were supposed to do and the behaviors you were supposed to display. If I did it, I would get one of those gold stars. I loved being able to see the stars across the board, like these little moments of achievement. I took that gold star mentality forward in life. Keep saying yes, keep performing, and keep amassing those gold stars. It was a formula that worked incredibly well early in my career. I earned several promotions and got some recognition and rewards that created more opportunities.

The challenge was that the further you go in your career and life, you have to be more thoughtful about what you're saying yes to and whether it’s serving you and moving closer to your goals. All those gold stars eventually added up to a really major setback in my life and I started discovering that “Success With Less” formula. How I defined success changed radically. Success was getting healthy enough again to be able to enjoy my life and that was a very different definition than getting gold stars, and that was okay.

Being a type-A personality, how did you teach yourself to pause more frequently? In some ways, the pause was forced on me because I was conscious that I really did have limited time and energy. What I found during that time was that having a success mindset and an outcome in mind helped me start saying “no” to things that might drain my energy and not get me closer to my goal. What I started to discover when I was saying “no” on my own terms or pausing from endless activity was the pauses that we choose feel really different than the ones that are forced on us. What I started finding was when I could choose these moments to pause because they would help me refresh or reset, it felt a little more empowering.

How do keep from returning to old habits and thought patterns that set you back? It is really difficult to change our routines and boundaries and then stick with them because that takes energy. We don't always have all the energy that we need to endlessly keep everything in perfect balance. What's important is how do you reset when you find that happening? I'll never forget what my friend once said—that it is okay to look behind you and acknowledge that that person with those habits is still there and it's always going to be there. The difference is you can see that person from a distance and peacefully coexist which means you now have permission to make a different choice. Having a little bit of saving grace that you're still human and you're gonna make mistakes will go a long way.

Are there one or two people along your journey who have really transformed the trajectory of your career? There are a couple who come to mind. I had hit a point where I was looking for a role outside of sales and I had flown to another city for a job interview in my same company. When I got to the city and in my rental car, the interviewer called me and canceled the interview. I'm like, what do I do now? I found this mentor and she said, “Drive to my office, I'll think of a plan.” When I got there, she said, “Great news. You and our Chief Operating Officer graduated from the same university. You'll call him, tell him you're in town and that you would love to meet him because he went to the same university.” I thought this sounded like a horrible plan, but I was desperate. I called, met up with him, and ultimately ended up working for him. This sent me on a completely different career path and really brought me to where I am now. Another really formative person that stands out for me is an executive coach I had named Diane. I dedicated the Success with Less book to her because it never would have happened without her coaching and encouragement.

What are some of the best ways you intentionally make impactful connections to grow yourself? When I think about growth, I think about what I want to learn and experience next. Sometimes those things come about organically and sometimes I'll find it when I'm listening to somebody else describe a hobby or something they do in their role. I get really excited and I think I would love to try that. That's always been something that's guided my career and my life, where I've sampled different hobbies and experiences. I've found that that has led me on some really interesting paths.

What would you recommend to somebody who maybe feels like they're at a crossroads but don’t know what direction to go? I refer to that as the general malaise—that feeling that nothing is getting you super excited and you don't really feel a clear sense of where to go next. In those times, I try to think about any small thing that might be enjoyable or what is it that you did when you were five that you absolutely loved? Do just a little something that sparks that nostalgic joy. Be really observant about if anything lights you up. Sometimes we put a lot of pressure on ourselves to figure it out in an instant, but it's okay to live in that spot for a while. Another tool that has helped me is going with the people who I don't know that invite me to connect and have a conversation. I will go through a period where I just say “yes.” I don't know where I'm headed at the moment so this “yes” might be something that ignites excitement or opens up a path to a new opportunity.

Speed Round Are you a coffee drinker? Yes

What is one business tool you're geeking out over right now? I hate to admit it, and it's so cliche, but Zoom.

What is your favorite piece of technology? My mobile phone What's one book you'd pass along to someone who may be looking for new inspiration? Lifescale by Brian Solis. He has some fantastic tools about how to shut out distractions and work in 90 minute sprints.

Who is one person you'd like to make a connection with? Brené Brown. I find what she has to say to be incredibly practical, soulful and challenging.

What is one of your favorite icebreakers? Two things that I like to ask people about are what are you excited about right now and what was their first job?

How many hours of sleep do you get each night on average? I make a concentrated effort to get eight hours of sleep every night.

How can people connect you? You can find me on Twitter @karenmangia or you can find me on LinkedIn. I would love to connect with you and hear your story and learn from you.

View Details

When most people think of marketing, they think big energy, big talkers, big ideas and even bigger results. And while this may be true, building an effective marketing strategy—and team—is about starting small and ensuring quality always overrides quantity. It’s with this mentality that Charlotte Bohnett, senior director of demand generation at WebPT, and Brooke Andrus, content marketing manager at WebPT, have helped develop an extremely effective inbound marketing engine that has led WebPT to become the third-most sought after resource for compliance and billing in the rehab therapy industry. In this episode of The SuccessLab Podcast, Charlotte and Brooke talk about how they got their start in marketing and how they’ve built a powerhouse marketing engine that has helped grow WebPT from a bootstrapped startup to a rapid-growth tech company. This dynamic duo also explains the pivotal role WebPT’s content marketing strategy plays within the team’s approach to demand generation as well as why marketing teams should own more of the funnel. Read on for a selection of questions, and listen to the entire interview by clicking the player above.

What led you to WebPT? Charlotte: I started at WebPT eight years ago. I finished graduate school in Northwestern Ohio and was working at a B2B company that was a distributor of media to public library systems in the US and Canada. They had just expanded into developing a software that libraries could use for checking out video content so I started dabbling in software as a service in the B2B space. My husband and I both wanted to spread our wings in marketing so we applied for jobs all over the country. Fortunately, WebPT reached out to me for a copywriter position. I had a really good feeling about it, so my husband and I packed up and we drove across the country. I knew it was the right fit for me. Brooke: I went to journalism school at the University of Montana and started out my career as a community newspaper reporter and photographer. The parent company that ran our newspaper was constantly reducing newsrooms across the entire organization and I always felt like my job was in jeopardy. Me and my editor were doing the work of six people so I burned out really fast and I decided that it was time to look for something else. I expanded my reach beyond journalism and dabbled in some communications and media relations roles. The company that I was at before WebPT was basically a startup that ended up failing right in the middle of my contract with them. I started looking around and saw the listing at WebPT and was immediately struck by how different and fun it was. I had no idea what an EMR was. I didn't know what SaaS was, but the style and tone of the listing spoke to me so I applied. They called me an hour later to set up an interview. I ended up taking the job, driving across the country and started a new life in Phoenix.

What have you been most proud of during your time at WebPT? Charlotte: The team. I have played a hand in hiring every single person in the marketing department. It’s my top highlight because without this team we wouldn't have been able to demonstrate the overwhelming value of marketing and of intentionally crafting a very human brand. Without this team, we wouldn't see month-over-month and year-over-year success regardless of the economic or political climate. WebPT has been a juggernaut for over a decade and it is in large part due to this marketing team. Brooke: Making our “Annual State of Rehab Therapy Report” into what it is now. Originally, it was supposed to be a product marketing project to survey the industry and find the data they need to make sure what we were developing was solving our industry's needs. In the middle of the survey our product marketing manager ended up leaving and nobody was stepping in to close the loop on the project. Even though I didn't necessarily want to, I knew it needed to be done so I ended up taking the reins and seeing it through. It turned into this really awesome report and over the years it's evolved into our flagship content marketing piece. We've now done three and I've become the point person for the entire project, from distributing the survey and collecting the data to turning it into this beautiful, polished book.

What role does content marketing play in your go-to-market and demand-gen strategies? Charlotte: Content marketing is the foundation of everything we do. Roughly 60% of our leads come in through pure inbound. We wouldn't get so many leads on our website if we didn't have so much traffic coming in organically and that traffic is purely because of how stellar our content is. We wouldn't amass the email marketing leads that we have if our email marketing wasn't fueled by a fantastic monthly newsletter, weekly blog digest, and a webinar series. We also use marketing automation to drip anybody who interacts with any of our content. We have figured out how to make connections to our products with content at every stage of the funnel. Without our content marketing program, we would not see the volume of leads that we are driving. Brooke: Our enterprise sales development works a little bit differently than everything else. Our reps are working bigger accounts for multi-location practices or hospitals. Those are longer sales cycles so they have to do a lot more outreach to keep those leads warm. Everything from blog posts to the industry report has helped give those reps the tools they need to reach out and keep the conversation going.

What connections along your journeys have made the biggest impact? Charlotte: One person who has majorly impacted both me and Brooke is Heidi Jannenga. She is an example of an executive who has figured out how to be one with the people. She’s honest, transparent, tough as nails and absolutely brilliant. She trusts and respects other people and prioritizes surrounding herself with people who are going to teach her things and then she empowers them. One other person is Mike Manheimer. He's one of the people who fought to hire me at WebPT and he worked with me closely for the entire time he was at WebPT. Before he left to lead demand gen marketing at Gainsight, he fought to promote me to an official manager title and give me authority. After he left, I felt empowered to lead that team. Without Mike showing me that a boss could be somebody who can treat you as an equal, I don't know if I would have known that that's the kind of team that I could create at WebPT. Brooke: I definitely owe my start in marketing and the progression through my roles in the marketing team to Charlotte. I had zero management ambition when I started, but Charlotte recognized the potential in me and it is a huge reason why I ended up pursuing a leadership path. She believed I could do it even though I had no experience managing people and I wasn't confident in my natural leadership abilities. She helped me make that transition and she's always had my back. No matter what happens, whether I feel like I made the right or wrong decision, Charlotte's there to help me turn it into a growth experience.

What is one piece of advice you would give to marketers who might be struggling to scale or operationalize content within the organization? Charlotte: Make marketing own more of the funnel. Don't hand over prospects who download a white paper to sales. Keep those people in the marketing funnel, nurture them and get them to commit to a demo because then you're able to control more of the entire funnel and you take a load off of sales, which demonstrates the value of marketing. Marketing is proving that we can qualify the leads through marketing automation. Brooke: Start small. Our content marketing program is a multifaceted, well-oiled machine at this point, but it was not always that way. It's a process. The first step is getting in tune with your audience, understanding what they want to consume, when they want to consume it and how they want to consume it. Create a plan for a month, then try to plan for a quarter, then try to do a high level plan for a year. Keep in mind you don't have to publish something every single day. I think that's a mistake that a lot of content marketers make. Be thoughtful about the content that you're producing and focus more on quality than on quantity.

Speed Round Are you a coffee drinker, yes or no? Brooke: Yes. I have one or two cups of coffee first thing in the morning and nothing after that. Charlotte: Yes. I consume all my coffee before noon, but I drink coffee all morning long. What is one marketing tool you are geeking out over right now? Charlotte: Our company is very into Drift right now. What is your favorite piece of technology? Charlotte: Roku Brooke: Garmin watch What's one book you would pass along to a fellow marketer? Charlotte: The book that I would give people is no book at all. I would tell them to be more observant of the marketing world around them. Brooke: This isn't really a marketing book, but a writing book that I recommend to people is “Eats, Shoots & Leaves.” It’s incredibly entertaining but it also teaches a lot about writing in a clear, concise manner. Who's one person you'd like to make a connection with? Charlotte: Jameela Jamil Brooke: Barbara Walters What is one of your favorite ice breakers when you're introducing yourself to someone? Charlotte: Talking to people about the food and drinks at events, which actually works out very well because people always want to critique whatever they're eating and drinking at that moment. Brooke: If you see somebody with cool swag from the trade show floor, you can ask them where they got it. How many hours of sleep on average do you guys each get each night? Charlotte: About 7 hours Brooke: 7-8 hours Connect with Charlotte, Brooke and WebPT: You can go to webpt.com. You can follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest. If you want to get in touch with me or Brooke you can email demandgen@webpt.com. We're both on Twitter— @charbertos and @brookeaandrus.

View Details

“Use analytics to see what's working. Double down on those things and cancel something else.” How much time do you spend with your analytics? Seeing what’s delivering results and what’s not? Looking at what content played well across which channels –– and what content gave you the most mileage. This is where Andy Crestodina, co-founder and CMO of Orbit Media Studios, a digital agency based in Chicago, believes content marketers should start their content planning. In this episode of The SuccessLab Podcast, Andy shares how this strategy has helped him and his team create a winning (and scalable) content strategy.

What prompted you to change your role from Strategic Director to CMO now at Orbit? Amanda Gant is our in-house marketer and she is 100% deserving of the director title. Partly to keep there from being confusion, we titled up a little bit. Amanda has a title that's more fitting of her role and I am a cofounder. I just ended up being the CFO. We're only a 40 person company so the titles are not super meaningful. I actually still do a good bit of sales, but a lot of my time is spent doing content marketing and I still do tons of writing, speaking and teaching.

What are you doing at Orbit for your clients? Have things changed at all in the last month in terms of how you’re servicing clients? Our company is primarily focused on web design and development. The content we're creating is basically evergreen content for sales pages. The purpose of these projects is to improve the foundation and platform for marketing and these are things that aren't affected by the massive change in the economy. It has definitely impacted the business environment and the work life of everyone we collaborate with. It's affected the appetite for risk, the concern about cash flow, the pace of sales and pipeline and leads. It's had a big impact but not in the deliverable itself. I can't just publish another ‘how to get more Twitter followers’. What I had to do was to look at what would give comfort to an email subscriber. What kind of article would make sense, and concluded that it would be useful to people in my audience to see what is happening in the industry. I quickly got a survey out of 122 agency owners to ask, what has the impact been for you? I was able to hopefully add to the conversation by putting out a bit of original research. There's some charts in there that really show how providers of different services were affected at different levels. There's a lot of unity in what's happening. I've adapted my communication strategy with clients a bit, but that piece of content is an example of how we can all be sensitive and still create value for an audience. That is a pivot away from the classic common topics and content strategy that we used to run.

As companies are thinking about their content strategies, is it a time to be accelerating content marketing efforts or is it time to pull back? We all still have the same number of hours in a day. Some of us who now have zero travel time, have more hours in the day. Rather than doing content marketing or PR, if you're a brand, go back and revise the sales pages on your website, improve the homepage of your website, add testimonials or re-update all of those service pages and product pages. I used to wake up in the morning and spend half an hour or an hour on an article. Now I'm waking up in the morning and spending half an hour or an article rewriting a sales page. Similarly, it's a good time to polish your social media bios and do a little personal branding. You can also build content that can be released later. Let's say you'd always wanted to create a new program with a series of weekly videos. You can now go ahead and pre-record an entire series of content and when it's ready, just queue them up. Go look at all this stuff you're paying for or evaluate a tool that you've never used before. PR people and content marketers can keep strong relationships right now. It's a really powerful time to build stronger relationships and just show that you care and show that you're here.

What steps should marketers take to make their content more discoverable? Or what are some of the things that you do? There was always this debate about bounce rate. We built a thousand websites over the years so I have access to hundreds of analytics accounts. I actually had a VA go look at all these analytics accounts and copy and paste different bounce rates from different traffic sources into a spreadsheet. We got up to 500 analytics accounts. I averaged all these and published this number. The average bounce rate on websites is 61%. Then I did it by industry and I did it by traffic source and produced this piece of research that was built to be promoted. It took maybe 30 or 40 hours to make this whole thing. Now I have a piece of content that is totally original. It is the best page on the internet for its topic. It's beginning now to rank in search and it's been picked up by other websites. It looks great in streams because of the visuals. I can reference it from other articles that I've written and as time goes on, I'm going to look for ways to incorporate this into presentations and other content.

Are there some other best practices for content distribution? One of the things that it took me a while to figure out is that when you look at a topic or a headline, it's often true that that topic or headline has a natural advantage in either search or in social. If the piece that you're working on answers a question and has long detailed answers, that is likely something that will work well in search. On the other hand, if the piece is a little bit unexpected and has visuals and it's highly collaborative, that is going to work well on social media. They're sort of opposites. In search, your job is to meet expectations but in social, your job is to be a little bit unexpected because you know nothing about what they're thinking. You can basically look at a topic or a headline and ask yourself, is someone looking for this? Does this satisfy an information need or is this kind of emotional? Does this leave curiosity or is it unexpected? That dichotomy and understanding the different psychologies of people in those channels has helped me a lot. When I even begin to think about a topic, I'm already planning how and where that might work best and then tuning it up to work in that place.

On the SuccessLab podcast, we often talk about this idea of impactful connections and how they can really transform the trajectory of your career or your business in some way. Is there one or two along your journey that made a really big impact? There is someone that I knew in the early days of our company. His name is Ed Tucker and he was the co-founder of a company called Octane Communications. He was a more mature business person at the time. He'd come from big agencies so he had that experience of pitching larger projects. He showed me how to have tough conversations with clients and that pricing things at a level where you can feed yourself is possible. Watching someone make decisions made a difference and was really useful to me.

What's one piece of advice you would give to fellow marketers who may be struggling to scale or operationalized content in their organizations? Use analytics to see what's working. Double down on those things and cancel something else. Try to get a little bit of data about what's working and then do much more of what seems to be working and stop doing some things that weren't working. I wish I had done this years earlier. What people often find is that bigger and harder thing is worth it. It might be two or three times harder to create, but it might give you 10 or 20 times the result. I have learned that it makes more sense for me to do a larger, more authoritative, longer exhaustive piece of content less often.

Speed Round Are you a coffee drinker? Yes or no? Yes. What is one marketing tool you're geeking out over right now? Analytics What is a favorite piece of technology? Noise-canceling headphones What is one book you'd pass along to a fellow marketer? Deep Work by Cal Newport Who's one person that you would like to make a connection with? I am blown away by the vision of Elon Musk. I think that guy's brain is fascinating and it'd be fun to hang out with him for an afternoon. What is your favorite icebreaker when introducing yourself to someone, either online or in person? I like to just leave it pretty open and ask someone what they're working on. It often leads to good conversation. They may get specific about a project and you instantly move away from small talk towards something interesting that they feel passionate for. How many hours of sleep do you get each night on average? Six and a half. I have a one-year-old though. How can people connect with you or orbit? Sign up for a biweekly newsletter on our blog at orbitmedia.com/blog. I also wrote a book which is called Content Chemistry. Another great resource Andy mentioned during the interview is this blog post: https://www.orbitmedia.com/blog/whats-a-good-bounce-rate/

View Details

Want to build an effective go-to-market strategy? Get out and talk to your stakeholders.

That may not be a novel concept, but it’s one that’s often forgotten. For Cory Fetter, product marketing and go-to-market leader at Front, it’s foundational to an effective go-to-market strategy. And when we’re talking stakeholders, it’s not just customers, it’s also product, sales and customer success teams.

In this interview, Cory shares how he approaches building strategies, how he thinks about and uses content to better enable the sales team, increase funnel velocity, and build a loyal customer base, and why he believes effective marketing starts with caring.

Tell us about your journey? How did you get into leading go-to-market strategies for SaaS companies? When I started my career, I didn't envision this. I originally was on the corporate communications side and I joined a global technology distributor in Phoenix called Avnet. I loved the value that was put into effective communication, especially around different cultures and geographies and the rigorous review processes they had. Thereafter, I joined Infusionsoft, which is now rebranded as Keep. I eventually led the PR team and focused a lot of my time on messaging and positioning around the product. I eventually transitioned into product marketing and more formally go-to-market strategy. Then I joined a company called Gainsight. Originally, I focused on growing their SMB segment of business and I leveraged a lot of what I learned at Infusionsoft [Keap] in that role. We eventually acquired a company and then I led the go-to-market strategy for that product line. Most recently, I've joined Front where I'm focused on building and leading the go to market across key industries and in different use cases.

You recently landed at Front, what were some of the first steps you took to set yourself (and the company) up for success? I'm still very much in the process of this. I view my first 30 days as primarily to understand the landscape. I've been talking with a lot of people in sales within the product team, the success team, support team and marketing. I am focusing on key questions like, what is our primary target market today? Who do we believe to be the ideal customer profile and trying to learn more about our competitors, their strengths and how are they positioning their product? What types of content are they pushing out into the market? Are there gaps or resources the team needs to help accelerate the pipeline? What has worked within our target audience and what marketing channels are we leveraging? Answering those questions within the first 30 days will allow me to effectively craft the go-to-market strategies.

How do you determine what niches to focus on and then how do you dig in and learn about them? When you talk to enough people or listen to enough sales conversations, you're going to start finding a pattern. That's usually where I start. I get directional guidance, but then I also look at the data and the usage behind our existing customer base. At Front, I'm fortunate we have some tools that make it easier for me to go in and explore among our customer base and what industries they fall in. Going through that process of narrowing it down with that anecdotal or directional insight from the conversations you've had upfront to more of the analytical data-driven approach, you can layer those on top of each other to get a really good understanding of where you should focus.

What role does content marketing play in your GTM strategies? I can have sales enablement sessions with our sales team and make sure that they understand who our target audience is and what key messages should they hit on, but if the team and company doesn't have any content to generate the interest, we're not going to have anyone to talk to. If the sales team doesn't have the content to help facilitate those conversations, you don’t have all of the tools in your toolbox to close that deal as effectively as you can. Content is at the core of all of my go-to-market campaigns that I focus on.

Are there one or two impactful connections along your journey that made a big impact? I've had several mentors in my career that really did change the trajectory. Rhett Wilson. He is not even in the marketing industry but has provided so much guidance. He works for the White House Historical Association and his advice on how to interact with others in business helped me so much early in my career and still helps me to this day. Others that are in marketing, like Greg Head who was the CMO at Infusionsoft or Terry Hicks, who was the COO, modeled by example and the one-off conversations that you may not think of as being very formative ended up being very formative. Some of the greatest advice that I got from everyone collectively is be intentional with your career and ask yourself every year, every quarter or every month, are you getting what you need within your current role to achieve the goals that you've set out for yourself? If you're not, that's when you have to ask the questions around what can I re-architect or change within my current role? Or, is it time to go look for that next challenge?

What's one piece of advice you would give to fellow marketers who may be struggling to scale or operationalize content in their organizations? I'm going to pull from one of my favorite quotes by Theodore Roosevelt, “No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” Have the conversation around why you're doing this and why should they care about your content goals and your go-to-market goals and help them see the value of pushing through a new process or scaling content in a certain way.

Speed round:

1. Coffee drinker, yes or no? Yes.

2. One marketing tool you’re geeking out over right now? Looker, a marketing analytics tool that enables self-serve analysis.

3. Favorite piece of technology? Front has totally changed the way that I look at email.

4. What’s one book you’d pass along to a fellow marketer? Never Eat Alone

5. One person you’d like to make a connection with? Jeff Bezos. Given what's happening in the world and how Amazon is truly allowing us to continue to function, it would be so interesting.

6. What’s your favorite ice breaker when introducing yourself to someone (either online or off)? Sharing a stat about Arizona, that it is literally one of the sunniest places in the world. A lot of people outside of the state don’t know that and they always find that to be somewhat interesting.

7. How many hours of sleep do you get each night, on average? Six or seven.

Connect with Cory on LinkedIn. For Front, check out frontapp.com. (P.S. You can try the software for free!)

View Details

Steven Kiger got the entrepreneurial itch in high school, creating odd jobs for himself that would fund weekend excursions with his friend. Today, Steven has founded several ventures, and is currently a partner and CPO at RocketSource, a company specializing in transforming the customer experience, and the co-founder of Platstack, a platform that allows you to save, organize and share topics you care most about.

On this episode of The SuccessLab Podcast, Steven shares why getting uncomfortable has been key to his success, the value of surrounding yourself with people who have experienced both great successes and great failures, and how he was able to push through multiple startup failures.

Read on for a selection of questions, and listen to the entire interview by clicking the player above.

You have a storied career in entrepreneurship. What was your first venture and how did you start? My very first entrepreneurial venture was back in high school. During the summer, my friends and I would knock door to door to see if people would want us to spray paint address numbers on their curbs. We would strategize around how many doors we had to knock to afford our night out. These entrepreneurial moments continued throughout college and then into my first job, which was at a Fortune 500 company in the dental space. I noticed there was a huge demand for dental marketing and there weren't a lot of companies doing it. I decided to actually quit my full-time job and start a dental marketing company.

What were the early days of your entrepreneurial journey like? I was lucky to start at an early age. I was 24 years old. I was single. I had no dependents and I just had to make sure I paid my rent every month. It wasn't a huge amount of stress because I knew there wasn't a lot of risk in doing it. It was exciting. I would say the biggest thing is just getting uncomfortable and doing something you've never done before.

What were some of the biggest challenges you encountered as you grew the business? It was just myself for a long time, so for me, the hardest thing was hiring that first person. It took me many, many years to get to the courage to do that. But it was one of the best decisions I made –– and he's still with me.

What was one of your darkest hours and how did you pull yourself out of it? I started an app six or seven years ago called Mover, which was like an Uber for renting trucks. We spent a lot of money on it and built it out. Unfortunately, we never found product-market fit in Utah because everyone has a truck or knows someone that has a truck. Any sort of failure like that, where you spend years of your time, energy, excitement and money only to shut it down, hurts. With those failures, I've learned a lot and to continue pushing forward.

What led you to RocketSource and ultimately to sell your other marketing company? It was a tough decision to sell the company but I got to the point where I wanted to build my own products. I had a lot of conversations with my wife and luckily she has been super supportive. I was also lucky enough to get connected my now co-founder, Buckley Barlow. We joined forces and then I brought in the third partner who I worked with in the past. He ran his own digital technology coding shop. And so we needed that dev partner as well. So we had a creative, a growth guy and a dev guy needed to create RocketSource. The ultimate goal with RocketSource was to create a service-based company that can generate some good revenue and ultimately build really cool products we can grow.

What has been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned along your entrepreneurial journey? My mantra is to never burn a bridge. I've had really crappy clients in the 20 years I've been doing this and I always suck it up and do the job to make sure they’re happy. Interestingly, some of my best clients have come as referrals from some of my worst clients. It has served me very well.

Has there been a connection you’ve made along your journey that made a big impact? My partner in crime, Buckley Barlow. He's a genius in a lot of ways. He's mentored me over the last seven years to become someone who I wasn't before.

What’s one of the best ways you make impactful connections to grow yourself and your business? It's amazing what now is available versus when I started 20 years ago. I would say to challenge yourself. Go find entrepreneurial clubs, look on Meetup, find lunches, join a local Slack group, get super uncomfortable. Ultimately, most people want to help each other and one of the best ways to do that is to just get out there.

Speed round: One business tool you’re geeking out over right now? Slack

Favorite piece of technology? Anything that can save time through a mobile device. What’s one book you’d pass along to a fellow entrepreneur? Don't Make Me Think

One person you’d like to make a connection with? Barack Obama

What’s your favorite ice breaker when introducing yourself to someone (either online or off)? Normally I like to talk about travel, anything along the lines of finding out where they've been, what they've done.

What is your favorite way you rejuvenate and refresh? Snowboarding. Just getting outdoors and turning off the devices.

How many hours of sleep do you get each night, on average? Eight

How can people connect with you or RocketSource? We'd love to have anyone try out Platstack. We haven't fully launched yet so there might be some bugs but we're looking for people to try it out and give us some feedback. You can connect with me on LinkedIn and RocketSource.com is our website.

View Details

Like many entrepreneurs, Jacob Findlay gave up the comforts of a secure job, a reliable paycheck and benefits for a new world of unknowns. But unlike other entrepreneurs, he decided to take a year to work in the field he was aiming to disrupt to learn it from the inside out.

Leaving his job as the director of finance at a rapid-growth SaaS company to work in a diesel repair shop may sound unorthodox, but for Jacob, it was a necessary step in his entrepreneurial journey.

Today, Jacob is the founder and CEO of Fullbay, a cloud-based heavy duty truck repair and shop management software based in Phoenix. Now in its fifth year, Fullbay has grown to become the number-one fleet repair platform in North America, completed a very successful Series A funding round, and was recently named the outright winner of Invest Southwest’s and Arizona Commerce Authority’s Venture Madness competition.

In this episode of The Success Lab Podcast, Jacob talks about the importance of starting lean, building a network that helps you focus rather than distract you, and, above all, the value of practicing patience in business.

Read on for a selection of questions, and listen to the entire interview by clicking the player above.

What led to you build Fullbay? I fell into the software startup world on the electronic medical record side and was fortunate enough to be involved in three startups. At one point, I heard from a friend who was looking to find good software for his truck shop and was frustrated in what was out there. The idea was sparked and I thought, “why don’t we just build it?” So, I quit my job and I worked in a truck shop for a year to gain some credibility before we launched Fullbay.

What's been one of the biggest challenges you've had to overcome as founder of a fast-growth SaaS company? Learning patience. We are five years in and we're just now doing the things I've wanted to do since the beginning. It's really satisfying. I think it's easy to get pulled into chasing shiny objects that don't necessarily build a company. We've been fortunate enough to keep our eye on the ball and be patient enough to wait to do the amazing things we know we can do.

What advice would you give to fellow entrepreneurs looking to build impactful connections? The way you build anything is to start with a thesis and then test it. Based on that evidence, you're going to establish the next thesis. Another thing that I think is important is that you don't have to be in endless rounds of fundraising, which can be a huge distraction. Try to start your organization as a lean startup. You can continue doing that as it scales. I believe this vastly increases the probability that it's going to survive.

What’s one of the best ways you make impactful connections to grow yourself and your business? For about three years I've been involved with the StartupAZ Foundation, which is an incredible group and anybody who has or is looking to start a company should definitely become part of that or something similar in your community.

Speed round: Coffee drinker, yes or no? No, LaCroix.

One business tool you’re geeking out over right now? Bamboo HR

Favorite piece of technology? The iPhone is amazing.

One person you’d like to make a connection with? Elon Musk

What’s your favorite ice breaker when introducing yourself to someone (either online or off)? I try to get them talking about themselves.

How many hours of sleep do you get each night, on average? Seven hours and 15 minutes.

How can people connect with you or Fullbay? On the web at fullbay.com. And you can always hit me up on LinkedIn.

View Details

Like many entrepreneurs, Jacob Findlay gave up the comforts of a secure job, a reliable paycheck and benefits for a new world of unknowns. But unlike other entrepreneurs, he decided to take a year to work in the field he was aiming to disrupt to learn it from the inside out.

Leaving his job as the director of finance at a rapid-growth SaaS company to work in a diesel repair shop may sound unorthodox, but for Jacob, it was a necessary step in his entrepreneurial journey.

Today, Jacob is the founder and CEO of Fullbay, a cloud-based heavy duty truck repair and shop management software based in Phoenix. Now in its fifth year, Fullbay has grown to become the number-one fleet repair platform in North America, completed a very successful Series A funding round, and was recently named the outright winner of Invest Southwest’s and Arizona Commerce Authority’s Venture Madness competition.

In this episode of The Success Lab Podcast, Jacob talks about the importance of starting lean, building a network that helps you focus rather than distract you, and, above all, the value of practicing patience in business.

Read on for a selection of questions, and listen to the entire interview by clicking the player above.

What led to you build Fullbay? I fell into the software startup world on the electronic medical record side and was fortunate enough to be involved in three startups. At one point, I heard from a friend who was looking to find good software for his truck shop and was frustrated in what was out there. The idea was sparked and I thought, “why don’t we just build it?” So, I quit my job and I worked in a truck shop for a year to gain some credibility before we launched Fullbay.

What's been one of the biggest challenges you've had to overcome as founder of a fast-growth SaaS company? Learning patience. We are five years in and we're just now doing the things I've wanted to do since the beginning. It's really satisfying. I think it's easy to get pulled into chasing shiny objects that don't necessarily build a company. We've been fortunate enough to keep our eye on the ball and be patient enough to wait to do the amazing things we know we can do.

What advice would you give to fellow entrepreneurs looking to build impactful connections? The way you build anything is to start with a thesis and then test it. Based on that evidence, you're going to establish the next thesis. Another thing that I think is important is that you don't have to be in endless rounds of fundraising, which can be a huge distraction. Try to start your organization as a lean startup. You can continue doing that as it scales. I believe this vastly increases the probability that it's going to survive.

What’s one of the best ways you make impactful connections to grow yourself and your business? For about three years I've been involved with the StartupAZ Foundation, which is an incredible group and anybody who has or is looking to start a company should definitely become part of that or something similar in your community.

Speed round: Coffee drinker, yes or no? No, LaCroix.

One business tool you’re geeking out over right now? Bamboo HR

Favorite piece of technology? The iPhone is amazing.

One person you’d like to make a connection with? Elon Musk

What’s your favorite ice breaker when introducing yourself to someone (either online or off)? I try to get them talking about themselves.

How many hours of sleep do you get each night, on average? Seven hours and 15 minutes.

How can people connect with you or Fullbay? On the web at fullbay.com. And you can always hit me up on LinkedIn.

View Details

Like many entrepreneurs, Jacob Findlay gave up the comforts of a secure job, a reliable paycheck and benefits for a new world of unknowns. But unlike other entrepreneurs, he decided to take a year to work in the field he was aiming to disrupt to learn it from the inside out.

Leaving his job as the director of finance at a rapid-growth SaaS company to work in a diesel repair shop may sound unorthodox, but for Jacob, it was a necessary step in his entrepreneurial journey.

Today, Jacob is the founder and CEO of Fullbay, a cloud-based heavy duty truck repair and shop management software based in Phoenix. Now in its fifth year, Fullbay has grown to become the number-one fleet repair platform in North America, completed a very successful Series A funding round, and was recently named the outright winner of Invest Southwest’s and Arizona Commerce Authority’s Venture Madness competition.

In this episode of The Success Lab Podcast, Jacob talks about the importance of starting lean, building a network that helps you focus rather than distract you, and, above all, the value of practicing patience in business.

Read on for a selection of questions, and listen to the entire interview by clicking the player above.

What led to you build Fullbay? I fell into the software startup world on the electronic medical record side and was fortunate enough to be involved in three startups. At one point, I heard from a friend who was looking to find good software for his truck shop and was frustrated in what was out there. The idea was sparked and I thought, “why don’t we just build it?” So, I quit my job and I worked in a truck shop for a year to gain some credibility before we launched Fullbay.

What's been one of the biggest challenges you've had to overcome as founder of a fast-growth SaaS company? Learning patience. We are five years in and we're just now doing the things I've wanted to do since the beginning. It's really satisfying. I think it's easy to get pulled into chasing shiny objects that don't necessarily build a company. We've been fortunate enough to keep our eye on the ball and be patient enough to wait to do the amazing things we know we can do.

What advice would you give to fellow entrepreneurs looking to build impactful connections? The way you build anything is to start with a thesis and then test it. Based on that evidence, you're going to establish the next thesis. Another thing that I think is important is that you don't have to be in endless rounds of fundraising, which can be a huge distraction. Try to start your organization as a lean startup. You can continue doing that as it scales. I believe this vastly increases the probability that it's going to survive.

What’s one of the best ways you make impactful connections to grow yourself and your business? For about three years I've been involved with the StartupAZ Foundation, which is an incredible group and anybody who has or is looking to start a company should definitely become part of that or something similar in your community.

Speed round: Coffee drinker, yes or no? No, LaCroix.

One business tool you’re geeking out over right now? Bamboo HR

Favorite piece of technology? The iPhone is amazing.

One person you’d like to make a connection with? Elon Musk

What’s your favorite ice breaker when introducing yourself to someone (either online or off)? I try to get them talking about themselves.

How many hours of sleep do you get each night, on average? Seven hours and 15 minutes.

How can people connect with you or Fullbay? On the web at fullbay.com. And you can always hit me up on LinkedIn.

View Details

Like many entrepreneurs, Jacob Findlay gave up the comforts of a secure job, a reliable paycheck and benefits for a new world of unknowns. But unlike other entrepreneurs, he decided to take a year to work in the field he was aiming to disrupt to learn it from the inside out.

Leaving his job as the director of finance at a rapid-growth SaaS company to work in a diesel repair shop may sound unorthodox, but for Jacob, it was a necessary step in his entrepreneurial journey.

Today, Jacob is the founder and CEO of Fullbay, a cloud-based heavy duty truck repair and shop management software based in Phoenix. Now in its fifth year, Fullbay has grown to become the number-one fleet repair platform in North America, completed a very successful Series A funding round, and was recently named the outright winner of Invest Southwest’s and Arizona Commerce Authority’s Venture Madness competition.

In this episode of The Success Lab Podcast, Jacob talks about the importance of starting lean, building a network that helps you focus rather than distract you, and, above all, the value of practicing patience in business.

Read on for a selection of questions, and listen to the entire interview by clicking the player above.

What led to you build Fullbay? I fell into the software startup world on the electronic medical record side and was fortunate enough to be involved in three startups. At one point, I heard from a friend who was looking to find good software for his truck shop and was frustrated in what was out there. The idea was sparked and I thought, “why don’t we just build it?” So, I quit my job and I worked in a truck shop for a year to gain some credibility before we launched Fullbay.

What's been one of the biggest challenges you've had to overcome as founder of a fast-growth SaaS company? Learning patience. We are five years in and we're just now doing the things I've wanted to do since the beginning. It's really satisfying. I think it's easy to get pulled into chasing shiny objects that don't necessarily build a company. We've been fortunate enough to keep our eye on the ball and be patient enough to wait to do the amazing things we know we can do.

What advice would you give to fellow entrepreneurs looking to build impactful connections? The way you build anything is to start with a thesis and then test it. Based on that evidence, you're going to establish the next thesis. Another thing that I think is important is that you don't have to be in endless rounds of fundraising, which can be a huge distraction. Try to start your organization as a lean startup. You can continue doing that as it scales. I believe this vastly increases the probability that it's going to survive.

What’s one of the best ways you make impactful connections to grow yourself and your business? For about three years I've been involved with the StartupAZ Foundation, which is an incredible group and anybody who has or is looking to start a company should definitely become part of that or something similar in your community.

Speed round: Coffee drinker, yes or no? No, LaCroix.

One business tool you’re geeking out over right now? Bamboo HR

Favorite piece of technology? The iPhone is amazing.

One person you’d like to make a connection with? Elon Musk

What’s your favorite ice breaker when introducing yourself to someone (either online or off)? I try to get them talking about themselves.

How many hours of sleep do you get each night, on average? Seven hours and 15 minutes.

How can people connect with you or Fullbay? On the web at fullbay.com. And you can always hit me up on LinkedIn.

View Details

Like many entrepreneurs, Jacob Findlay gave up the comforts of a secure job, a reliable paycheck and benefits for a new world of unknowns. But unlike other entrepreneurs, he decided to take a year to work in the field he was aiming to disrupt to learn it from the inside out.

Leaving his job as the director of finance at a rapid-growth SaaS company to work in a diesel repair shop may sound unorthodox, but for Jacob, it was a necessary step in his entrepreneurial journey.

Today, Jacob is the founder and CEO of Fullbay, a cloud-based heavy duty truck repair and shop management software based in Phoenix. Now in its fifth year, Fullbay has grown to become the number-one fleet repair platform in North America, completed a very successful Series A funding round, and was recently named the outright winner of Invest Southwest’s and Arizona Commerce Authority’s Venture Madness competition.

In this episode of The Success Lab Podcast, Jacob talks about the importance of starting lean, building a network that helps you focus rather than distract you, and, above all, the value of practicing patience in business.

Read on for a selection of questions, and listen to the entire interview by clicking the player above.

What led to you build Fullbay? I fell into the software startup world on the electronic medical record side and was fortunate enough to be involved in three startups. At one point, I heard from a friend who was looking to find good software for his truck shop and was frustrated in what was out there. The idea was sparked and I thought, “why don’t we just build it?” So, I quit my job and I worked in a truck shop for a year to gain some credibility before we launched Fullbay.

What's been one of the biggest challenges you've had to overcome as founder of a fast-growth SaaS company? Learning patience. We are five years in and we're just now doing the things I've wanted to do since the beginning. It's really satisfying. I think it's easy to get pulled into chasing shiny objects that don't necessarily build a company. We've been fortunate enough to keep our eye on the ball and be patient enough to wait to do the amazing things we know we can do.

What advice would you give to fellow entrepreneurs looking to build impactful connections? The way you build anything is to start with a thesis and then test it. Based on that evidence, you're going to establish the next thesis. Another thing that I think is important is that you don't have to be in endless rounds of fundraising, which can be a huge distraction. Try to start your organization as a lean startup. You can continue doing that as it scales. I believe this vastly increases the probability that it's going to survive.

What’s one of the best ways you make impactful connections to grow yourself and your business? For about three years I've been involved with the StartupAZ Foundation, which is an incredible group and anybody who has or is looking to start a company should definitely become part of that or something similar in your community.

Speed round: Coffee drinker, yes or no? No, LaCroix.

One business tool you’re geeking out over right now? Bamboo HR

Favorite piece of technology? The iPhone is amazing.

One person you’d like to make a connection with? Elon Musk

What’s your favorite ice breaker when introducing yourself to someone (either online or off)? I try to get them talking about themselves.

How many hours of sleep do you get each night, on average? Seven hours and 15 minutes.

How can people connect with you or Fullbay? On the web at fullbay.com. And you can always hit me up on LinkedIn.

View Details

Finding the courage to be yourself –– and showing up as your full self everyday –– isn’t the easiest thing to do for most. But that’s exactly what Park Howell put his time and energy into doing and it’s been one of the keys to living a fulfilling life, personally and professionally.

As the founder of The Business of Story, a platform-based system that helps purpose-driven brands find their voice and connect through the art of storytelling, Park knows firsthand the struggles that come with growing a business. Well, two in his case. He is also the founder of Park&Co., an advertising and marketing agency, which has been in business for over 24 years, as well as the host of The Business of Story podcast.

In this episode of The Success Lab Podcast, we have a frank discussion with Park about what the early days were like as a startup entrepreneur, how he eventually achieved a true work-life balance, and the importance of simply showing up and following up.

Read on for a selection of questions, and listen to the entire interview by clicking the player above.

What led you to create Park&Co.? I grew up in the Pacific Northwest in the Seattle area. I graduated from Washington State University and moved down to Phoenix in 1985 thinking I was going to be here for a year or two. But I met my wife and had three kids and have been here ever since. While here, I started working as a writer for a public relations firm. I really love the creativity of copywriting for advertising so I moved over to the ad world side. I worked then in-house for a company called Quorum International as its creative director. When I left there, I knew it was time for me to start my own ad agency so I started as a one man band and grew it from there.

What were those early days like? In the early days I was literally working out of this tiny little room in the back of our very first house that we bought while raising our three kids. Like any entrepreneurial struggle, you get up early, you get on the phone, you deal with clients, and you fend off little kids trying to get your attention while you're trying to get work done at home. You live that for what seems like 24/7 for the first couple of years until you get your feet beneath you. I was very blessed because my very first client was Forever Living Products International. They brought me into their fold like family and I worked with them for about 18 years and still do some consulting with them on the side. My second client was Sky Harbor International Airport and I represented them for about 10 years. I had a really fortunate one-two punch with clients when starting up my agency.

What were some of the biggest challenges you encountered in growing Park&Co.? I remember on a couple of occasions becoming very overwhelmed by biting off way more than I could possibly chew. Although I had the energy to put into it, I was also looking at work-life balance with our family. I grew up in a family of seven kids and my parents were always there for us. Balance is really important to me. It's something you chip away at it and hope to figure it out sooner than later. We did, but it was a challenge, especially while we were continuing to build the company without spending a lot of money on employees.

What has been one of the best things you’ve done for The Business of Story to help propel its growth? The (Business of Story) podcast I do once a week. It is a lot of work, but it enables me to connect with amazing minds from all around the world. We cover every aspect of business storytelling. I've also got a really excellent person that handles my community development and SEO for my company.

What was one of the most important lessons you’ve learned along the way? I think the secret to achieving your goals is 50% showing up and 50% following up. You have to do what you say you're going to do, otherwise you will lose complete and utter credibility.

What connections along your journey have made a big impact? There was a gentleman who has totally changed the course of my life. His name is Bruno Sarda. At the time, he was working at Dell in sustainability and supply chain and was also teaching at Arizona State University. At a conference in Phoenix, Bruno came over, introduced himself and we became friends. Bruno called me one day and said ASU was looking for a leadership professor and he wanted to invite me to write out the communications curriculum around my storytelling program. I'd never done anything like that before and I ended up doing it for five years. You just never ever know when that person's going to step into your world and have that tremendous impact.

What's one piece of advice you would give to fellow entrepreneurs looking to make impactful connections? Be yourself –– show up as who you are. I know people hear that all the time, but often when we're young in our careers and we're trying to look accomplished and as if we have our act together, it gets in the way of who we really are and all the foibles and the vulnerabilities we have. I was talking to my mom, who's 95 and in great health, and I asked her, “What's the difference from 30 years ago to who you are now?” She said, “I worry a heck of a lot less.” I would tell people, stop worrying about themselves and get over the fact that you don't have it all figured out because none of us do.

Speed round: Coffee drinker, yes or no? Yes.

One business tool you’re geeking out over right now? My Calendly calendar invite system.

Favorite piece of technology? This microphone and the ability to be able to record.

What’s one book you’d pass along to a fellow entrepreneur? One of my favorite storytelling books in business is Shawn Callahan's Putting Stories to Work.

One person you’d like to make a connection with? Ben Folds. He’s a great songwriter, piano player, and pop rock and roller.

What’s your favorite ice breaker when introducing yourself to someone (either online or off)? I don't have one icebreaker that fits all. I have to first look at the background and I'll ask a question particular to their situation so I can connect with them as quickly as possible.

How many hours of sleep do you get each night, on average? I get between six and eight hours.

How can people connect with you or The Business of Story? Head on over to the website businessofstory.com. If you have any questions specific to me, feel free to shoot me an email at park@businessofstory.com or we also have a private Facebook group, a Business of Story for leaders. We welcome all newcomers who are interested in learning how to better communicate and have more confidence in their communication using the power of story.

View Details

How do you make an impact with others? Purple hair can help. But Holly Rushton’s secret sauce is being a “yes” person and tapping into positive energy.

These two simple –– yet highly effective tips –– have helped her navigate a major acquisition and make a name for herself at Salesforce, where she is a senior manager of content marketing, works with Salesforce’s Trailblazer Community and oversees content for AppExchange. Her “you get out what you put in” attitude has also been highly effective in her ability to manage the highs and lows that come with working remotely –– namely helping her build and maintain solid relationships with her coworkers.

In this episode of The Success Lab Podcast, Holly talks about the journey that led her to Salesforce, how she has navigated her role through acquisitions, and reveals what she’s most excited about from a content marketing perspective in 2020.

Read on for a selection of questions, and listen to the entire interview by clicking the player above.

How did you land at Salesforce?

Looking back, I think it was always a goal to work for a larger enterprise. I worked for a Midwestern tech startup called ExactTarget, and we were acquired by Salesforce in 2013. And the rest is history.

What is one of the most rewarding perks of working at Salesforce that only those on the inside would know?

I don't want to give away all of our secrets, but you'll probably hear two things. The first one’s a bit tongue in cheek –– we get really great snacks in the office. There's a whole cult following of all of our wonderful snacks, which is a testament to Salesforce and how much they care about their employees and want to make sure that they’re productive.

However, I think the most rewarding part of working at Salesforce is the ability to try new things and to grow. I have worked for a handful of other companies prior to coming to this ecosystem and the opportunity to grow your career path has not been there. I would work for companies where you had to literally be fired and rehired if you wanted to change departments or your level of contribution –– and that's not a way to run an employee culture.

How do you maintain strong relationships being a remote employee?

It actually hasn't been a very easy journey for me. I started working remotely in 2016. It was a really hard change for me and it was difficult for me to feel connected and motivated.

What helps is to identify people who are also not based at HQ that you can develop strong relationships with. We have an internal network called Ohana at Home. It's for all remote employees. We share photos of our cats or our workspaces and we participate in a lot of general conversations.

Also, being present helps. Video conferencing is a game-changer. I used to never turn on my webcam but being in front of people and showing your face, even if it's just to nod or say hi, is really important. You really need to put in the energy. At least that's what I've found has been successful for me.

What's one piece of advice you would give to fellow marketers looking to make impactful connections?

Being open and being willing to say, "yes." Bringing the energy to building relationships because connections aren't going to be made. Connections take work. You have to be at certain places or talk to certain people. You get what you put in.

What are you most excited about from a content marketing perspective for 2020?

I was recently reading a piece from the Content Marketing Institute, and Jay Baer, from Convince & Convert, was talking about the importance of user-generated content. He said for 2020, you'll need to determine what inspires your audience to create and share your story, and that it's not about changing the message, it's about changing the messenger. I think that’s a really exciting prediction.

Lightening Round:

• Coffee drinker, yes or no? Yes.

• One business tool you’re geeking out over right now? I love this Chrome extension called Momentum. Every time you open your browser or a new tab, it displays a beautiful photo and an inspirational quote. You can also keep a digital to-do list on there, which is really helpful for me.

• Favorite marketing tool? The Salesforce Marketing Cloud. We also use a tool on my team called Social Studio, which is also owned by us. It's really great for engagement.

• What’s one book you’d pass along to a fellow entrepreneur? It's not a traditional marketing book, but Stephen King's On Writing was an important book for me when I was just finishing up college and knew I wanted to do writing in some format.

• One person you’d like to make a connection with? Barack Obama. Definitely.

• What’s your favorite ice breaker when introducing yourself to someone (either online or off)? I like to do Two Truths and A Lie.

• How many hours of sleep do you get each night, on average? Probably, five to six.

• What’s your favorite board game? I'm a big board gamer and I would have to say I really love Lords of Waterdeep.

• Which was your favorite musical act from this year’s Dreamforce? It would definitely be Fleetwood Mac.

You can always give me a follow on Twitter –– you can find me at @hollymrushton. I’m also available to connect via LinkedIn. Just look for the girl with purple hair and black glasses.

View Details

Fashion is a $400-billion-dollar industry in the U.S. But until recently, Phoenix was only capturing a small sliver of that pie at best. That changed when two Valley entrepreneurs came together and decided those aspiring to carve out careers in the fashion industry, shouldn’t have to relocate to hubs like Los Angeles or New York to be successful.

In this episode of The SuccessLab Podcast, Sherri Berry and Angela Johnson, co-founders of the Arizona Apparel Foundation and F.A.B.R.I.C, share their uphill climb to launching the fashion business resource and innovation center, and how they’ve grown it to a beacon for fashion design businesses in the community. Headquartered in Tempe, Ariz., Sherri and Angela have grown F.A.B.R.I.C. into an important economic development initiative, opening the doors for fashion entrepreneurs to put down roots and thrive in the Valley –– and they did it all on a very limited budget.

Read on for a selection of questions, and listen to the entire interview by clicking the player above.

How did you get into the world of fashion?

Angela: I went to Northern Arizona University (NAU) and got my degree in speech communication. When I graduated, I realized I could do some public speaking, but didn't have expertise in anything. So I decided to pursue fashion because I have always had a love for it. I went to Los Angeles and earned a degree from The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM). Then I worked in Los Angeles for a few different brands until I eventually started my own collection.

Sherri: When I graduated with my business degree from the University of Wisconsin, I really wanted to be a fashion designer. At the time there wasn't the internet, so you needed a million-dollar ad budget to be able to advertise so people would recognize your brand and buy it in a store. That wasn't realistic for me, so I went into retail and 17 years later I was running 350 stores. I burned out so I decided to launch my fashion brand. I got my MBA and then took two years off to learn everything I could about apparel, design, development and manufacturing. I also spent a lot of time in California working with Frances Harder. She had a consultancy called Fashion Business Incorporated and she wrote a very famous book called, Fashion For Profit. I met Angela during this time. Angela was literally the matriarch of the whole fashion community in Phoenix. Whatever resources were available here, Angela was connected to and willing to share.

What traits have helped you advance your career?

Sherri: When I started my retail career, I was an assistant manager at a store with a college degree. It didn't pay very well but it was a great opportunity because it was in close proximity to the corporate headquarters of Famous Footwear. Because all the buyers and vendors would come in, the store and our customer service had to be perfect.

It helped me learn you're only as good as the people you hire. You can be on your game, but if one of your employees isn't, then you're not on your game either. It really is about finding people who share in your desires and beliefs and motivations, and also that you support them in their goals as much as they support you in yours.

Have you had any low points as an entrepreneur? How did you pull yourself out of it?

Angela: I ended up moving back to Arizona to take care of my grandfather when my grandmother passed away. My brand, Monkeywench, was selling internationally and was profitable. But soon I realized that none of the resources I had been using in Los Angeles existed in Arizona. I couldn't operate this business that I had spent years growing anymore if I was going to live in Arizona. So I made the hardest decision of my life to close down a profitable business because of proximity.

It was a dark day, but I decided at that moment I wasn't going to let that be the end of my story. Instead, I was going to solve my own problem while also solving the same problem for other people. I pulled together the community from a directory of fashion businesses in Arizona. Now LabelHorde is the directory we use here at F.A.B.R.I.C. to tie everybody together.

Is there a common mistake you see first-time entrepreneurs making?

Sherri: I try to explain to designers that less is always more when you're starting a fashion design business. It's more important they decide what their niche is and who their target customer is, and then get enough product in enough quantities to build up that brand.

That's the beauty of social media right now. You can take beautiful pictures and videos to put out there, and then do pre-sales without investing a ton in your manufacturing.

What advice do you have for fellow entrepreneurs?

Angela: Educating yourself in your industry before you enter it is probably the most important thing. What's great about F.A.B.R.I.C. is that we want to educate people so they know what they're doing and are actually taking on all the responsibilities of this complex industry.

Speed Round:

Are you a coffee drinker, yes or no?

Angela: Yes.

Sherri: Oh my God, yes.

What’s one business tool you are geeking out over right now?

Sherri: I'm looking at CRM systems right now.

What is your favorite piece of technology?

Angela: It seems so obvious but when my computer doesn't work, my whole world comes crashing down.

Sherri: It's amazing what you can do through a phone now. I can be on the move and be able to do important things without having my laptop or an internet connection.

What's one book you'd pass along to a fellow entrepreneur?

Angela: The Entrepreneur's Guide to Sewn Product Manufacturing is a great book for any fashion design entrepreneur.

Sherri: Who Moved My Cheese? It's a short, quirky book, but if you're feeling stuck, you have to read it.

Who is one person you'd like to make a connection with?

Sherri: I have two: Doug Ducey and Sandra Watson.

Angela: Michael Krohn.

What would be your icebreaker?

Angela: “How would you like to disrupt an industry and help put Arizona on the map for a brand new, innovative industry in the 21st century?”

How many hours of sleep do you each get each night, on average?

Angela: Oh, that's embarrassing. Five, maybe.

Sherri: I try to get as much sleep as possible.

How can people connect with you or F.A.B.R.I.C?

Angela: Fabrictempe.com takes you to everything that we do. Contact us from there or come in for a tour.

View Details

In the U.S., we waste approximately 30 to 40 percent of the food supply, which translates to more than 130 billion pounds and close to $200 billion every year. But not for long. Ben Deda is the CEO of FoodMaven, a Denver company that diverts food bound for the landfill to restaurants and other food service providers.

In this episode of The SuccessLab Podcast, Ben shares how FoodMaven is bringing agility and flexibility to the food system and how the company plans to expand. Ben, who previously held executive, also talks about how his time in the Marine Corps prepared him for business leadership and how he made the switch to the world of technology.

Read on for a selection of questions, and listen to the entire interview by clicking the player above.

What led you to FoodMaven?

I got connected with the folks at FoodMaven through one of the board members I previously worked with at Galvanize. I was drawn to the fact that they were doing good and in a way that helps people on the planet. It was an opportunity too good to pass up.

What’s your approach to making genuine connections in your career?

Every single step in my career has been through connections I've made. There's a concept about increasing your surface area for collisions –– the more collisions you can have with the right targeted folks, the better that can be for everyone. It’s those chance encounters that are the ones that pay off both personally and professionally. That was a big part of why we came up with a Startup Week –– to help increase those chances of collisions.

What was your biggest challenge stepping into the role of CEO at FoodMaven?

How to maintain culture when you scale. When it's a small group, it's really easy. As you start to add folks, there will be different reasons they join the company. You want to make sure that throughout the recruiting process you're getting folks who share important values, whether they’re a warehouse worker, a developer, a driver, or a salesperson.

Does FoodMaven have a set of core values?

We have our vision of, "All food used in good purpose." We always talk about our mission, and about capturing and creating a market for food otherwise lost in the food system with positive givebacks to profits, people and planet. We broke that down into values and our core culture and we try to live those every day. During our monthly all-hands meetings, we walk through one of our core values and a scenario that came up in the previous month we thought was a great example of that. If there's misalignment between the core values of your company and how your folks see people acting, then those values start to lose importance.

What’s your advice for entrepreneurs looking to build quality relationships?

The biggest thing is being deliberate in what surface area you're building. When you base this off what’s important to you, then those collisions will be the most valuable. It doesn’t have to be transactional. When you both share a passion about a subject, you can build that deeper connection overall. Then once you have that connection, learn to listen. Listening will help you develop that deeper relationship more quickly.

What's next for FoodMaven?

We're focused on a couple of key things. One is continuing to prove this model works here in Colorado. From there, we’re looking to expand. Once we've shown we can take this and replicate it in another market, that's the point where we become really interesting to investors. The ability to take this to 10, 20 or 30 markets is absolutely in the cards.

Speed Round:

Are you a coffee drinker? Always.

What is one business tool you're geeking out over right now? I continue to geek out on Excel every day. I find some new little trick that I hadn't known the day before.

Do you have a favorite piece of technology? Probably my iPhone. It continues to amaze me how much you can get done from a business standpoint.

What's one book you'd pass along to a fellow entrepreneur? I still go back to Ben Horwitz’s The Hard Thing About Hard Things. It's a great book to get yourself in the right mindset for the hard decisions you have to make as a leader.

Who's one person you'd like to make a connection with? I would like to make a connection with whoever we could help the most with what we do here at FoodMaven.

What's your favorite icebreaker when introducing yourself to someone? I always just say, "Tell me about yourself". You never know what you're going to hear.

How many hours of sleep do you get each night on average? According to my phone, I sit right at about six. I try to get seven. I've got a three year old who makes sure I'm up pretty early.

How can people connect with you and FoodMaven? Visit foodmaven.com. We've got some great content up there where you can see stories about our suppliers and our buyers. There's also the ability to sign up to become either those. To connect with me, reach out on LinkedIn or Twitter at @Ben_Deda.

View Details

When we think of the circular economy and sustainability, many of the organizations in this burgeoning space –– and moreover what they do –– may seem nuanced to the general population. However, in reality, people have been implementing these practices for generations. At its core, the circular economy is a framework for an economy that is restorative and regenerative by design –– a concept that has been around since perhaps the beginning of humankind.

Forrest Carroll, the CFO of Revolv (soon to undergo rebranding as Muuse), knows this firsthand having grown up on a farm in Maryland where the concepts of land stewardship, gardening, composting and fixing what was broken reigned supreme. Forrest directly attributes his upbringing to his foray into the renewable energy industry, which eventually led him to Muuse. On a mission to solve the ocean plastic problem, Muuse was created to empower food and beverage, and consumer packaged goods companies to shift away from the single-use products and instead adopt their reusable foodware products and deposit system.

In this episode of The Success Lab Podcast, Forrest breaks down how Revolv (soon to be be Muuse) works, the inspiration behind the organization, how to build a network of allies, and the importance of cultivating relationships with, who he calls, consequential strangers.

Read on for a selection of questions, and listen to the entire interview by clicking the player above.

What does Revolv do?

So, Revolv –– actually, I guess this is as good a place as any to announce our rebranding as Muuse1. Anyway, Muuse is a software platform for reusable foodware. We’re mainly working on coffee cups and to-go food boxes right now. In its simplest form, we have a coffee cup with an RFID chip in it that you check out through a digital deposit at any of the cafes in our network. When you're done with your coffee, you drop it off at any of those participating cafes or into one of our smart return stations, which reads the chip and sends a signal to our system to reimburse your deposit immediately. There’s a need for this right now because the recycling systems we work with currently are seemingly ineffective and, in many instances, like with bioplastics, they aren’t performing as they were intended to perform. So businesses and consumers are turning to this rapidly growing class of reusable goods.

• Editor’s note: We will refer to Revolv as Muuse throughout the remainder of this blog post

What led you to Muuse?

The journey really starts on the farm where I grew up. I grew up in Maryland where there’s this idea of land stewardship and gardening, which is the ultimate example of the circular economy and implementing sustainable practices in everyday life. On the farm, you're constantly fixing things instead of throwing them out. Take composting, for example. It's using existing natural systems to repurpose organic matter. Further down the line, this led me to work in the renewable energy space where I helped design and build solar energy products across the U.S., which then led me to Muuse. Part of how I got there was due to my old boss, who I worked with at my last renewal energy company, inviting me to see what he was starting in Indonesia. He talked about that pilot test case in Indonesia, and that mixed with my growing love for the ocean and my new surfing addiction. So I'd say the mesh of those two things really led me to Muuse and it has been a whirlwind ever since. I haven't looked back.

How do you build impactful connections?

The advantage to what we're building at Muuse, and to a lot of the things I've worked on in my business career, is we're building a mission-driven organization. We really don't have to spend a lot of time defending the sustainability benefits of what we're working on. People get it. We know what we're going to offset or that we're going to replace that single-use coffee cup you just bought with a reusable one that never ends up in landfills or the ocean. Finding people whose mission aligns with that is really valuable because they become part of your network of allies.

Eventually, you build a large enough network and they are connected to people who you really want to talk to at the business table. And the other benefit we have is that, to their credit, a lot of these large corporations –– I'll use Starbucks as an example –– are trying to figure out solutions to the enormous amount of waste that they're creating right now. They are consumer-facing, so they're getting a lot of pushback. They're in the media. It’s to our benefit that we have people who are trying to work on this in these large corporate roles, which are important allies because they're the ones who know what a good solution is.

What’s one of the biggest challenges you’ve had to overcome at Muuse?

Patience is one of them. When you move from a big company to a lean startup model and everything is going really fast, you just assume everything will take off immediately, right? But that’s not the reality. You have to build all of these systems you never had to think of before. And ultimately, you're still working with these large, multinational companies that think you have these systems in place, so they push back on contract terms and methodology and expect you to have a crack legal team that can help reach a compromise on a contract term, et cetera.

Part of the way I've overcome this is having worked to embrace this process of discovery and reflect and appreciate the amount of knowledge we have accumulated as an organization through the testing and piloting programs we've conducted in six different global markets, and from talking to untold number of coffee drinkers, right, or baristas or a cafe managers. When you're working in such a fast-paced organization, there is a lot to build beyond just that reusable cup.

Are there one or two impactful connections that have significantly shaped your journey?

I've got to talk about Brian Riley, who's the true founder of this company I'm working on and is someone I first met working at NRG. He immediately occupied this role as a mentor and a boss, which in and of itself is very rare, especially in a hierarchical work environment. But what is even rarer is to find a mentor who treats you like an equal from the onset. That enabled me to grow in a way I hadn't been able to grow before and is one of the reasons I agreed to go see the operation he was building in Indonesia and why I’m where I’m at now.

Another source of impactful connections comes from this idea of consequential strangers, which are most of the people you meet outside of your family and friends –– the people on the peripheral who lie in that social territory between strangers and intimates. If you pay attention to those consequential strangers, the sort of collective power of them to help you move ideas forward or to give you advice on very specific parts of your business, your personal life or your professional development. Put them together, and they are a very powerful and impactful connection. I've run into a lot of those consequential strangers over the last year working at Muuse.

What is one piece of advice you’d give to a fellow entrepreneur?

I think a part of it is meeting consequential strangers and being open to diving deeper into that informal network all of us have. Asking people for help and asking people for explicit advice or expertise –– and then paying attention to what they have to say –– is really important. It might not be as relevant to the exact question you're asking but helps peel away this veil of what that person's really good at or what they understand. Being flexible and opportunistic allows you to dive in with that person perhaps on something that you didn't previously anticipate.

Speed round

Coffee drinker, yes or no? No.

One business tool you’re geeking out over right now? Fusion 360. It’s a 3D modeling software.

Favorite piece of technology? Oh, well (Muuse’s) ultra-high-frequency RFID chip, obviously.

What’s one book you’d pass along to a fellow entrepreneur? The Lean Startup by Eric Ries.

One person you’d like to make a connection with? Oh boy, that's a good one. I want to make a connection with John John Florence. He's a famous surfer and he's working on ocean solutions –– and I think he should become an ambassador of Muuse.

What’s your favorite ice breaker? I like getting away from the chit chat and immediately going for questions that get to the heart. Here's one: what's the most important lesson your father ever taught you?

How many hours of sleep do you get each night, on average? Two. No, I'm just kidding. It just swings so much, it's hard to come up with an average. I try my best to get eight. I really need my sleep.

How can people connect with you? We have a pretty significant online and social media presence, but we are still transitioning from the name Revolv. However, I can be reached at forrest@revolv.io.

View Details

Design –– it’s much more than a pastime, a creative outlet, or an ability to pair complementary colors. Rather, it’s a way for people like Jack Morgan to shed light on an issues impacting millions of people.

Jack has been designing to help educational platforms find a voice and solve large-scale problems for nearly 10 years. Formerly the design lead for Google’s digital education division where he helped create the Google Academy London, Jack currently leads the design team at Duolingo, a language-learning website and app focused on making education free and accessible to all. His work at Duolingo has enabled him to help more than 300 million people learn a new language. It also inspired Jack to produce a short documentary about the impact of language on the lives of four Syrian refugees.

In this episode of The Success Lab Podcast, Jack talks about how his upbringing in East London influenced his career path, how his purpose as a designer and entrepreneur has evolved over the years, and how the Japanese idiom "ichi-go ichi-e" impacts his life –– personally and professionally.

View Details

The next wave of artificial intelligence is rushing toward the business world like a tsunami. More and more, companies are realizing they need to get prepared or risk being consumed by the swift changes this technology will bring. Jeff Cox is one entrepreneur who decided to get ahead of the trend and founded a company that leverages AI to help its clients increase their customer value.

Jeff is the co-founder and executive chairman of Radius AI, a technology that allows brick and mortar stores to deliver more personalized customer experiences. Prior to founding Radius AI, Jeff consulted and developed technology-based solutions for companies like American Express, McKesson, PayPal, and Apple, to name a few.

In this interview, Jeff shares what inspired him to start Radius AI and why he felt so confident handing off his role as CEO two years after launching. Jeff also explains why he focuses on people, trusts his gut and always strikes up conversations in coffee shops.

View Details

Social media has completely rewired our society. It’s given new meaning to “breaking news”, and given us new ways to share, engage and express ourselves. But it’s also had a pervasive impact on the economy, politics, international relations, all corners of society, and the list goes on. Nobody has a better front-row seat to this activity than the journalists covering these beats. 

Salvador Rodriguez (aka Sal) is one such journalist. He is a tech reporter for the San Francisco Bureau of CNBC where he covers Facebook and social media. Needless to say, he’s a busy guy. Prior to CNBC, he reported on the tech industry for Reuters, Inc. Magazine, the International Business Times and the L.A. Times. 

In this episode, hosts Beth Cochran and Breanne Krager welcome Sal to The SuccessLab Podcast to hear how his love of football ended up being the catalyst for his pursuit of journalism. Sal also shares how his single-minded hustle as a college student led to a job at the L.A. Times, how he learned to look out for his career the hard way and what it takes to develop trusted relationships with sources.

View Details

Oftentimes, we encounter guests on this show who had never envisioned an entrepreneurial career for themselves until they were actually doing it. And it isn’t uncommon for these journeys to take a meandering approach, replete with twists, turns, setbacks and big wins. Travis Van can attest to this.

Travis earned a degree in journalism, went on to become a public relations manager, and then became employee number three at MuleSoft. Having never worked at a technology company, MuleSoft opened a number of doors for Travis and gave him the confidence he needed to eventually embark on his own venture. Today, Travis is the founder of TechNews (formerly known as IT Database), a software platform built specifically for tech companies to organize their public relations programs.

On this episode of The SuccessLab Podcast, Travis talks about his storied entrepreneurial journey and the biggest challenges he faced as a non-technical person starting a software company.

View Details

After devoting years to earning a bachelor’s and master’s degree in mechanical engineering, Eli Chmouni found himself frustrated and restless in a job he couldn’t stand. Rather than accepting another 30 years of the same, he began to explore the idea of working for himself doing something he loved. From that point, Eli says, there was no turning back. 

Today, Eli is the founder of SURF, a media distribution and rideshare entertainment company that places tablets in rideshare vehicles. But this is not his first venture. He's actually a four-time entrepreneur, making successful exits from two of his companies within two years of launching them. 

In this interview, Eli discusses how a winning a competition jump started his foray into entrepreneurship, how he determines which ideas to pursue, and how he recovered from his darkest moment as an entrepreneur. He also shares stories about his mentors and the important lessons they taught him.

View Details

It’s not uncommon for entrepreneurs to weave storied journeys throughout their career –– and this particular one makes several interesting (an unlikely) stops. In fact, Kevin Goldman’s path is likely quite different from any you’ve heard before.

A Phoenix native and graduate of Arizona State University, Kevin left the Valley in his early 20s to see more of the world. After joining a band in Seattle with Reggie Watts, who now leads the house band for The Late Show with James Corden, Kevin spent a decade creating music and touring the country, all while running his design consulting firm. After more than a decade run with the band, and another successful startup and exit under his belt, Kevin eventually landed as Chief Design Officer at Trusona, where’s helping to lead the mission to rid the world of passwords.

In this episode of The SuccessLab Podcast, Kevin shares why he returned to Phoenix, opened his second design agency, 29th Drive, and how he connected with the team at Trusona. He also talks about prioritizing his values, who his greatest teachers have been and how he forms authentic connections while networking.

How did your career begin?

I was born and raised in Phoenix, and went to Arizona State University where I studied industrial design. At 23 or 24, I had this desire to get out of my hometown and see more of the world. I moved to Seattle and thought I might be a barista, because I didn't have a job lined up. At that time, I had been doing design work for a year when a business colleague asked me to do some contract work. That ended up being the start of a consulting career called Goldman Design that I had for over 10 years. It really was a perfect fit because this was early in the Internet era, so it was a case of being in the right place at the right time. Seattle in 1995 was also the right place and time for music. I had played bass guitar in bands through high school and through college, and that's when I met Reggie and Davis and Daniel Spils and all the guys in the band, and started really both careers at that time.

I spent 10 years in Seattle and lived a dual life of playing music, recording albums, touring the country and then working on fun design projects at the same time for a lot of startups in Seattle, including Microsoft. Ultimately I moved back to Phoenix and a lot of business opportunities ended up popping up. That's when I formed a consulting firm called 29th Drive, which was later acquired.

What significant challenges have you faced as a founder and how did you overcome them?

Agencies go through times of having a lot of work and then times of not having as much work – that's just the agency life. At 29th Drive, we asked ourselves, "Well, what are we going to do when we're not as busy?" We decided as a team to develop and launch products. So the challenge was either keeping billable time up or making sure that we were always extracting value from the business, whether clients were there or not.

One of the products that came out of that was a product called Inkwell. It's a physical sketch kit and it's made for makers or for entrepreneurs. We launched it and within probably four to six months, we had sold Inkwells in 22 countries and to some of the big luminary designers around the world. They would tweet about it and were thrilled to have a physical kit that embodied the craft of design that existed away from those glowing screens in front of them. We had a lot of fun developing that and ultimately turned that physical product into a lead generation machine for the consulting business. I take that as a creative win, looking at a problem and solving it in a unique way.

How did you end up joining Trusona?

My design team did a two day design studio workshop with the Trusona team. During those two days, I met the founder of Trusona, Ori Eisen, and I thought to myself, I'd like to get to know this guy. I emailed him and asked him if he'd want to get lunch. We met at his coffee shop and immediately started talking about all the things that you're not supposed to talk about – religion, Israel (he's from Israel), art, music – and we really just hit it off.

So fast forward, eight months later I left where I was and came over to join Trusona as chief design officer. The mission here of getting rid of passwords is one that I can really get behind on many, many levels. Ask anybody if they love using passwords, and they'll tell you all kinds of stories about how much they hate passwords.

But on the security side, there's something that people don't know a lot about or at least laymen don't know that aren't in the security world, is that passwords are the root cause for 81% of the breaches in the world. And if that wasn't bad enough, these breaches, there's a tremendous amount of money from these cyber attacks that go to global organized gangs essentially. And that money goes to child trafficking, human trafficking, drugs, weapons, you name it. So if we can eradicate passwords, we can both help with what the money is being used for from the breaches. And then of course we can also make it a little easier for people's lives because they don't have to create and use passwords every day.

Have there been specific people who’ve significantly shaped your journey?

Certainly with music, I learned so much from Reggie. I remember the very first day we ever jammed together, even though it was 20 years ago. But probably the most impactful connections that helped form my life were some of my yoga teachers back then in Seattle. Let me back up a little bit...

A very good friend of mine recently exposed me to David Brooks. A concept that David Brooks talks about a lot and that is the concept of virtues – there's resume virtues, those are the things that we show on LinkedIn to say how great we are, and then there's eulogy virtues, those are the things that people will remember you by when you're gone. What do we really want to build up – our resume virtues or our eulogy virtues? Which do we give energy to? The biggest influencers in my life have been the ones that have helped to show me where things really matter.

Friendships, personal growth and being able to meaningfully connect with other people requires you to be comfortable in your own skin. Eve Nyman was my yoga teacher in Seattle for probably 10 years and she taught me so much about some of these things that end up affecting the rest of my life, including the business side of my life.

How have you successfully made impactful connections over the years, from your band to your business, considering they're both totally different audiences?

If there's one thing that comes to mind around making impactful connections, it's about knowing yourself and being sincere about what your intentions are when you meet people in the business world or in your personal life. If you're out there networking and you want a job, don't buddy up to somebody because you're hoping to get a job. Be sincere if you are interested in that person as a potential friend and be sincere about that. At the same time, if you are also sincere about getting a job through a connection that they have, be sincere about that and let them know like, "Hey, I want you in my life." Or, "Can we hang out once a month?" But also be up front and say, "Hey, I'm thinking about making a career change and if you know something, I'd really appreciate it if you kept me in mind.”

That sincerity I think is the most important thing. That dynamic can really go sideways when there's alternative motives that aren't spoken about. Take the time to meditate on why you're spending time with the people you're spending time with, why you reach out to the people that you reach out to and what you communicate with them. There's a lot of people that I network with that I may have some business relationship with, but they're also friends. It is very important to me to keep the communication clear on both sides.

What's one piece of advice you would pass along to a fellow entrepreneur or designer looking to make impactful connections?

Surround yourself with people that have a lot more experience than you. It turns into good things. Especially when you're young and first starting your career, try to be the worst one amongst your group of colleagues because you'll learn so much and it will get you out of your comfort zone. The second thing is to be sincere and be present when you're in those situations.

View Details

With the media landscape changing at a rapid clip, journalists need to adjust and adapt to evolve with their profession. The rise of digital, as well as video and podcasts, also means today’s journalists need to be tech savvy and rely on strong connections within their networks.

Take Stephen Bronner, who has been a journalist and editor for more than a decade, including more than five years as the editor at Entrepreneur.com. He has worked intimately with CEOs, founders, business leaders and experts to share their stories on Entrepreneur Media’s website, which brings in nearly eight million unique visitors every month.

In this episode of The SuccessLab Podcast, Stephen pulls back the curtain on life as a journalist, including working his way from community news to eventually building Entrepreneur’s outside contributor network. He shares insights on building relationships with sources, identifying stories that will resonate and advice for journalists looking to advance their careers.

Would you tell us about your career journey so far in journalism?

It's been insane to say the least. I graduated from journalism graduate school in 2008, at the height of the recession. They told us, "All newspapers are going to go away and everybody's going to go digital. Good luck out there." I didn't find a job for about five months, and ended up taking a job for $23,000 working at a little community newspaper on Long Island, New York. I did that for six months, and then I was able to go back to a place where I had been freelancing, which is a free daily newspaper in New York called AM New York. I became one of their editors, doing front-of-the-book niche and world news. Then my old boss at the community newspaper called and said, "Hey, I've been working at this company called Patch. Do you want to join me?" I ended up covering the same community again, and I did that for three years.

Later I ended up at Entrepreneur as their contributors editor and I was tasked with building their outside contributor network – CEOs, media executives, business professionals and the like – to generate story ideas and write columns for the site. When I started out there were probably around 20 writers, and then we ended up having hundreds and hundreds of contributors. Then I was promoted to the news desk at Entrepreneur and did that for about three years. And now I am looking for my next opportunity, as they say. It's been tumultuous.

Are there any favorite stories you’ve covered?

Over the past few years I've had the chance to cover the packaged food industry, which is kind of at a weird place right now, because milk is no longer milk, meat is no longer meat. Things are changing. There's been a lot more science to push things in the right direction environmentally wise, and taste-wise. I would say packaged foods have gotten significantly better –– better for you, better tasting, better for the planet. That's where most of my attention has been going.

In terms of the stories in that vein, I got the chance to interview Ethan Brown of Beyond Meat, which was one of the first Q&As that I did in this area. He was very inspiring to talk with. Then one of the last stories that I did at Entrepreneur was about a company called Perfect Day. These are two guys who have invented a flora-based milk protein. The thrust of it is that they've created, through genetic modification, the exact same structures that are in milk dairy. They want to basically be the provider of this dairy alternative to the entire food industry.

What's been one of the best things that you've done to propel your career forward?

It really comes down to luck. I don't mean that in randomness, but putting yourself in the best position to move your career forward. I was very fortunate at Entrepreneur to have a good supporter in Ray Hennessey, the editorial director who hired me. He laid out the vision and the goals that he wanted me to accomplish. As he had a vision to expand Entrepreneur, he included me in that, and that's how I ended up at the news desk.

What is one of the best ways you've made impactful connections for your career?

That's a tough one. I don't network, per se, which is probably insane for me to say. You develop friendships with people that you work with, and hopefully you stay in contact even if it's just through LinkedIn, keeping up on their careers as they move forward and then keeping those connections warm as you make your moves. Grad school was a good place for that. Patch was a great place for that, because Patch employed so many people and they're everywhere now.

Is there anyone who has shaped your journey significantly?

The editor at my first job, Paul Shapiro. He's doing content marketing now, but he was a good supporter of me because he hooked me up with Patch and that helped my career a lot. And then, as I mentioned, Ray Hennessey was an early supporter of my skills and my ability while I was at Entrepreneur. He was just a good person to be around.

How have you seen journalism change over the last decade?

I think what's been the biggest change is the internet has democratized journalism in good and bad ways. Not everybody reads the same news anymore, so not everybody subscribes to the same facts anymore. You could have more voices, which is great, but more voices also bring pitfalls.

In terms of actual changes, I would say video is probably the biggest. Online video is a trend that just keeps popping up. When I was in grad school, it wasn't on the radar. We were still being trained to do slideshows. Radio is still kind of a thing, and podcasts have roared back to life, which is just radio segments really. I imagine those two – video and podcasts – will have some staying power, as well as good writing, of course.

How do you spot trends and identify stories that will resonate?

I can't actually say I know what resonates, but I understood Entrepreneur's audience pretty well. They love stories that will unlock the secrets to them becoming millionaires. In terms of covering a beat, it's really just talking to people constantly and seeing what they're excited about, and usually that will point you toward trends. If you hear the same thing from three different people, then we in the media industry regard that as a trend. Twitter's also a good source because it can point you to what will be talked about in the future as well.

How do you go about making genuine impactful connections with your sources?

The number one is to be prepared. Learn about their businesses. See what they've written. See what they're excited about. Then just have a conversation with them. At least in the niche that I worked in, people really wanted to talk about what they were doing. They were excited and loved the opportunity to explain it to people as well. It also helps creating a backlog of your work and having them see it. If you do your job well, then they'll be more willing to talk to you because they can see that you have good intentions and that you want to tell their story.

What is your advice for fellow journalists looking to advance their careers?

Go deep on something that you're interested in. If you want to cover a beat, then read up on it, talk to people about it and get the word out that that's what you're interested in. Most people I've encountered will have no problem speaking to you. If it's a journalist in the field, say, "I really appreciate your work. I'd love to take you out for coffee." Journalists love free coffee.

View Details

Risk taking is an inherent part of being an entrepreneur. The trick is, risk taking requires a delicate balance between calculation and gumption –– and even then, the outcome is not always predictable. And when it doesn’t work out, you have to be able to pick up the pieces and come back stronger.

How do you learn to navigate these murky waters and not let the tough times drag you under? For Rami Kalla, it took surrounding himself with the right people.

Rami is the founder of Point in Time Studios, a thriving video production company based in Tempe that specializes in video, virtual reality and 3D animation. After more than 16 years in business, Rami has endured his share of obstacles, but it’s been his tribe and relentlessly positive mindset that have helped him scale the business to all new heights.

In this episode of The SuccessLab Podcast, Rami explains how leaving the corporate world opened up the path to following his passion, why entrepreneurs need to lean on one another to ride out their highs and lows, and why showing up and dealing with struggles head on is the only way through.

What led you to start Point in Time Studios?

My journey started when I was about 10 years old and my father brought home one of those old camcorders. I fell in love with it and started making short films with my friends and family, including writing scripts and creating little movies. I didn't know at the time it was going to lead me to what I do now.

I went to ASU and studied business and Spanish, then worked for General Mills doing marketing. A few years into that I became very disenchanted with the whole corporate environment and realized I wasn't really living my dream and pursuing my passion, so I started to look into video production and how to turn something I love into a business. As I did research, I found there was a need for quality video production that provided a great product and great service. We started doing a lot of small corporate events, private events, and local commercials. From there, we started working with large companies like Coca-Cola, McDonald's, Ford and PetSmart.

Over the last several years, we’ve been getting to work internationally doing virtual and augmented reality, as well as video, for companies from L.A. to London. It's been a really fun experience and I'm very humbled to make a living doing what I love.

What is one of the best things you’ve done to take Point in Time Studios to the next level?

One of the things that I did, right toward the end of the recession, was join a mastermind group. I had gone to business school and worked for a large company, but didn't have a lot of experience as an entrepreneur. I was operating from an island making decisions based off the limited knowledge I had.

I ended up being introduced to EO Accelerator through a friend. At the time, the hardest thing for me was admitting my faults. I was very proud, had a bit of an ego and I didn't want to admit the financial mistakes that I had made. Eventually I opened up and said, "Here's the things that I'm struggling with, and here's the mistakes I made." Half the room said, "Yeah, I've gone through the same thing, myself, and I know exactly what you're going through." That was really a turning point for me, when I not only joined the group but I got vulnerable, and I realized that I don't have to know everything, I do have a lot to learn, and I was able to experience-share from other people in the room.

What’s been your experience riding the highs and lows of entrepreneurship?

I'll be vulnerable here. In 2008-2009, I had built a 3,000-square-foot studio in downtown Phoenix and invested around $100,000 into creating it. I was going to build a stage so other companies coming into Phoenix and local companies could rent it out for music videos and films, and things like that. Of course the timing was awful – I built this big facility and it was crickets. Money was extremely tight. I had to let half my staff go. At the lowest point, I had $1.1 million in total debt, and I went to Burger King to get a Whopper and I couldn't afford it. I didn't have enough money to buy a hamburger and I was hungry, and I had three kids to feed at the time.

I realized at that time I'd taken a lot of risks – I wasn't afraid of risk, but they weren't calculated risks. I had gone way too much into debt and hadn't really understood the repercussions of the things that I was doing. It took years to really dig out of it, pay off a lot of that debt and get the business back on track. As a business owner, you have to take risks. You've got to take some risks to grow. But don't take so much risk that you can't recover from things like a downturn or other challenges.

How did you keep yourself motivated to recover from setbacks?

A lot of people told me to just declare bankruptcy, hide behind the courts and just wipe all that debt. But I said, "No, I'm not going to do that. I created this mess and I'm going to clean it up." I called the banks and credit companies and worked out repayment plans. I made sure to exercise and make sure I was taking care of myself for my health, because, if you don't do those things, it's very hard to keep a positive attitude. I also surrounded myself with positive people. I got really clear on who I wanted in my inner circle and who I didn't. If you were a negative person and attracted negativity, I didn't want you around.

It seems like a simple formula, but, so often, as entrepreneurs and as humans, we like to put our head in the sand and hope things get better. But you have to get up and deal with things, and that's what I did.

On to networking, how do you go about building genuine connections?

From a business perspective, I had it wrong in the beginning. I would go to networking events and I'd bring a stack of cards, and I would tell myself, "Okay, I need to get 10 business cards from other business owners at this event." Then I realized I was getting a high volume of cards, but I wasn't creating genuine connections. I was looking at it more as quantity, not quality.

Now I tell people if you're going to a networking event and you're not being authentic, or you're out to get something, people’s walls will go up right away. But if you're genuinely trying to connect with people, then you're just planting a seed. It may not turn into business right away. It could be one year, two years or five years, but things come around. Start conversations and take time to really care about others. Be authentic and just enjoy the journey.

What's one of the best ways you go about making impactful connections?

Find what works best for you in your industry. A long time ago, my friend Jay Feitlinger said, "Fish where the fish are at." You've got to figure out what your business is about, including your mission and your vision. Then decide what niche do you want to play in and focus on that space.

My mistake early on was trying to be a video company for every company and every market. But then someone said to me, "If you're going to go in for brain surgery, are you going to a generalist or a specialist?" I'm not going to go to my family doctor for brain surgery. And brain surgeons make more money, because they specialize in what they do. I realized that I needed to specialize in a specific industry if I was going to command the money I wanted to make. I picked a couple niches I really enjoyed and showed up. I learned that if you do a great job, people will refer you to other people in an industry.

What's one piece of advice you can give to fellow entrepreneurs looking to make impactful connections?

Most of us don't have huge budgets for marketing and networking, so it’s important to find our niche. Look locally and see if there’s a group or industry you want to be a part of, whether it’s construction companies or accounting firms or whatever. Then find out what they’re involved with and show up to those events. Go there, network, learn the industry, learn the people, and then, if it's something you feel like you can invest in, then get a booth. Start to build your presence there but the key is showing up.

Half the battle for networking and meeting new people is just showing up. So many of us have this fear of going to these events or being a part of them. By just showing up, you'll inevitably make connections and you'll meet awesome people in your industry. And, again, for me, I grew those relationships in not just showing up, but then exhibiting, and speaking at events, and sponsoring events, and all those things that I recommend doing. But, again, start small if you've got a small budget and work your way into it, and you'll find that the payoffs will be huge.

View Details

For decades, Arizona’s five C’s – copper, cattle, cotton, citrus and climate – served an important role in how its economy was perceived. But as the Grand Canyon State’s technology ecosystem continues to heat up, Romi Dhillon thinks the five C’s should be updated to better reflect Arizona’s tech-focused future: capital, content, community, capabilities, and community carry.

Romi is no stranger to bringing big ideas to the table. He is the founder and managing director of the Arizona Founders Fund and prior to raising the fund, he worked with Infusionsoft on the company's Series C and D capital raises. But his background in venture capital started long before that.

In this interview, Romi shares how a mix of serendipity, luck and strategy helped him get his foot in the door of the VC world. He also explains why deep research and 1,300 hours of networking played such a critical role in the success of Arizona Founders Fund, and provides key advice for entrepreneurs looking to set themselves apart and make impactful connections with investors.

What sparked your interest in venture capital?

I didn’t take the traditional path to venture capital. I was recruited out of my MBA at Thunderbird in 2009 for an internship in Utah, which opened the door to work in a VC fund. It wasn't necessarily for any other reason other than serendipity and luck.

Prior to that, about seven years earlier, I had completed my masters at Columbia and had aspired to work at the State Department in Washington, D.C. or overseas. I started to realize there was going to be a considerable amount of writing involved, especially when working in the foreign service, and I didn't enjoy writing that much. I knew that if I was going to have a happy career, writing couldn't really be a part of it, which meant that working in the foreign service wasn't the right place for me to go. When I stepped away from that, I began working in entrepreneurship on the operations side in a small family business in Northeastern Ohio. That's how I started my entrepreneurial journey.

What motivated you to take that leap of faith and start Arizona Founders Fund?

I worked in Utah’s startup community from 2009 until about 2012 – before Utah was as frothy as it is right now. Right about the time that I stepped away from Utah and moved to Arizona to work at Infusionsoft was when Utah kind of found its J-curve. I was working at Infusionsoft and we raised a series C from Goldman Sachs and a series D from Bain Capital. Infusionsoft was growing really, really fast, but I was also noticing what was happening in Utah and how any entrepreneur could take 10 steps in any direction and have some pretty incredible conversations with supporters and mentors, thought leaders, and investors. That's when I thought, "Why isn't that happening in Arizona?"

Startups were leaving Silicon Valley. The housing costs were skyrocketing due to the tech boom. There was traffic and congestion, and it was an expensive place to start a company. I thought that Arizona was interesting, but Arizona was a conundrum in its separate way. This is still a place where the Secretary of State's website lists the old five Cs of the Arizona economy – cattle, citrus, cotton, copper and climate. It's the five ways they thought Arizona was different from every other state. But these were from the 1950s and I thought it was time to create the new five Cs: capital, content, community, capabilities, and community carry (how a relationship between a business and its community is continuously strengthened through its mutual commitment).

What was your experience coming to a new community and starting Arizona Founders Fund?

It depends on which day you caught me. Some days I may have felt I hit the ground running and there were other days where I spent a lot of time waiting for email replies. When I stepped away from Infusionsoft, I started engaging in a lean startup mindset of how to build this fund and began to interview everyone in town. There were 10 months of primary interviews and due diligence with Arizona's technology founders and investors where I interviewed 400 individuals representing 1,300 hours of discussion. I had 1,000 cups of coffee in that 10 month period and I even viewed the last 10 years of Phoenix Business Journal articles. I analyzed about 5,000 pieces of data concerning tech dealmaking in the state from 1998 to present, and spent a lot of time thinking about the Arizona market and why things were the way they were. It's one thing to identify problems, but I thought like a tech entrepreneur and tried to figure out what the solutions could be.

What was one of the biggest challenges on launching the fund and how did you overcome it?

I had similar challenges other entrepreneurs have when they go from concept to idea to then making the idea real. It was creating validation and trying to figure out who could be the champions alongside with me. I think that's really the essence of the entrepreneurial spirit – let's try to solve problems by trying to figure out how we can utilize limited resources and do the most with the very least.

How have you gone about building relationships in a genuine way?

One of the things I did when I was meeting with entrepreneurs or investors was make it clear why we were meeting right off the bat. I’d say, "Look, I'm here to pitch you on this opportunity. I think that you would be a great fit and I would really like to get your thoughts and advice on either investing, getting you to think about investing, or passing. And perhaps you might suggest someone else in your network who could be a fit." With entrepreneurs, I would share with them, "We're a venture capital investor. This is how we go about investing. Here are the check sizes we write. Here are the expectations that we have after we invest."

Transparency is extremely important because it's pretty obvious what a venture capital investor does. We invest in high growth, fast growth, technology companies. Sometimes just networking for networking's sake is not beneficial to us. Our work is really unscalable and takes a lot of time, so I have to be strategic in how I go about bridge building and networking.

What's one piece of advice you would pass along to fellow entrepreneurs looking to make impactful connections?

I think there's a superpower that all entrepreneurs can have and it has to do with sending out follow-ups. People are networking all the time with champions, potential advisers, potential employees, customers, and even with investors or other providers of capital. I think one of the things entrepreneurs can do to separate themselves is continue to follow up with everyone who they meet. You don't want to say, "Hey, that person said I had a silly idea so I'm never going to reach out to them again." Because unless someone says, "Don't follow-up with me or remove me from your email list," the door is always open to have a potential relationship and have a positive network type of activity.

My advice to entrepreneurs and anyone looking to build their network is to continually follow-up. Follow-up when you have a new insight on a market. Follow-up when you have a new thought. Follow-up with a quarterly newsletter. Follow-up with developments in your company. Follow-up as much as you can. Email is there for a reason, so leverage the power of email to send more information. I think it is really, really important and it's something that entrepreneurs can do to separate themselves from one another, from those who are very serious and those who obsess about their company's success.

View Details

Meet Scott Holmen, the founder and CEO of Agency 73, a digital transformation company specializing in Salesforce and custom software solutions. He is also an investor in tech startups and created a recruiting company, Talent 73, to help find and connect talent in San Diego.

In this episode of The SuccessLab Podcast, Scott shares his approach to prioritizing people before technology and how the desire to defragment San Diego’s tech ecosystem inspired a unique event to bring everyone together. He also discusses his company’s culture and how he has found success by strategically hiring then getting out of the way.

What motivated you to start your own company?

The desire to be better and provide value to my clients. Previous to starting Agency 73, my roles in tech companies were representing offshore software development teams as a business development guy. It works, but you’re always up against time, language and culture differences. Software is a complicated, intimate process, and to throw those variables into a process that requires a lot of detail, a lot of communication, a lot of collaboration, it's really difficult. I started Agency 73 to overcome time, language and culture differences by building up our team of senior level people here in San Diego so that as we're speaking with clients, the time, language and culture differences are no longer issues.

Were there any skills you had to train yourself on as the company grew?

In my heart, I'm a sales guy. I really love helping people solve problems. In starting the agency I had to, and still have to, wear the CEO hat. I can do those CEO skills, but it's more of a forced thing. I've had to learn about getting processes dialed in, managing people, hiring people and forecasting. What's really natural for me is selling and working with people with the actual structure that's required. We'll be looking to hire a CEO as we increasingly mature and grow the practice so that I can go out and be the founder or sales guy, which I love.

Have you ever struggled with staying out your employees’ way or getting too involved with every little thing?

No. It's kind of a joke around the office, but it's actually not a joke. It's, "Scott can barely manage himself, so he for sure can't manage the team." We've been very lucky. The team that we have is brilliant. We hire adults that take care of their stuff, and we don't care when they're working or where they're working, as long as they're hitting deadlines and staying within budget. I don't have to, nor would I have time to micromanage or manage my team very well.

We're about 12 people in San Diego right now. We augment with some nearshore and offshore partners. But I've been fortunate with the team that we have because I don't have to manage them, and we're small enough that it's really easy to see when people are getting their work done or not. But that hasn't happened. We've been really lucky. We've got just the best team. They're a lot of fun. They're really smart, they manage themselves way better than I could ever manage them. Fortunately, I haven't been pulled into the delivery side of the business too much, and I really hope to maintain that going forward, because it's not my favorite place to be.

Are there one or two impactful connections that have really shaped your journey along the way?

There's way more than one or two. As an agency, we've been fortunate in that we don't have to do any marketing. I've focused for 20 years on building relationships in San Diego, even before I was in tech. People reciprocate. I've had a goal for years of introducing two people every day, and it comes back around.

I was an outdoor education instructor at a camp in the mountains, and this guy told me, “People over program.” At the time I was focused on what I was going to teach the kids. He said, "Forget about that. It's about the people." That was in an environment where it was simple to switch to focusing on people, but I've maintained that in business. I genuinely care about people and enjoy helping them solve problems, even if there's nothing in it for me and knowing that it might come back around and it might not.

How do you make genuine impactful connections to grow yourself in the company?

Until recently, it's all been one on one. I would meet anybody and help them where I could and occasionally ask for help. I have struggled with pride in asking for help, but people have reciprocated. As we started Agency 73, the first year we had our agency, I focused on what I call defragmenting the tech ecosystem in San Diego. We have investors. We have enterprise companies. We have UCSD, who graduates more computer science kids than Stanford and Berkeley combined every year, so we've got the talent. We've got the money. Everything is here, but those stakeholders aren't talking to each other. Once we started Agency 73, I set out to meet those stakeholders.

We ended up creating Spotlight 73. It's a pitch event, but we don't call it that because those kind of have negative connotations of investors poking holes in your idea and trying to prove that they're the smartest guys in the room. Spotlight 73 is a way of putting the spotlight on a local startup. As I went out and met investors, I said, "What's going on? How come you're not writing checks?" And they said, "Because we're not seeing anything new." At Agency 73, we see new startups all the time because they want us to do development work for them, so we've leveraged Agency 73 to bring those stakeholders together. It's worked. And by worked I mean started to raise a lot of capital from it that they wouldn't have otherwise raised, at least not as quickly as they have. We're getting brand awareness, we're getting deal flow. Most importantly, new relationships are being built.

What's one of the best things that you've done to grow Agency 73?

I think the best thing I've done is get lucky with my team. There's my partner and CTO – he's one of those guys who's very technically experienced, skilled and smart. He's also a great writer, which is very important when we're writing requirements. He's fun and social and people love him.

As far as anything intentional I've done, I've authentically focused on people. Technology is second, which is weird to say as the CEO of a technology company. But the best thing I’ve done is listen to people and care not just about their business goals, but care about them and their family and everything.

How do you keep yourself organized and energized?

The organization part comes pretty easily because I have to. If I'm not organized, I'll fail. The systems that we have internally are good in helping us stay organized. We've got our own internal stack and our process is tight because we're kind of technical nerds. I have a great family that keeps me energized. They support me and love me. Then I surf a lot and try to workout every day. I try to eat well, but it doesn't always go well. Our proximity to the beach, again, is a big one. We can just run down and jump in the water and that clears my mind and gets the blood flowing.

What's one piece of advice you would give to a fellow entrepreneur who's looking to make impactful connections?

For me, that comes back to the people over program. A lot of entrepreneurs get focused on, "Hey, I have this idea for an app and it's like Uber but it's for this industry." They're so excited about the app that if you listen or engage in that conversation, you'll notice how long it takes for a lot of them to start talking about people. The advice I often give is to forget about your “Uber for whatever” app. Think about who it’s going to serve. How it's going to serve them. How's it going to make their life better? Who are you going to surround yourself with that can make you better? Who are you going to invest your time in if you are successful? My advice is to focus on people. Invest in people, and trust that it will come back.

View Details

As we learned from Star Trek, space is the final frontier. So, it bodes well for Arizona that the state is home to many of the industry’s top aerospace and defense companies. Naturally, these companies are led by some of the most innovative thinkers, scientists and engineers. But go one layer beyond, and you’ll often find a stellar team of marketers working to communicate the vision and mission of the company to gain stakeholder buy in, and ultimately help the team continue to push new boundaries and boldly go where no one has gone before.

One such intrepid marketer is Julie Bonner. She is the marketing director at FreeFall Aerospace, a Tucson-based startup developing intelligent orbital and terrestrial antenna systems (or as this recent article in Wired Magazine referred to them, inflatable satellites).

In this episode of The SuccessLab Podcast, we talk to Julie about how she broke into Arizona’s thriving aerospace sector, how impactful connections have shaped her career journey, why getting involved in industry associations is key to securing new business as a marketers and designer, and the reason to always follow-up when networking (and not take it personally if someone doesn’t respond).

Read on for a selection of questions, and listen to the entire interview by clicking the player above.

How did you land at FreeFall?

It was a referral that came from Tech Launch Arizona. They were helping FreeFall in 2016 commercialize the new intelligent antenna design that had come out of the University of Arizona from Dr. Chris Walker, and knew FreeFall needed some branding, design and marketing work. Tech Launch Arizona knew me because of my past work in graphic design helping other startups with their branding and design, and I also helped out at conferences like IdeaFunding in Tucson. That's how I met up with Doug Stetson, the president of FreeFall. We began working together on developing a new logo and materials, and really enjoyed working together.

Can you boil down what it is that FreeFall does?

FreeFall is developing new antennas. Some will be in space, as part of satellite communications able to talk back down to antennas and receivers on the ground. And then some are ground stations. The third piece of this is actually through development and research – they've come up with a unique antenna design for smart cities and for the 5G era, which is coming up. What all of these things have in common is they're all antennas, and they're moving data.

Using your phone or downloading videos, we always want things faster and better. And going from 4G to 5G isn't just going to be a tiny step up. Things are going to be probably about 10 times faster, and so with that, new hardware is needed. There's a lot of development in software, but people haven't really thought about how the hardware can help improve that sort of data rate and bandwidth that you can get, and so that's what FreeFall is working on.

How has your career evolved over time?

Since I was little, I was always drawing and told my parents and teachers I was going to be an artist one day. I studied graphic design at Drexel University, and then worked as an in-house designer and then as in-house art director. I’ve always been entrepreneurial, so I went back to school and earned my MBA over two years at night while I was working as a full-time art director. That gave me the confidence to actually launch my own graphic design business, which was still a way for me to provide graphic design and be creative.

Now, I don't know if everyone wants to be involved with a startup. Obviously, there's risk involved, but I feel like there's a lot of rewards too. Each of us at FreeFall are wearing many hats. Most of my team are engineers, so I'm a little different in that I'm coming from a creative background. I love my position, and I love helping them share what we're working on and letting the audience and our potential clients understand what we're doing and building those relationships.

Working with engineers, have you had to adapt your communication style?

Yes. Engineers are so smart, detail-oriented and think very sequentially. Sometimes, when we're trying to share a marketing message, we need to step back a little bit and think more from a bird's-eye view or about what's really the benefit to our future customers. Part of my job is learning a lot from them, asking a lot of questions, and then really thinking about how can we explain this in a way that others who aren't as technical will understand. It's been really fun and interesting, but I love science, especially the space aspect of what we're doing. I find it super interesting, and that's why I mentioned I'm just learning so much.

Has there been anyone that has shaped your career journey?

One of my impactful connections would definitely be Doug Stetson, the president of FreeFall. When I started working with him on the logo, I started asking questions about what they're doing and then learned about his background in aerospace at JPL for over 30 years. It’s nice working with someone that's very different than yourself, but someone who really values what you're doing. I can say that, even as a contractor and now as an employee of FreeFall, Doug does a really nice job of communicating and sharing how he values the work that you're doing.

At FreeFall, we're a part of this space business roundtable out of the U of A with Stephen Fleming, and I'm learning so much every month going to these meetings about the space industry and what's happening. I'm excited that FreeFall is a part of this. We have many space companies, even right here in Tucson, and I know in Phoenix, where we're all going to be complementary. We're all working together to really make Arizona the space state.

How do you build impactful connections for FreeFall?

I believe in lining up with the right organizations. When you find the right ones, you're aligning your values, your mission and your common goals, while building connections at the same time.

For FreeFall, I've really become involved with Arizona Technology Council. We're all supporting technology businesses thriving here in Arizona, and through that, we've built some really good partnerships. As far as space companies, Vector is down here in Tucson, and they are making rockets for small CubeSats. Hopefully at some point, one of FreeFall's CubeSats can fly in Vector's rockets. There's a lot of ways we can help each other and also build up Arizona together.

What's one of the best things that you've done to gain visibility for FreeFall?

Last year, Arizona Technology Council did a great presentation about smart cities. The City of Tucson was there with the Department of Transportation. After the meeting we approached them and said, "Hey, we want Tucson to become a smart city. We think our antennas could be a part of that." Over this past year, we've gotten to know each other, have spoken on panels together and have plans to meet with the mayor of Tucson to talk more about smart cities and building that relationship. That really came from being involved with the Tech Council, going to the meetings, and then making sure to talk to people before and after the meetings.

I think it's not only about signing up for something, but it's actively being there and then following up with everybody. The follow-up doesn't always come easy, and also it can be a little disheartening if you follow up and you don't hear from someone right away. If you had a great conversation, it usually just means someone's busy, and try to not be scared to do a little bit of follow-up or to share some exciting news. People are generally like, "Oh, yeah, I'm sorry. I was traveling, or this or that." We've all been there.

What's one challenge that you've faced as a marketer, and how did you overcome it?

FreeFall is a fantastic example because we're developing new technology, and so it's been interesting marketing a concept that's not fully a product yet. We have a lab, we're testing everything, and we're making progress, but if you said today, "Hey, I want to buy that right now," it's not ready yet. It's interesting marketing something that you just can't buy off the shelf at that moment. It involves keeping people updated on progress and keeping people engaged and explaining and using tools to show what it's going to do. For example, the animations on our website have been a fantastic tool to have as a marketer because it's showing how this technology will work, even though it's not totally done at this moment.

View Details

There is a big difference between being capable of your job and simply crushing it. That’s the concept Juan Kingsbury, Talent Strategist at Career Blindspot, wants employers and employees to identify – in fact, it’s what he’s staked his career on.

There’s no question most entrepreneurs have a clear sense of their mission and vision, but what about their team’s mission as individuals? Juan works with businesses to discover the overlooked potential within their teams. From there he helps leaders uncover new opportunities and actionable insights to help organizations improve how they hire, develop and grow their teams.

In this interview, Juan shares why understanding an individual’s mission is critical to the success of an entire team, why most people aren’t fully satisfied with their jobs and why companies need to focus on hiring the people who want to do the work the job actually requires. He also discusses why sincerity is the key to effective networking, the reason he goes above and beyond what his job calls for and the importance of finding your personal mission.

Read on for a selection of questions.

What do you do as a talent strategist?

I primarily work with smaller businesses and mission obsessed leaders and help them strategize the talent they currently have and the talent they're going to be bringing on. Everyone has talent, skills and experience, but what do they do with it? Sometimes people take sales jobs that they don't really like or they get into a certain industry or niche and it doesn’t quite jive. It's very easy to point the finger but ultimately it's often that the person doesn't have a good idea of what their talent is and, more importantly, what to do with it. Being a talent strategist is essentially helping people make smarter decisions with what they are naturally good at.

How did Career Blindspot come to be?

You might be familiar with the DISC assessment. A lot of companies out there use a version of that or the Myers Briggs test. I worked at a company in North Scottsdale called TTI where I was brought in as a customer support person and helped other consultants anytime they had technical issues. TTI is very different and beyond DISC – DISC is not personality test, it's simply a behavioral choice or preference. TTI goes farther and adds in all these other assessments to determine motivation, emotional intelligence skills, et cetera.

To me this made a lot of sense, and in 2013 I ventured out with Career Blindspot. Now I use these tools to help people do the work that they care about, that the company cares about and that the clients care about. This entails strategizing the right talent for the right work for the right company and the right mission.

A lot of people can do a lot of jobs. You can force yourself and you can learn something because you've got to pay your bills. But there are very few things that we actually want to crush. Employers want someone who's going to thrive, and these tools are helpful in organizations hiring people who actually want to do the work that needs to be done.

Who would you say has helped shape your journey with Career Blindspot?

There's one guy, Justin Foster, who was in sales and branding and now has this company called Route & River which is very focused on leaders who are really good at their business but need help connecting their heart to their message. I'm sure I drove him nuts for a while, but he helped me find my true north. I knew I should be in business because I like business, but why? I could make a lot of money just selling DISC assessments, which would be fine. But Justin was always there to kind of be like, "Are you really telling the truth?" He's a great guy and has connected me with tons of people.

How do you go about networking in a genuine way?

Most of the time, the way I stay connected is through being genuinely interested in the people I'm already friends with and asking them what they're doing or what they're working on. Afterwards I’ll be mulling it over and then all of a sudden when I'm eating my lunch, I'll think, “Oh, I should tell her to talk to him about that” and then make it a point to make an introduction. But it starts with caring about the 500 or so connections I already have and then seeing how I can get them to hang out and play. I love it when people I know are going and having fun without me. That’s my approach to networking, trying to connect people with other people I already know.

What is one piece of advice you would give to a fellow entrepreneur?

Look for someone who compliments you. You have your Steve Jobs and then you have your Wozniak. You have your Michael Jordan and then you have your Scottie Pippin. If you're an entrepreneur, look for someone who compliments you, not necessarily the opposite of you. Sometimes your opposite, especially when you're trying to grow, is too opposite and will try to rein you back. Instead, you want to find someone who's in line with your mission. Also, being an entrepreneur is very different than being the leader of a company. It takes a different skill set.

I've met a lot of people who are overly controlling because it's their baby that they're building, but they don't have enough time to do it all. They need to be willing to let someone else help lead the team. The book Traction talks about the visionary versus the implementer. Are you someone who has the idea or are you someone who rallies the troops and is more of the operational person? And you can be both. You might be capable at being both, but you don't want to be capable. You want to crush it. So find someone else who's going to crush the other thing so you can crush yours.

View Details

Behind every great entrepreneur there is usually someone (or several someones) who helped guide them on the path to achieving greatness. Many entrepreneurs credit teachers, mentors and colleagues who left a lasting impression, changing the course of their lives in some meaningful way. That’s been the case for Patrick Campbell as he transitioned from working for the government, to Google to the start-up world and eventually founding his own company.

Today, Patrick is the CEO of ProfitWell, a subscription software that helps companies achieve faster recurring revenue growth. In this interview, Patrick discusses how his restlessness with bureaucracy led him to start his own company, how a handful of individuals helped shaped his leadership style and why developing high-value content is ProfitWell’s ticket to building trust with stakeholders. He also shares why authenticity should be embraced in the workplace and why he always tries to see the best in people.

Can you tell us about your journey and how ProfitWell came to be?

My background is in econometrics and math. I worked in U.S. intelligence after school in D.C., then at Google here in Boston. I ended up getting disenchanted with bureaucratic companies – being a young, punk kid who wanted to take on big problems, it was tough to be patient. I decided to join the startup scene, mainly because I was young enough and thought, "If I'm going to take a risk I might as well do it now.” I ended up working for a small company that raised a good portion of money in Boston, but while there I learned that small companies can have their own culture issues as well. That’s when I had that moment of, "Well, let me try something on my own," and jumped out.

One of the projects I worked on was pricing. I realized the people didn't know what they were doing – and I didn't know what I was doing – but it was really, really important, and so that was our first product. That's why the original company name was Price Intelligently.

We kind of bumped around, helping all types of different companies collect data to help them with their pricing strategy. Then it quickly moved into something where we focused on subscription companies specifically. That led to us building ProfitWell Metrics, which is our metrics product that you can plug in any billing system and get access to free subscription metrics. That led to more products that we built for the subscription economy.

What were the early days like?

You know the saying that people start to look like their dogs? Well, a company, especially in the early days, kind of looks and acts like the founders. For me, that was very, very much the case. In the early days, things were a little frantic. We took on a little bit more than we probably should have. We were doing a bunch of different things because I was very much like, "Oh, I just need to work more. I just need to work harder." So it wasn't without its challenges.

Who would you say helped impact the success of ProfitWell or changed your path completely?

There’s one person that I think truly changed my life. It was one of my first managers, Deran Dewin at Google. I was a young punk kid trying to be super, super ambitious, work hard, take on bigger problems and find bigger opportunities. He was known as the manager that you didn't want to report to if you wanted to change roles or get promoted, mainly because he wasn't as numbers focused as some of the other managers. I found out that was not true, but when I got assigned to him, I was like, "Aw man, I got the fluffy manager who cares about me and how I'm doing and these types of things." How big of a butthead must I have been to not appreciate that? In reality, now that I manage people, I really appreciate that and know that's what you have to do.

At the time I was a very negatively motivated person. Tell me I can't or tell me I’m failing, which is not really healthy. He was someone who came along and asked, "How do we make you positively motivated?” He took the time to figure out, how do we find things to look forward to rather than things you're trying to run away from? That was really high impact because no one had really talked to me about that before.

The other thing he had talked to me about before was this whole concept of authenticity and work. I think that a lot of people try to be someone completely different at home versus at work. Some compartmentalization and some boundaries are obviously good and okay, but the problem with being a different person is that it doesn't scale really well. Inevitably there's going to be fractures in that boundary. You're going to build resentment on one side or the other because basically you're living these two lives.

So if I managed or lead the way that I thought managers were supposed to manage and lead before meeting him, I 100% would have failed. There's no question. It just wouldn't have worked out. We might have had some success because I don't think that that's the only thing that leads to success, but I do think it's a major part in contributing to that.

In addition to how you've evolved as a leader, have there been other key events or people along the way that helped shape the evolution of ProfitWell?

One that I think was really high impact was Peter Zotto, GM of the Price Intelligence product. Peter was the neighbor of my ex-girlfriend. At the time there was a huge Boston snowstorm, and whenever that happens everyone kind of ends up staying home or going to bars that are open. That's where I met him and brought him on. The reason he was so impactful was because he took away a lot of the pain and the work, but he also was just as committed as I was, which was a hard bar. He also was willing to put up with all of the BS of early stage bootstrapping a company.

The other person was Facundo Chamut, our head of product/CTO. He's also on our board. He’s the prototypical engineering CTO. He is very disagreeable, not always in a respectful way, but mostly in a respectful way. He brought a really good fire and really good challenging ideas.

In those early days, how did you make impactful connections with potential clients and users?

There’s always been the advice of “Networking isn’t as good. Don’t go to events, just focus on product. Work, work, work, work, work.” But because I didn’t know at the time, I would reach out to people, learn from people, go get coffee, do a lot of these things while also doing all of the other work. And I think a really big thing that led to us being successful and building relationships is I would literally take almost any call.

I still kind of do that today and I think that helps engender a lot of trust with people.

We also do these pricing optimization assessments for people. It is a lead magnet, but it also provides a ton of value for people. We're very upfront, explaining "Hey, at the end of this it'll be obvious if we should work together or not, but even if we don't, you're going to get a ton of value.”

What’s one of the best things you’ve done to propel growth at ProfitWell?

One of the smartest things we did for growth was making a commitment to good content. We were probably a little bit overzealous on what was good content versus bad content. But not writing listicals or basic SEO content was really important. Because of that, we engendered a lot of trust, a lot of knowledge, and went from a place of, "Oh, these people are really helpful," to "Oh, they're helpful and they're smart," which I think was a good combination.

It was also a wise thing from an investment standpoint because at this point we think about content as if we're building a media property. It doesn't look like that on the site right now, but that's what we're trending toward and having that mindset has really helped us propel the company and propel the brand forward.

What is one of the most important lessons you've learned along the way?

One of the things that would help anyone, no matter what they're building, no matter where they are or no matter what they're doing is the concept of the charitable interpretation principle. What that is is when someone comes to you with an idea or a disagreeable reaction, to take the most charitable interpretation. Assume they have good intentions without assuming they are right. Basically you work to learn more, so you're giving people the most charitable interpretation by assuming their positive intent. It solves so many problems.

What's one piece of advice you would give to a fellow entrepreneur who's looking to make impactful connections?

Set aside time each week. If you're early stage, set a little bit more time than maybe you're comfortable with. Later stages have a little bit less time, but set aside specific time that you try to fill. So maybe it's two hours a week in addition to your work. For instance, I'm going to go to a meet up this week. If there's no meet up, then reach out to people and start building relationships. Then ultimately when you're making those contacts with people, be your authentic self.

View Details

Few individuals take a linear path to becoming an entrepreneur. Rather, it’s often the culmination of their passions and experiences that lead them to identify problems and harness the fuel that drives them to work toward solving those problems.

Take Coplex CEO Zach Ferres for example Today Zach is a pillar of the Valley’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, but his journey actually began in northern Ohio as a kid who liked taking computers apart and putting them back together. That fascination blended with a natural inclination for entrepreneurship led him to launch various ventures in computer and car stereo repair in middle and high school. Always in tune to evolving trends and needs, Zach then forayed into website design while attending Ohio Northern University. This jump started his first official company, Bounce Host (now Bounce Fire). He grew the team to 15 and following a successful multi-year run, he sold the company to a Scottsdale, Ariz. firm and relocated to Phoenix. At that point, it wasn’t long before the opportunity to consult with, and eventually lead, Coplex came about.

In this interview, Zach discusses his transition to Coplex, his early days as a CEO restructuring the team and the critical people who helped shape him along the way. He also shares painful pivots he’s made, maxing out his personal credit cards and the importance of reimagining new business models.

What were the early days like when you came in as CEO of Coplex?

It was total chaos. It was a fun time, though. The company at the time was a team of about 30 full-time team members in Hollywood. I was living in Phoenix, so I was spending a lot of time commuting. When I first took it over, the company was called Ciplex (we ended up doing a rebrand in 2012) and it had been continuously ranked one of the top web design companies in the country. We'd get dozens of inbound leads and phone calls every day from people all over the country needing website work.

I think at one point in time, we had 350 active open projects and that's about when I started taking things over. We realized there would be a couple of years of really grueling work ahead of us because the company grew so fast that it didn't really have the capabilities to deliver on everything on time and within budget. The first 18 months was a lot of clean up work to get those projects done.

Then we reconfigured, restructured the team and ended up bringing on a couple of my former team members in the Phoenix satellite office at the time. We still did a lot of web design work, and fortunately, we had a few really incredible corporate clients that were working with us on innovation projects. That was part of the core DNA that's still around Coplex today.

What was your experience transitioning Coplex from one of the top web design companies to now a venture accelerator?

When we started the pivot in early 2014, we realized that the real value in the work that we did at Coplex everyday wasn't in building websites for people and helping people with innovation projects, it was in the underlying businesses that we were helping to get started. We've always had a passion for startups. A lot of the work that we did even on the web design side was with startup companies, and all the innovation work that we were doing was basically new startups and startup spin outs. So we got really good at this whole startup game, and we realized that the real value in building and in doing the work that we were doing was in the equity of the startups.

We had, probably in 2013, this first inkling of, "I wonder how it would work for us to actually get an equity component to the deals that we do?" We toyed around with it from 2013 to 2016. I ended up buying the company from the founders in 2016, so I had to go out and raise some money to buy out the partners, and then it was really at that point when we decided to focus 100% of our energy and effort on helping these seasoned industry experts start tech companies. So we pressed play on that in 2016 and started actively divesting from the old part of our business model. At that time, we had maybe 10% to 20% of our work was with venture-backable startup companies meeting the criteria of what we look at today, so we had to walk away from somewhere between 80% and 90% of our revenue.

Then we actively started divesting from the old business model. We had a one year plan to essentially fully replace all of the stuff we walked away from with the new service offering, and let's just say that ended up taking about a year and a half longer than we thought.

It was a wildly, excruciatingly painful pivot. We had to go through a small round of layoffs, we had to max out all the credit cards and we almost ran out of steam in the transition trying to crack the code on the business model that we have today. It really wasn't until probably about a year and a half ago that the model started to prove itself and we were able to replace a lot of the revenue we walked away from.

What would you say is one of the most important lessons you've learned along the way?

When I started my first company, I didn't really have a big vision. I'm an engineer, and I'm a very pragmatic thinker, and I remember in my entrepreneurship class when we learned about vision/mission/values, I was like, "Why does anyone actually care about any of this stuff? It doesn't really make a difference." I think in hindsight, a big learning lesson is to do that from the start because that's where your drive comes from when things get hard. And they're always going to get hard on this path of entrepreneurship, so that will be the one place where you can find some serenity knowing that you're doing things for the right reason and that there's a bigger reason why you're doing what you're doing.

How do you make impactful, meaningful connections with people?

Give first has always been a big one for me. When I was building my first company, I was an engineer that did not know how to network, and I forced myself to go to all these networking events. The thing that really worked was being passionately curious and talking with people to try and find ways in which I could help them with zero intention of ever getting anything back. As soon as I started doing that, doors just started opening. Give first when you're building those connections, and they always end up coming back threefold, fivefold, tenfold.

What's one piece of advice you would give to a fellow entrepreneur who's just looking to grow?

Getting a coach. This whole idea of personal development is often overlooked when it comes to entrepreneurship. I think everyone has over-romanticized being an entrepreneur, and it's really freaking hard work, and it's not always as sexy and rewarding as it looks like on Silicon Valley sitcoms on HBO. It's a grueling battle and at the core of all of it, you've got to take care of yourself. I think doing things that make sure that you have that outlet, having a coach, working on personal development, making time to run, meditate, go to the gym, whatever it might be.

I heard a really interesting quote a few weeks ago that talked about the true bottleneck to growth for an entrepreneur isn't their business, it's basically themselves. So any time you realize your business is stuck and you've hit a plateau, you first need to stop looking at the business and step out and look at yourself because there's something that you're doing that's limiting the growth of your own business because maybe you're missing something.

View Details

Have you ever looked around a city in awe of the caliber of companies it boasts and wondered how it all came to be? In the case of the bustling Phoenix metro area, one person who deserves enormous credit is Chris Mackay, the City of Phoenix’s Community and Economic Development Director.

Chris leads the city’s business development team in attracting businesses to Phoenix and expanding the 16,000 that are already established here. She also has a hand in various small business and entrepreneurial efforts, downtown development and international, retail and workforce development. During the last few years, she has located hundreds of companies to Phoenix, adding a whopping 22,000 jobs to the local economy.

All the while, Chris has had a front row seat to the dramatic shift Phoenix has experienced over the last several decades. Once a city driven by real estate and construction, the community rarred back to life after the Great Recession with cybersecurity, software technologies, advanced manufacturing and aerospace leading the charge.

In this interview, Chris shares how she makes impactful connections with leaders to inspire them to plant their roots in Phoenix, how she’s working to keep talent in Arizona and why there is nothing more important than one-to-one connections in the business world.

Can you tell us about your journey and what led you to your current role?

My whole professional career, for the most part, has been in commercial real estate or economic development in Metro Phoenix. I worked for a commercial real estate brokerage firm in the '90s and we would go out and hunt for new companies to come back to Metro Phoenix. I always found myself wondering about the companies that we worked with. Did they like the space? Did the employees that moved in find good schools for their kids? Was it everything we told them it would be?

Now, instead of moving from transaction to transaction, I get to be part of a team that builds a city. Not many people get to say that long after they're gone, the buildings they built, the companies they helped, and the jobs that they helped create will still be here.

What do you see becoming one of our next economic drivers?

Real estate was always the driver, and that's why Arizona has always been such a cyclical market. As real estate goes, so goes the rest of the economy. If home building isn't going then the entire economy tanks. But that's not the case anymore.

Now it's about emerging technologies and companies that have high wages that are bringing educated jobs for all of our citizens, not just for one sector. Not that construction jobs aren't great jobs – they are. We just can't be reliant on that growth. It has to be on a good diversification of industry and not just construction and sales tax.

Do you do a lot of one-to-one relationship building?

In economic development, there is nothing more important than that one-to one-connection. People think that what we do is an immediate gratification but it can be a year’s long relationship that we create. And so that one-to-one connection, the one thing that speaks to that individual decision maker, is critically important.

One thing that's important to this company may not be important to another company. So it’s really about meeting one-on-one and finding out what's important to them, what is going to make their business thrive and what's the connection that they need in their site decision analysis.

Can you share an example of a way you really won someone over and got them to locate in Phoenix?

Not that long ago a large company was considering a relocation, picking up from another market and actually coming here, which is really challenging for companies to do. They're disrupting families, they're disrupting relationships, they're disrupting their vendor connection.

I was working with the CEO of a company and he happened to mention on the phone that his daughter was going to look at Arizona State University and he would be here for a meeting to see the school with his daughter. I called my contact at ASU, logged online, found his picture on his LinkedIn and sent it to my colleague at Arizona State University. She found him in a sea of thousands of parents and freshmen, walked up to him, put her arm around his daughter and said, "Don't worry. We'll take good care of her." That company eventually landed in midtown Phoenix and the CEO told me that experience was his turning point to work with a city that cared that much about his family.

What other tips do you have for building meaningful relationships with people?

I think the most important thing to remember is to focus on the person that you're talking to. Don't look past that person for the next person that you should be talking to. You're making a connection to that person and you have no idea where that relationship is going to lead to in the future. And always do your best to follow through on everything that you told someone you would do.

What's one piece of advice that you would give to Valley entrepreneurs who are looking to make impactful connections here in the community?

For the most part, everyone of us here is from someplace else so we have the kindest entrepreneurial community across the country. If you've got an issue or a problem, people are happy to help. They'll grab a beer with you and talk it through or they'll have pizza with you and help with the ideas. People are perfectly happy to take a meeting and tell you, "Hey, this is what I found."

I would say if you need to make connections with the entrepreneurial community, don't forget your economic development team because we know most of them. We've had connections or meetings or conversations with most of them, or at least we know where to start to make the connection.

What do you foresee on the horizon for Phoenix?

A strong entrepreneurial focus, creating our own companies and moving forward as real platform for emerging technologies. I think you'll continue to see the spin out of our primes – the large companies here who’ve encouraged their workforce to create their own companies and drive their own companies moving forward.

What else you're going to see that we've not seen in the past is that talented workforce choosing to move to Phoenix. We now see talented, creative, knowledge economy workforce choosing to live in Phoenix. It’s not because, "I've got a job and I'm going to move to Phoenix” but “Phoenix is where I want to be so I'm taking my family there and then I'll find a job.”

View Details

Author and business philosopher Peter Drucker said marketing and innovation are the only two basic functions of a business enterprise. These products results. The rest are all costs. It’s a phrase Kevin Sellers has come back to again and again throughout his decade’s long career as a mass communications expert and award-winning marketer. Previously at Intel, he dedicated more than 20 years to leveraging his marketing acumen to create lasting brand value and deliver growth. Today, as CMO of Avnet, he drives key demand generation activities, digital marketing, customer experience, brand strategy, advertising, co-marketing and PR efforts.

Kevin joined the SuccessLab podcast to discuss what he does to stay ahead of marketing trends, martech (and his favorite tool for tracking metrics), and why it’s absolutely vital for organizations to be able to explain their brand with five words or less.

Can you briefly walk us through your career and the various roles that you've held?

Intel is one of those companies where if you showed some promise and some ambition and so forth, you weren't pigeonholed into a specific thing. I had an opportunity. I showed enough acumen in the space of marketing where they said, "Yeah, come on over and we'll put you in a marketing role." I did product marketing roles for most of my early career in marketing and then expanded from there.

I spent about eight years of my Intel time (I was there for 23 years total) living in Japan, most of which was doing marketing. For the last several years I ran all of marketing, which included product marketing, pricing, branding, advertising and our retail operations. That's what kind of got me into the broadest exposure of marketing.

When I came back from Japan I ran brand strategy, which was a lot of fun. I was basically handed the keys to the Maserati. This was a company at the time whose brand value was the seventh most valuable in the world and I had a chance to shape and drive the brand strategy for the company for a few years –– so the Intel presence and identity system you see today was work that my team and I did back in 2006/2007.

They asked me to run investor relations. It was a fascinating opportunity to really hone communication skills because you have to be able to tell the story of the company to a group of very, very savvy investors and analysts.

In my last role at Intel, I handled all of their global advertising and their digital marketing. That was everything from television spots down to all of our digital execution and so forth. So, I did that for several years and then I left Intel and worked for an agency for a bit and then ended up at Avent CMO.

How did you gain the skills for your role in investor relations?

They came to me because I started my career in finance and I understood P&L and balance sheet language. Because I'd spent most of my career in marketing, they viewed it as a nice blend of somebody who understood marketing and positioning but could also speak to a financially savvy audience. It turned out that combination of experiences was really helpful. Most companies will take a person straight through finance and turn them into an investor relations person. What you find is that person understands the business well, but they're not terribly good at positioning, talking strategy and marketing that story well.

So, I found that my background worked well and I was able to garner a lot of respect and attention fairly quickly. I had enough exposure to the business where I could talk about it, but in terms of learning what's new, you learned rather quickly that there's a lot of pitfalls in a job like that which I didn't understand. I had a lot of help from my boss at the time and from lawyers.

I had a lot of help, but I think a lot of it was using my experience, reaching out to people who had done the job before and then making sure I was leaning on experts in different areas like legal or disclosure or things like that.

Over the years, how have you seen marketing change?

I would say the rise of digital and, specifically, mobile digital has been a tectonic change. As sort of a byproduct of that, when you think about how you would reach a consumer 20 years ago, it was oh so simple because you had just a few ways. You would either use television or you would use print or you might use direct mail or something like that.

I think I saw a stat somewhere back in the '70s. There was something like 500 to 1,000 messages a day hitting a consumer. Today that number, depending on the research you look at, hovers between 5,000 and 10,000 a day. The rise of digital and the rise of mobile has created so many more touchpoints for businesses and markets to reach consumers. As marketers, how do you break through just this cacophony of noise that's out there when you know your target audience is just being saturated and bombarded with messages? How do you break through? How do you stand out? How do you get noticed? How does your message actually resonate and stick with the target audience?

That's why there's the rise of so much of martech. All the tools and technologies to help refine your segmentation and refine your media choice and mix and all the different tools and technologies out there. Digital does give you the ability to get more direct feedback in a more real-time manner, but again, the biggest challenge we all face is how to break through so much noise and so many messages hitting our target audience? That's a big challenge for all marketers.

What's been a skill that you've had to adapt over the last couple of years?

I would say applying digital. Digital is just another channel, right? The core marketing function really hasn't changed, but what has changed is because of so many access points, it's finding your core audience, who you're trying to reach and determining how do you reach them. But at the end of the day, you're still grappling with "What's my message? How do I tell it? Does it resonate? Am I differentiated and unique? Am I able to put a value proposition out there that people care about?"

Those are the same issues that all marketers are grappling with. It's just gotten infinitely more complex because the choice of which you have to go to market now is infinitely broader. The tools you have to use to potentially measure and analyze and tweak and update and modify are almost infinite. Those are things that are requiring a different cadence, a different speed which we operate. It's much more real-time.

What is one piece of advice you would give to fellow marketers or even an entrepreneur looking to market their business?

One of the things I tell startup companies is, "Understand the business that you're in, but focus on how do you describe that business in five words or less." It is a very hard exercise. It may take days, weeks, months to figure that out. But if you can get to a point where you can describe yourself in five words or less and it's meaningful, people understand it, you're on to something. From there you can build a marketing and brand strategy because you've learned how to position your company, you've learned how to tell it very simply and now you can go forward with the full story. That's one thing I would have them start with, which is a challenging yet very enlightening exercise.

LIGHTNING ROUND

Are you a coffee drinker? Yes or no.

No, I'm a hot chocolate guy.

How do you get going in the morning?

I run in the mornings. That's what gets me going.

What's one business tool you're geeking out over right now?

We're just implementing Percolate. I love it because it gives me access to the whole calendar of content and campaigns and everything and I can see in a glance everything that's happening around the world, and it's the first time I've ever had that capability, so I'm actually very much geeking out over that tool.

What is a favorite piece of technology currently?

My range finder. I love it. I pull it out and I can really quickly click a button and it tells me exactly how far out I am from the pin. It's a simple piece of technology that I use a lot.

What's one book you'd pass along to a fellow marketer?

My favorite book is a book called "Insanely Simple." It's written by Ken Segall who used to be the creative director at the agency that worked for Apple and Steve Jobs. He writes a book about how Steve Jobs, one of his greatest traits was his ability to keep things very, very simple. It's probably the most important marketing book I've ever read because it helps me to remember that the best marketing is also the simplest marketing. Your message needs to be simple. Obviously compelling and interesting, but we typically confuse compelling and interesting with lengthy.

Who's one person you'd like to go on a road trip with.

Bono. I had a chance to meet him in Cannes one year in France and he is such a genuine human being and I was so impressed that I would love to go on a road trip.

How many hours of sleep do you get each night on average?

Oh boy. I have not been a good sleeper the last month or two. I've done better, but for the last couple years I was probably doing about four (and by the way, that's not good and certainly not something I'm proud of and I don't think people should wear anything like that as a badge of honor). It's just not good for you. Now, I'm in the five range and that's been helpful. I'd like to get it more consistently in the six range and maybe even hit seven once in a while.

Well, lastly, how can people connect with you?

Kevin.Sellers@Avnet.com, so I'm happy to connect with anyone that would like to.

View Details

Sometimes as an entrepreneur, you set out to build one thing but end up with something else entirely. That was the case with Taylor Cavanah. A trained physicist, he and his best friend were on the path to building a technology company only to stumble across a gapping need in the veterinary world. Today, Taylor is the CEO of PetDesk, a platform that enables pet care providers and pet owners to connect and manage their pet's care.

In this interview, he shares how the company was built, why he prioritizes company culture and the reason it’s important for entrepreneurs to keep sharing their ideas with the world.

How did PetDesk come to be?

It started back when Ken Tsui, my other co-founder, and I worked together in the nanotech world and decided to start a business, but not in the pet space. We were failing upwards building great technology, but not really solving problems. My wife's uncle, who is a vet, kept saying, "Hey, you’ve got to go into vet space. They really need technology." We didn't listen for probably about a year or so.

Then just to make sure we were getting into the right business I went to WBC, which is a big event conference in Vegas, and halfway through the first day I called Ken and said, "Start building PetDesk!” They were sending postcards with 1980s web portals and treating email like it was the newest, greatest thing –– this was 2013. It just seemed like it was a super obvious time for us to get into the space.

What is your role in the company now versus the early days?

My day-to-day now is managing the directors of the company and hiring the missing pieces. Right now I'm very deep in planning on what we're going to do next, what our goals are, how we’re going to get there, and training up all of our directors on how to do that type of planning. There's a lot of learning and mentoring, and that's a big part of my job.

What are some of the challenges that you've faced as you've scaled, and how did you overcome them?

We went through a rapid growth period. When we hit 30 people this really weird, almost dark cloud descended on the company. We took a Friday afternoon, got everybody together, had a picnic. We opened it up and let everybody air their grievances, ask questions, and it was awesome. Within five days, everything was super sunny and great. We'd also made some personnel changes that needed to happen, and now our culture has been getting stronger and stronger. I guess one of the big learnings there is transparency and openness, and the ability to get everybody to be heard is key.

What's one of the best things that you've done for the business?

Your culture is going to develop whether you put form written values or not. And it’s not about just writing them down, but how you actually doing all those things that you want to do. Are you practicing radical candor? Are you learning? Are you coaching? Are you having a growth mindset? And does everybody in the company embody that as well?

What tips can you share for training up employees?

Training is hard. Look for people who are very, very process-oriented. It's amazing what you can do when you put processes and systems in place, and it's so much easier to do it when you have five people than when you get to 50 people.

What's next for PetDesk?

We tripled last year and doubled this year in ARR. The sales team is almost fully built out now. We basically have almost all the hires that we need, but we also understand that the market size that we're in is not huge and the product isn't going to last forever. Nobody's ever gotten 50%, 60%, 70% market share in this space, so we need to be thinking about the next thing.

We’ll likely expand to serving groomers, boarders and trainers. We moved out of that space to just focus on vets, and we want to move back in.

What's one piece of advice that you would give to a fellow entrepreneur?

Share your idea with everybody. When you're doing that, always ask for constructive criticism and really listen to that feedback. It's easy for us to fall in love with our baby, and the more you can take those blinders off, the better it's going to be.

Lightning Round:

Are you a coffee drinker? Yes or no?

No, Mountain Dew. I'm trying to kick it. It's the worst way to get caffeine.

What's one business tool you're geeking out over right now?

Domo. It’s a dashboard aggregator that used to cost like $50,000+ every month, and now you can get it for like $80 per user. I

Do you have a favorite piece of technology?

I have a favorite piece of future technology that I really want to see happen. The ability to upload your consciousness, and the merging of machine and human intelligence.

What's one book you would pass along to a fellow entrepreneur?

The Challenger Sale.

Who is one person or maybe dog you'd like to have dinner with?

Albert Einstein.

How can people connect with you or learn more about PetDesk?

E-mail at taylor@petdesk.com. I try to make time to help other entrepreneurs as much as possible.

View Details

Andrew Chaifetz approaches life with an inquisitive eye. Never one to accept the status quo, Andrew’s foray into entrepreneurship began in college when he was required to use a clunky, outdated learning management software (LMS). He decided it wasn’t enough to be frustrated and write it off for someone else to eventually tackle. Instead, recognizing others shared his experience, Andrew seized the opportunity to improve and upend the LMS industry. And this formed the basis of Notebowl, a sleek and user-friendly social learning platform for higher education that brings courses and the campus community together –– all in one place.

In this episode, Andrew talks about navigating different stages in his business, why he approaches even the toughest challenges with a positive attitude and why our humanity hinges on people asking, “Why?”.

View Details

Saundra Schrock is the Founder and CEO of LevelHead, an app that helps employers engage employees in ways to improve their well being and performance. Saundra kicked off her three decade tenure working in finance as a teller, and cites hard work as what propelled her rise in the ranks. Over the years, especially when her travel schedule increased, Saundra turned to meditation and yoga to help combat stress and improve her leadership skills. When she transitioned out of finance, her dedication to wellness remained. Always fascinated with psychology, she knew that to really spread the message of mindfulness in leadership, she’d have to go farther than teaching or writing a book, so she turned to technology. By parlaying her program into an app, she’s taken mindfulness to the masses.

In this episode of the SuccessLab Podcast, Saundra shares how mindfulness can help people seize opportunities, become stronger leaders and change team for the better.

View Details

Wiley Larsen was a problem solver from a young age. Growing up, he would actively seek creative solutions to common everyday obstacles, but his journey to entrepreneurship came by chance. After spending eights years as a high school teacher, his knowledge and enthusiasm for startups began while working for Tom Osborne, a congressman in his home state of Nebraska. Wiley parlayed that knowledge into a leadership role with ASU’s SkySong Venture Acceleration program, where he eventually was introduced to the technology that would kickstart his foray into launching his own company. Today, Wiley is the co-founder of Saccadous, a digital health and telehealth startup based on eye-tracking technology.

In this episode, Wiley talks about transitioning from education to entrepreneurship, the tough conversations startup leaders need to have and what qualities people in business should possess to be truly successful.

View Details

When you think of tech talent, it’s easy to limit that purview to developers and programmers. The Valley is loaded with opportunities for tech talent, and they span far more than coding gigs. In this episode of our special series on TechTalent, Heidi Jannenga, co-founder and president of WebPT, discusses misconceptions new grads have about tech jobs, what makes her top employees stand out and what they look for in the hiring process.

How do you define top tech talent?

There are these mythical creatures we’re always looking for as full spec engineers who can span the different areas of development including DevOps, the delivery team world in the cloud, and coders that are very well versed in the latest languages. They understand how to build large-scale platforms and converge and integrate different parts of technology and platforms together. I think they are problem solvers, have empathy and they understand the customer is the most important piece of the puzzle.

Are there particular qualities you look for in tech talent?

Of course we look for their technical competencies first and foremost, but as an organization, WebPT hires for culture first. We’re looking for motivated and passionate individuals who understand our purpose and vision, and can really get behind it. We want people who are very collaborative and work well in teams. We have an agile work environment, so we have smaller team groups that work together. We look for people who understand the importance of quality of code and putting out good, bug-free products. Top talent are those who continue to challenge themselves to learn more, don’t think they have all the answers and are open-minded.

Thinking of your best employees, what has made them stand out?

It comes down the problem solvers. They’re nerdy, geeky and hobbyists. They’re problem solving when they’re not even here, and then they come in super motivated when a lightbulb goes on. They fully embrace the purpose of our organization, including our members and the problems they're having. Our best tech employees are those who are efficient, love what they do and love to inspire others.

What roles do you have the toughest time filling?

I asked our director of software development that same question and he said, “All of them!” Programmers, DevOps, scrum masters, product managers, and product owners, we have quite a few opportunities open right now. If you go to webpt.com/careers, you’ll find what we’re interviewing for.

How do you recognize some of your best employees?

We hold a monthly stand up in which we have a special kudos section where we recognize folks for their valiant efforts. We also have our annual holiday party where we recognize 11 people in the organization that have gone above and beyond our core values. We also have a newsletter where we spotlight employees and share feedback so they can continue to grow and develop as employees. Different departments recognize employees in different ways.

If you were mentoring a group of emerging tech talent students, what’s one thing you’d want them to know?

There are many different opportunities within development. When people think of development, they think of the guy with the hooded sweatshirt coding away. But there are so many diverse opportunities, including IT, scrum masters, developers, quality assurance folks and then the whole product management side.

Is there one book you would pass along to emerging tech talent?

“Rework” by the founders of 37signals. It is about how to build software, as well as some of the business principles behind it. It is important as a technologist to understand how your role fits into the overall organization.

View Details

Behind every great business is an individual who had an idea that was just crazy enough it could work. At least that was the case with Ron Robertson, co-founder and CEO of Picmonic, a visual learning platform that enables users to create, share and learn from audio/visual content. Ron was a third-year medical student bogged down with exams and, like so many of his counterparts, frustrated by all the important information he was forgetting along the way. Studying under a neuroscientist, he learned that by making information more sensory, it dramatically improved the ability to learn and retain that information. It was then the idea for Picmonic was born. Within a year of launching, half the medical schools in the country had signed up and used the product. Six years later, Picmonic is revolutionizing the way students are learning and retaining information.

In this episode, Ron discusses his decision to step away from medical school to pursue his own business, building a team, raising capital, and taking Picmonic to market, along with a few other key entrepreneurial lessons he’s learned along the way.

Coming from a medical background, how did you step into the CEO role and take on growing a business?

I came from a background of biochemistry and neuroscience. Going into medical school, I knew very little about business. I was naive but I surrounded myself with people who are much smarter than I am and who’d built successful businesses before. Ultimately it was the advisors, mentors and coaches that helped guide the way. Despite the things I was not familiar with - whether that was building a team or creating software or taking a product to market or raising capital –– none of these were unique. Others have done these things before, so it was more about how could I connect with these people and try to learn from them.

What’s one thing you have really had to learn as CEO?

All of it. One of the areas I was the least prepared for was leadership and management. It’s challenging having people work for you in a startup organization where you’re underfunded and people aren’t making as much money as they would working for a huge corporation. I’ve had to work hard to get better at it. Business wise, it’s a constant process of iteration and improvement. We go through a retrospective process regularly, looking at our objectives, whether we hit them, and if not, why and what could we do differently? When you look at individual roles and responsibilities across the board, there’s always room for improvement in every aspect of what we do.

What’s one of the best things you’ve done for your business?

It comes down to the inception of the organization when I had the idea and shared it with people early on, everybody thought I was crazy. One of things people would say was, “You want to teach people with cartoons?” or “You want to use cartoons to train the next generation of doctors and nurses?”. And the answer was yes. It took an incredible amount of tenacity to fight that battle and believe in myself and the vision enough to build something when everyone thought it was insane.

I dropped out of medical school to build this organization. I quit one year shy of graduating. I believed in it enough to get it going, and consistently share it, tell people about it and get enough people to believe in order to get the capital to recruit the talent to build the product and take it to market. It was 1 to 2 years after we started that finally people started to see the validation. For the first couple years it took a lot of time and energy and commitment.

Speed Round:

1. Coffee drinker, yes or no? Absolutely.
2. What’s one business tool you’re geeking out over right now? Kiteform, Intercom, Slack and Zeplin.
3. Favorite piece of technology: Google. It’s heavily used and loved in our organization.
4. What’s one book you would pass along to a fellow entrepreneur: “The Hard Thing About Hard Things” by Ben Horowitz
5. Who is one person you would like to have dinner with? Elon Musk
6. How many hours of sleep do you get a night? On average 4 to 5, but I would love to get 6 to 7.

View Details

It’s an all-too-familiar story for many entrepreneurs: you spend years dedicating yourself to a career path only to eventually realize it no longer gives you fulfillment. That was the scenario for AJ Harbinger, who faced a tough decision while pursuing his Ph.D. –– stay the course or risk everything and pursue entrepreneurship.

Luckily for the hundreds of thousands of people he has helped, AJ chose the road less traveled, co-founding The Art of Charm, which has become a highly acclaimed podcast and online resource for advanced social skills training. AJ, along with his co-founder Jordan Harbinger and partner Johnny Dzubak, help countless people build confidence, social interaction, networking, and overall self improvement. Guests have included a diverse array of experts, celebrities, athletes, and authors who share practical advice.

In this episode of The SuccesLab Podcast, AJ joins hosts Beth Cochran and Deb Caron to discuss how he stumbled into podcasting, dropped out of grad school and dedicated his life to helping ordinary people become extraordinary.

View Details

Codie Sanchez is a multi-hyphenate title holder who puts the Energizer Bunny to shame. She’s the founder of CS Ventures, podcast host of the Struggle Isn’t Real, startup founder of Threads Refined (since exited), and head of Latin America and Offshore Sales at First Trust. As most entrepreneurs come to realize, their journey is anything but linear. Codie’s experience has been no different. She started out as a journalist reporting stories from the U.S./Mexico border. Particularly touched by an elderly woman abandoned in a border community, Codie realized it wasn’t enough to write about someone’s story –– she wanted to rewrite the story.

In this episode of The SuccessLab Podcast, Codie shares why it’s important to chase your curiosity, why power comes from developing a deep understanding of money and how she empowers people to break through their fears in order to pursue their dreams.

View Details

Tech companies can’t succeed based solely on a handful of individuals in the C-suite. Ask any founder or CEO and they’ll tell you a company’s success hinges on the grit and determination of its rising stars. Whether you’re in software development, IT infrastructure or sales, your contributions matter. In this episode on our special series on tech talent, CampusLogic CEO Gregg Scoresby shares insights on how to keep your stars rising.

How you define top tech talent?

Top tech talent needs to be smart, have a desire to learn new things and be committed to solve the problem or mission you’re working on.

What makes an employee stand out from the pack?

They need to be collaborative and naturally curious to learn new things. We don't have people working in isolation at CampusLogic. If you were in one of our standup meetings, it’s hard to tell who is senior and who is junior. No one is above working on a something else than another. One of our values is, “We’re nice and take care of each other.” Being able to work with other people and being nice, smart, collaborative and curious. Those are things that make someone successful at CampusLogic.

How do you recognize your best employees?

We have a company meeting every two weeks where we have lunch together and go over things we’re working on. As part of all of that, we’re recognizing individuals on teams. We also do real-time recognition of people via Slack where people are recognizing the good performance of other people they see within the company. That said, it’s not my job as CEO to make sure everyone gets recognized. Everybody needs to make sure the good work of others is getting recognized as well.

What’s one of the roles you have the toughest time filling?

Software engineering talent is certainly in high demand. The discipline of project management is also hard to find. We have a couple great people in that area, but scaling that is hard.

If you were mentoring a group of emerging tech talent, what’s one thing you'd want them to know?

There’s a contract that exists between an employer and an employee. We give you a salary and you give us your best work, including your opinions. I want people to be vocal. They need to bring their best ideas and be motivated to solve a problem. So my advice to younger tech talent is be curious, be vocal, be thoughtful and be collaborative.

Is there a book you’d pass along to them?

There’s a book called “Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter” by Liz Wiseman. It's not directed at tech talent but more toward leaders of developing talent in general. It's a good book to think about whether you’re killing genius or cultivating genius. As leaders of tech talent, we need to be doing all we can to multiply the genius within the organization.

View Details

As companies scale, it’s easy for culture to get pushed to the backburner as teams struggle to keep up with workloads. It’s a challenge in any environment, particularly one of rapid growth. And that certainly was the case WebPT back in 2010 when the young startup began growing in leaps and bounds. When Heidi Jannenga, WebPT’s co-founder and president, began to feel their tightknit, scrappy culture starting to shift, she and her team took it as an opportunity to hit pause and put in place a set of core values that would forever shape the future growth and culture of the company.

What challenges have you personally overcome as WebPT has scaled?

I need more data behind me before I’m ready to jump and make decisions, whereas others are more willing to jump based on their gut. Over time, being in the software world and in a fast moving organization where decisions need to be made quickly, I’ve become much more in tune with my gut. Don’t get sidelined by analysis paralysis, but there have to be some key metrics you can look at in order to move forward to make decisions. Part of that is understanding that if you fail fast, you have the opportunity to make changes and not lose the entire process. Having an agile mindset has helped me to become less risk averse.

What’s been one of the best things you’ve done for the business over the years?

Culture is one of the true foundations of our success. Our culture is one based on 10 core values our team came up with. The first couple of years when we had 10 - 12 employees, we were able to transfer that culture organically. There was this understanding of expectations and people would adopt it quickly. But within six months of getting funding in 2010, we’d hired more people than we had in the first few years combined. We felt this cultural shift begin, so we hired a culture captain to help drive and make sure the culture was maintained and nurtured. Our core values as they are today were really born out of conversations and planning from our first 40 employees, and those core values still stand today.

What’s one area you’ve had to train on yourself as president of WebPT?

I don’t need to have all the answers. Oftentimes, people come to you for things that, at the end of the day, they’ll feel more empowered by finding themselves. The other thing is to just let go. As a startup, you wear many hats. I found myself being a jack of all trades. I was a master on the product management peice and leading the culture, but was not great at finance and metrics. As we grew, I learned to be self aware enough to know what I’m really good at. And by identifying areas of weakness, I could pass those things off to people who have those areas as strengths.

Speed Round:

1. Coffee drinker, yes or no? I have never been a coffee drinker.
2. What’s one business tool you’re geeking out over right now? Pendo.
3. Favorite piece of technology: My car, a Tesla Model X.
4. What’s one book you would pass along to a fellow entrepreneur: “Rework”, by Jason Fried and David Heinemeir Hansson, the founders of 37signals and “Firms of Endearment” by Rajendra Sisodia.
5. Who is one person you would like to have dinner with? Michelle Obama.
6. How many hours of sleep do you get a night? I average 6-7 hours. On weekends, 8 hours.

View Details

There’s no question the Valley’s tech scene is in on the upswing. One obstacle executives face, however, is finding the right people with the right skills to fill the right seats. In this episode of this special series on TechTalent, Rick Stoddard, Director of Venture Engagement at Coplex, discusses how he defines top tech talent, qualities he looks for in the startups he works with and the top advice he has for up-and-comers.

How would you define tech talent?

Top talent is those individuals who are constantly learning and absorbing information to further their marketability and what they have to offer to the community. It’s talent that’s energetic and committed to furthering a community, especially a technology community. There’s the resume and bio, but so many intangibles come into play. Are they willing to evolve? Are they willing to take on change? Are they willing to explore the unknown.

What qualities do you look for on filling roles at Coplex, or among the startups you mentor?

Coachability, especially in a mentoring situation. If there doesn’t seem to be an element of coachability, then why even have the relationship? Is the person open to looking in areas they’ve never looked before and exploring what could really make a difference –– not just subtle differences, but transformational differences. Also I look for what integrity means to them. Not integrity from a good or bad perspective, but really that they understand that integrity in life can have a huge impact on performance. Being authentic and being open and willing to be vulnerable are other things I look for.

Is there an employee you can think of in your past that really stood out? What has made them the best?

They were coachable and they were willing to take action, even when they didn’t want to take action. Unless you’re willing to take action and get out there and experiment and fail, it doesn’t contribute much to furthering your career.

What roles do local tech companies have the toughest time filling?

Software engineering talent and designers –– there are just not enough. I think the more we, locally, can begin to educate our existing base, the better it’s going to be. I see a lot of things being done to do just that so I’m really encouraged at the direction I see our community going.

If you were mentoring a group of emerging tech folks, what’s one thing you'd want them to know?

Be yourself and have fun. It’s a journey –– enjoy it!

View Details

The search for talent is one of the top challenges facing the Valley’s burgeoning tech community. In this episode of TechTalent, guest Greg Head, CEO of Greg Head Consulting and founder of Gregslist, talks about what truly makes for a rockstar employee in the tech world and where up-and-coming tech talent should focus their attention.

What qualities should top tech talent possess?

One trait is the mastery of their specialty. There’s a lot of people who say they do the roles, but aren’t really intensely focused on mastering those things. You’ve got to be able to figure it out at a very high level. The other thing I look for is people who admit they don’t know something but who learn really fast. If you give someone an idea or homework, and they never circle back, or figure it out, or they keep asking the same questions –– that’s going to be slow going. The most talented folks are the ones who dedicate themselves to learning something and keep coming back for more, but at a higher level.

Is there an employee you can think of in your past that really stood out? If so, why?

Everybody starts off at the bottom, but people can move up really fast. Lindsay Bayuk, who I worked with at Infusionsoft, is now the VP of Product Marketing of Pluralsight, a $100M company in Utah. I knew her seven years ago when she was a student at ASU and was asking how to start a company and what things she needed to do to get there. She was really savvy and intensely interested in it. So, she went from being a college student to a VP at a $100M company in seven years. It was more about her tenaciousness and her attitude and approach to it than any innate thoughts. She’s smart, but there’s a lot of smart people out there that haven’t done what she’s done. People can really move fast if they go for it.

What roles do local tech companies have the toughest time filling?

Senior talented engineers to make their software –– that’s the brutal fight, to find those people and then have to compete with others who are trying to take them. Leadership roles are also in demand. Companies might need someone to be their first sales manager, which is very different than being a VP of sales with 15 people under them.

If you were mentoring a group of tech up-and-comers, what’s one thing you'd want them to know?

There are serious problems and opportunities all over the place. Focus on finding problems in the world that haven't been solved yet that you care about. Get in and start helping them. Don’t worry about jobs, politics, salaries –– the games. Just worry about solving the actual problem.

View Details

What separates an individual with a business idea from an entrepreneur with an idea that could actually turn into a viable business? The ability to successfully identify a market opportunity. That was the case for Gregg Scoresby, founder and CEO of CampusLogic. After years spent as a consultant in the higher education and student financial aid industry, he recognized the experience could dramatically improve with the adoption of mobile and cloud. In this episode, Gregg discusses jumping on the market opportunity, ushering student financial aid into the age of the cloud and the challenges of scaling up.

What’s a challenge you faced as you’ve scaled and how did you overcome it?

When you’re trying to scale, it’s different from when you were being scrappy and trying to execute with 10 people –– there’s a whole new level of management and leadership required. Externally, customers need more love and attention. Internally, it’s important to make sure there’s clarity around the company’s purpose, mission and values. At CampusLogic, we talk about purpose, mission and values in almost everything we do. Our core values are the primary thing we interview for and our entire performance evaluation process is based on those core values. If you have smart people who share those core values, then a lot of good things happen.

As any company grows, change is inevitable and often necessary. How have you adapted to embrace change?

Managing a 10-person company is quite a bit different than managing a 100-person company. The role becomes more about managing the managers versus directing the work on a day-to-day basis. Making changes associated with growth can be hard, but it is fun to see the company grow, and try hard to make the personal and organizational changes that allow it to grow.

What's one piece of advice you would give to these entrepreneurs?

Build the very best team you can as early as you can. When cash is tight, it can be tricky to hire the best talent that you can. The key is to always be thinking what the company will need in the next six months, 12 months and 24 months, and then hire for the skillsets you’ll need in the out years. It’s important to find balance when cash is tight, but at the end of the day, talent wins. That’s how success happens –– great people solving big problems.

Speed round:

1. Coffee drinker, yes or no? No, but a Coke Zero on my desk isn’t safe.
2. How many hours of sleep do you get daily? 6 - 7 hours
3. One business tool you’re geeking out over right now? Slack.
4. Favorite piece of technology? Microsoft Azure
5. What’s one book you’d pass along to a fellow entrepreneur? The Four Disciplines of Execution
6. One person you’d like to have dinner with? My wife.

View Details

There’s no easy, straight and narrow path to entrepreneurial success ––it’s filled honing and fighting for your vision, navigating difficult decisions and balancing scaling with maintaining cash flow. In this episode, Rick Stoddard, Director of Venture Engagement at Coplex, sheds light on some of these challenges and obstacles, and what it takes to move past them.

As ventures scale, are there common challenges you see them face?

With any company that’s scaling, one commonality is the need to be financially prepared for the scaling. Certainly, the game changes as companies gain traction and begin to grow. Then it becomes about the types of individuals they need to surround themselves with. It’s about constantly looking at not only people, but also the technologies will enable an entrepreneur to take the next big step.

What’s a quality or skill you think all founders should have?

In everything that we do, it boils down to communication. What we say is what we create. It’s about being able to relay thoughts in a way that other people really understand - not so much from my point of view, but their point of view so they can easily step into that conversation. That’s a challenge for everyone. Communication takes constant practice and being more cognizant of what you’re saying, why you’re saying it and the reason you’re having the conversation.

I know you mentor numerous startup founders, what’s one piece of advice you would give to these entrepreneurs?

Never give up. Have stick-to-itiveness and be resilient. If you strongly believe and you’re driven by what you’re creating, you can find a way. It’s going to be difficult at times and you’ve got to be willing to go beyond what a lot of people will do. There’s nothing wrong with stopping, but if you want to accomplish something big and you’re up to creating something different in life, have that willingness to continue on.

Speed round:

Coffee drinker, yes or no? No.

One business tool you’re geeking out over right now? New Surface Pro 4.

Favorite piece of technology? New Surface Pro 4.

What’s one book you’d pass along to a fellow entrepreneur? The Lean Startup by Eric Ries.

One person you’d like to have dinner with? My mother.

View Details

On the path to growth, nearly every CEO battles some sort of head game no matter the stage or size of the company. Greg Head knows these all too well. He’s been an integral part of several rapid-growth companies as they climbed their way to $100M and an IPO, and now as a consultant and coach to early stage CEOs (he worked with more than 300 in the last year).

Having been inside some of these rapid-growth companies, and now working with CEOs, is there a common block you see that stand in the way? One big block I see is the misperception that when you’re getting started and you’re trying a lot of things and experimenting, when you reach $1M or $1B you have to change your game. And it’s not doing more, it’s actually doing less and getting really focused. CEOs also have to narrow their focus and essentially focus on three key things in the business: vision, leadership, and making sure there’s enough cash to keep going. As you grow up, it’s hard to relinquish control or learn a new skill such as raising money.

You talk a lot out the “head game” and how that impedes many business owners, what are some ways you can identify if you are playing the head game with yourself? Everyone deals with these things. Our beliefs and thoughts and motions...just because we’re human. Founders and CEOs like to put on a face like they’ve got it figured out, but ...sometimes they’re fears: what if I’m not the right person, what if we run out of cash, what if I can’t do this, what if this doesn’t work out. All those beliefs humans have...those are the biggest levers for making movement. And the myth is, ambitious entrepreneurs want to change the world, and as we go through the journey, the biggest surprise is we have to change ourselves. All those beliefs we’ve had since we were in high school, some are holding us back and we need to get rid of them.

How do you start to overcome those limiting thoughts? The first rule is to know which game you’re playing. You have to recognize there’s an inner game going on. Often we already know the answers, but many of us don’t follow them and that’s because we’re human. It’s not the answer or the facts that’s the problem, it’s where it meets the human.

Since you work with so many CEOs and have the inside track on what holds them back in terms of growth, is there one piece of advice you can pass along? It is a challenge as your business starts to grow. IT can feel more out of control because there are more people and you don’t have your hands on the keyboard for everything in the business. Founders and CEOs get all the hard issues collected at their desk that they can’t delegate, and one of the struggles they have is their senior leaders are not really available for the call about “My head is exploding and I’m not sure exactly what to do here.” They don’t always have a lot of help for this, so that’s where being around trusted peers, coaches and advisors can help open up that conversation about what might be at the root of the issue.

Speed round: Coffee drinker, yes or no? Yes

One business tool you’re geeking out over right now? iPad Pro so I can do the whiteboard thing remotely on the phone. I’m a whiteboard junkie.

Favorite piece of technology? My iPhone

What’s one book you’d pass along to a fellow entrepreneur? “Crossing the Chasm” by Geoffrey Moore.

One person you’d like to have dinner with? Warren Buffett, but his price is pretty high.

How much sleep do get a night? Seven hours consistently.

View Details

In this episode, Eli Hall, owner of AMS Landscaping, discusses how he seeded the growth trajectory of his landscaping business and maintained a passion for the company for more than 20 years.

When he took the company over from his grandfather, it was a one-man operation. Today, Eli has grown it into a million-dollar landscaping business. He talks about how he's learned to get out of his own way, delegate the necessary tasks to get the job done, and utilize technology to create a better customer experience.  

View Details

How do you successfully grow a software-as-a-service company? Bob La Loggia, founder and CEO of AppointmentPlus, an appointment scheduling software, has carved one path that has led to amazing growth and a 15-year track record.

In this episode, Bob discusses lessons learned, what one thing he did that made a major difference in the growth of the business, and what advice he'd offer up to fellow entrepreneurs.

View Details

Digital marketing ––it’s become an imperative part of the marketing mix for most brands. But for those just getting started in it, it can seem like a vast, unknown world. While the barrier to entry is relatively low, it can be easy for the unknowing marketer to spend a lot of money and have nothing to show for it.

In this episode, Adrian Vender, director of analytics at IMI, shares some of the all-too-common mistakes in digital marketing to avoid and how to get started, particularly if you are operating on a budget.

Speed round: Coffee drinker, yes or no? Absolutely.
One business tool you’re geeking out over right now? This is very specific to data nerds like me, but I continue to geek out over Tableau.
Favorite piece of technology? Chromecast.
What’s one book you’d pass along to a fellow entrepreneur? This might sound cliché, but definitely "Outliers" by Malcolm Gladwell.
One person you’d like to have dinner with? I would love to have dinner with Barack Obama.

Next week I’m in the lab with Bob La Loggia, CEO and founder of AppointmentPlus. We discuss the trials and tribulations of building a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company. Be sure to tune! Until then, have prosperous week!

View Details

From Wall Street to a successful startup exit to Rise of the Rest, Anna Mason shares her journey. In this episode we discuss productivity tips, overcoming entrepreneurial obstacles and how she's working to make an impact in the startup world as the Director of Investments for Rise of the Rest.

View Details

It’s something many people face: You've got a great career –one you worked hard to get – and while you love what you do, you can't help but feel there's something missing. This was the case for Ben Reichert, a former European liaison officer turned founder and CEO of Game CoLab and professor at the University of Advancing Technology. Hear how Ben left the comforts of a steady job to level up and pursue a passion in gaming.

Show references:

• Game CoLab
• University of Advancing Technology

Next week I’m in the lab with Anna Mason, Director of Investments for Rise of the Rest. We talk about taking massive action to make big things happen. Be sure to tune! Until then, have prosperous week!

Music in this episode: "They Just Don't Know" by Gyft.

View Details

It’s a question many business owners eventually face…does it make more sense to own commercial space or rent it? Both arguably have equal pros and cons. In this episode I talk to Jenny Poon, founder of eeko studio and Co+Hoots, about her decision to purchase the next space that is soon to become the new home of Co+Hoots. She talks about what ultimately drove their decisions and some of the biggest hurdles they had to overcome on the road to securing the building.

Jenny also talks about the need to get creative around the loan structures and even funding the building…they launched a crowdfunding campaign (check it out!).

Show references:

Co+Hooots

I'm in Co+Hoots Crowdfunding Campaign

Quote of the Week: “Success is simple. Do what’s right, the right way, at the right time. ~ Arnold Glasow

Next week I’m in the lab with Nick Loper, founder of Side Hustle Nation. We talk all things side hustle of course! Be sure to tune! Until then, have prosperous week!

View Details

You may know Michael Sacca, he is one of the amazing masterminds behind the Rocketship.fm podcast and heads up partnerships at Crew, an online marketplace for creatives. In this episode I talk to Michael about entrepreneurship, common traits he’s picked up from the founders they interview on Rocketship, and some of the trials and tribulations he’s faced in launching his own ventures.

Show references: Taking on New Ventures and Establishing a New Life Balance

Quote of the Week: “Doing what you like is freedom. Liking what you do is happiness.” ~ Frank Tyger

For past episodes, head over to SuccessLab.fm. Next week I’m in the lab with Nick Loper, founder of Side Hustle Nation. We talk all things side hustle of course! Be sure to tune! Until then, have prosperous week!

View Details

What does it take to cultivate a strong entrepreneurial and startup community? No one has the exact recipe, but we know it takes passionate advocates who are willing to take bold risks, champion collaboration over a siloed spotlight, and who have a diehard spirit. Jonathan Cottrell, founder of Hopscratch and the guy behind #yesphx and PHX Startup Week, is one such person.

In this episode Jonathan shares how PHX Startup Week came to be, how he juggles a growing startup, a marriage and three kids, and rallying the community around entrepreneurship through #yesphx. If you’re in the Phoenix area, be sure to check out PHX Startup Week February 22-26, 2016. It’s free to attend!

Show references: PHX Startup Week Rework by Jason Fried

Next week I’m in the lab with Michael Sacca, co-host of the Rocketship.fm podcast and partnership manager at Crew. We talk all things entrepreneurial. Be sure to tune! Until then, have prosperous week!

View Details

While no two businesses are ever exactly the same, many of the challenges founders face are. Whether it’s scaling, funding, or branding, chances are you have experienced, or will experience, similar growing pains to the entrepreneurs who have come before you and those will follow behind you. I

n this episode, I talk to Tom Blondi, chief revenue officer at SocialWhirled, serial entrepreneur, and a mentor and investor to several startups, about the common challenges and pitfalls that tend to slow the entrepreneurial hustle. He also talks about what to look for in a good mentor.

For this week’s Biz Hack and past episodes, head over to SuccessLab.fm. Next week I’m in the lab with Michael Sacca, co-host of the rocketship.fm podcast and partnership manager at Crew. We talk all things entrepreneurial. Be sure to tune! Until then, have prosperous week!

View Details

Eli Chmouni, founder/CEO of Tipsy, has been through the startup trenches. He’s founded multiple companies - some of which had successful exits, and others that didn’t perform quite as well. Now he educates other entrepreneurs on how to launch - and he has sort of a non-traditional approach focused on execution. In this episode I talk to Eli about how to overcome the stifling effects of perfectionism and fear of failure.

Quote of the Week: “Nothing holds you back more than your own insecurities.” ~ Anonymous

For this week’s Biz Hack and past episodes, head over to SuccessLab.fm. Next week I’m in the lab with Tom Blondi. He is the Chief Revenue Officer at SocialWhirled, and well known startup veteran and mentor here in Phoenix. He shares some of his best tips for entrepreneurs and startup founders. Be sure to tune! Until then, have prosperous week!

View Details

How do some people manage to be everywhere, yet still achieve life balance? For Mike Fishbein, inbound marketer at Alpha UX, podcaster and bestselling author, that seems to be the case. In this episode, he talks about his techniques for efficiently getting through tasks – it all revolves around intense focus.

Tools and books referenced:

• Pomodoro Technique
• Pomotodo app
• Mike’s books
• This is Product Management Podcast

Quote of the Week: “Ability has nothing to do with opportunity.” ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

For this week’s Biz Hack and past episodes, head over to SuccessLab.fm.

Next week I’m in the lab with Eli Chmouni, founder and CEO of Tipsy. He’s extremely involved in the tech startup scene, having launched and sold several of his own companies, and now teaching other startup founders. We talk about paths to success and what mistakes could stand in the way of that success. Be sure to tune! Until then, have prosperous week!

View Details

From a young age many people know what their true north is. They know what they want to do in life and where they want to go, but overtime whether it’s internal thoughts, worrying about disappointing others, or just life’s twists and turns, it’s easy to get derailed from it.

That was the case for Jennifer Boonlorn, founder and designer of Soul Carrier, a designer handbag company. Luckily though, she corrected course pretty quick. In this episode I talk to her about how she got back in touch with her deeper calling, how she tuned out the self doubt and worrying what others would think or say, and how she has built a business around living her passion.

Quote of the Week: “The future depends on what you do today.” Mahatma Gandhi

For this week’s Biz Hack and past episodes, head over to SuccessLab.fm. Next week I’m in the lab with Mike Fishebein, a best-selling author, host of This is Product Management podcast, inbound marketer at AlphaUX, and a regular contributor to several media outlets. He is everywhere. And in the next episode I talk to him about how he manages to do it all. Be sure to tune! Until then, have prosperous week!

View Details

We've likely all felt it at some point in our lives…the discontent and stress that can come from not doing something you feel excited, energized and passionate about. You feel like you’re working against the grain. Trying to force something that isn’t quite you. That was the case for Jenny Hill. She was working in PR and marketing, had a safe, secure income, but couldn’t help feeling she was doing something she was quite meant to do. So she quit her job, enrolled in a farm program and moved across the country. That led her to something unexpected and she’s now a widely collected fine art artist and founder of J.Hill Artisan Felt. In this episode she shares what it took to reach the decision to leave her job, how she combated self doubt, and the importance of going all in on anything you do.

Biz Hack: Top 5 Biz Hacks for Entrepreneurs: This post on Entrepreneur.com lists five biz hacks "you've never heard of" but will be game changers. Next week I’m in the lab with Jennifer Boonlorn. She is the founder of Soul Carrier. And this podcast is along a similar theme - we talk trusting your inner calling and building a business out of it. Be sure to tune! Until then, have prosperous week! Intro music in this episode: "They Just Don't Know" by Gyft. Outro music in this episode: "Magnolias" by Tapper.

If you dig this podcast, why not leave a quick review or rating in iTunes?

View Details

Do you ever feel like you are completely maxed out? Where every second of your day is accounted for? You’re putting in a minimum of 10 hours per day, but still feel like you only chipped away a fraction of your to-do list? You know you need help, but the thought of hiring an employee seems like more work than it’s worth. Many of us feel this way. It’s that growing pains before your realize how to successfully scale your business.

In this episode I talk to Jess Ostroff, founder of Don’t Panic Management, a virtual agency based in New York. She shares how she successfully implemented a virtual contractor model, grew her team to 15, and found more balance in her life. We also talk about how she has built and maintained company culture despite her team being spread throughout the country.

Quote of the Week: “You don’t build a business – you build people – and then people build the business.” ~Zig Ziglar

For this week’s Biz Hack and past episodes, head over to SuccessLab.fm. Next week I’m in the lab with Jenny Hill, founder and designer of J.Hill Artisan Felt. We talk about making 180-degree changes in your career. When to trust your inner voice and follow your deeper calling to success. Be sure to tune! Until then, have prosperous week!

View Details

The entrepreneurial path is inevitably paved with unexpected roadblocks and bumps, but it’s also filled with opportunity should you choose to see it. That’s exactly what Russ Perry, founder of Design Pickle chose to do.

In this episode I talk with Russ about his entrepreneurial journey, which spans 10 years, how he overcame some tough decisions, such as shuttering his nine-year-old design and branding agency, and how he sort of reinvented himself and built a new business model that’s kicking butt.

Check out Russ's workshop EXPAND2016. It's on December 2, 2015...perfect timing for getting you set to do great things in 2016.

Biz Hack: This one is not so much a tool, but a great read on productivity: "10 Lessons I Learned from a Year of Productivity Experiments". The author spent 12 months conducting various productivity experiments on himself and came up with the top 10 that suited him best.

One key take away: Productivity isn't about how much you produce, it's how much you accomplish.

For this week’s Biz Hack and past episodes, head over to SuccessLab.fm. Next week I’m in the Lab with Jess Ostroff, founder of Don’t Panic Management. We talk about how to build culture in a virtual agency, particularly when your team is divided by state lines. Jess is one of my favorite people in the world – and I only have two – I’m kidding, but this is a great episode so Be sure to tune! Until then, have prosperous week!

Intro music in this episode: "They Just Don't Know" by Gyft.

Outro music in this episode: "Magnolias" by Tapper.

View Details

There are a number of characteristics that define an intrapreneur, but in a nutshell, it’s someone who innovates from within a company. Like their entrepreneur counterparts, they have that insatiable drive to create change or bring something new to the table. They still have to validate their ideas, pitch them and sell them, and take on the task of building it. Derek Harju is an intrapreneur at heart. He is the host of The QuadPod, a podcast he launched under the The Rich Dad Network.

In this episode I talk to Derek about how he innovates from within The Rich Dad Company, how he landed at the company, what it’s like to work with Robert Kiyosaki, how to pitch innovation within an organization, and why the days of the subject-matter expert may be limited.

Derek’s favorite tools for podcasting:

• Audacity - Truncate the silence feature to get rid of all of the ums, ahhs, pauses, etc. in a matter of seconds (free)
• Levelator - Sets all audio on an equal volume level (free)
• Adobe Audition - Derek specifically called out a function called de-clicker that removes all the little annoying ambient noises.

Biz Hack: Need a better way to manage and stay up-to-date on your contacts? FullContact pulls in your contact data, and automatically updates them with social profile information and photos. It then syncs the information across Google and iCloud accounts. The free version allows you up to 5,000 contacts. Very cool tool. Check it out.

Next week I’m in the Lab with Russ Perry, founder of Design Pickle, a flat-rate graphic design company. We talk about how he figured out how to turn design in a software as service business, successfully shifting gears, and hiring. Be sure to tune! Until then, have prosperous week!

View Details

Most entrepreneurs don’t have the luxury of pursuing their passion, great idea or new venture full time. Instead they have to create a side hustle – working nights, weekends and early morning to make their idea a reality.

That’s exactly what Ryan Hermansky, CEO and co-founder of talk2Legends had to do.

The genesis for the app, which allows fans to talk to their favorite pro athletes via video chat, sparked two years ago when Ryan was talking to his now co-founders Mark McVey and Tom Stitt about how cool it would be to be able to have phone conversations with athletes.

“The idea was sparked by a press release about about a website that allowed you to have phone conversations with B-list celebrities like Lindsay Lohan’s parents,” he said. “It started as just an amusing conversation between the three of us at first, and then it turned to, ‘Imagine if you could do this with athletes?’”

From there they started evolving the idea. Since then it has morphed from just a website, to an app to video calls. That initial conversation was two years ago, and Ryan admits knowing they’ve been working on it for so long is a bit of tough pill to swallow.

This was in part due to not having a background in technology and not knowing what to look for when on boarding someone to help build the app.

“We spent the first year trying to figure out what we were going to do and finding the right tech people to bring on board,” Ryan said. “But we basically struck out.”

They even tried making this person a fourth co-founder so they’d have more skin in the game, but it didn’t work.

“We eventually decided to go out, raise money and hire a company to do it the right way,” he said.

Once they secured enough funds to hire a company to build it right, he said the difference was night and day.

Evolving the Product As they began building it talk2Legends too many different shapes before it would ultimately become an app that enabled video chat with pro athletes.

“We knew it would change over time. I think all companies and apps do. I don’t think I expected it to change as drastically as it has,” Ryan said.

But he said they realized they were trying to make it too complicated so they simplified everything down.

“We eventually simplified everything down to an app,” Ryan said. “Now we have the mindset that we want to get the product on the market and start letting our fans tells us what changes and features they want to see.”

They worked with Tallwave to go through the validation process with early users and athletes, and to eventually arrive at product market fit.

Overcoming Early Challenges Since none of the co-founders had technology backgrounds, Ryan said that proved to be one of their biggest hurdles in developing a tech-based product. Building an app was a foreign language they had to learn. Which made it tough to interview those initial developers they brought on. They didn’t know what to look for wand what questions to ask.

“That was the biggest issue and hurdle,” Ryan said. “And that may be something we always battle until we have a CTO on board – someone who eats and breathes technology.”

Getting people to invest has been another big challenge. Despite continually getting positive feedback from potential investors, any time you trail blaze with a new concept, it can be an uphill battle in getting people to actually back your concept.

Ryan said one of the best things they’ve done for Talk2Legends, however, was keep an open mind. This is something they continue and are now looking at delving into the music industry – offering the ability for fans to talk to their favorite musicians.

“Keeping an open mind has been one of the best things we’ve done,” Ryan said. “It was necessary, but it has opened the door to other possibilities.”

The Side Hustle Like many startup founders, Ryan also juggles a full-time job – talk2Legends is his side hustle. Working to bring the concept to market has forced him to master efficiency.

“It’s definitely been a challenge, but it wasn’t an option,” he said. “Efficiency has been must for us.”

But their long nights and weekends dedicated to getting the app to market is paying off. They’ve garnered buy-in from pro athletes from all backgrounds from football to basketball, to golf, motor cross, MMA fighting, surfing, snowboarding, and the list goes on. They’ve also amassed more than 17,000 Twitter followers in less than two years - all through organic engagement.

And now, their app, talk2Legends is officially in the app store. Ryan offers up some advice to startup founders and entrepreneurs.

“Keep an open mind about everything you’re doing. There’s a lot of people out there who are going to give you advice. Keep in mind, but be careful on who you listen to. Try to understand what advice your getting, who it’s coming from and what their motive is.”

“In the entrepreneurial world you’re generally trying to do something that hasn’t been done before or do something better than what’s out there. Most people you talk to, especially if you’re trying to raise money, may be trying to shoot you down as quickly as possible so they can get on to the next idea. They’re naturally pessimistic. No matter how cool your idea is people are going to hate it just because they don’t get it. Stay openminded and focused.”

“You also have to be patient.”

Biz Hack: Primer is an app created by Google with short, snackable courses all related to marketing. It was built for anyone - from startups to marketing managers - who wants to learn more about marketing. The lessons cover branding, storytelling, remarketing, SEO and programmatic ad buying.

Next week I’m in the Lab with Derek Harju who works with Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad Company. We talk about intrapreneurship - the idea of innovating from within a company. Derek has led the launch of a couple new podcasts at Rich Dad and initiated the complete overhaul of one of their long-time products. We talk about how to be an entrepreneur even if you’re working within a larger company. Be sure to tune! Until then, have prosperous week!

View Details

Most entrepreneurs are accustomed to wearing many hats and juggling a near-endless supply of priorities, requests and fire drills. At times this pressure can become almost unbearable. So at what point do you stop trying to do it all and either eliminate the unnecessary or outsource it? And how do you know what is unnecessary?

Ed Borromeo, partner and COO at Tallwave, routinely works with startup founders and innovators on helping them bring their products to market. Prior to that he served as a captain in the U.S. Air Force, so he’s no stranger to the stress and responsibility that can come with being in a leadership position. Over the years he has developed a system for identifying and focusing on the most effective priorities and drowning out the rest of the noise.

For entrepreneurs it’s essential to define those top priorities that will actually move the needle then determine who the best person is to tackle that priority.

“When you’re trying to get your product to market, there’s inevitably, this tremendous pressure to produce and get ahead,” Ed said. “Sometimes we can buckle under the weight of the many top priorities. It’s a challenge, but what I practice is taking it a month to a quarter at a time, and determine the outcomes that matter the most for that timeframe.”

Of course the long-term vision and goal is important, but you have to break it down to get to the most important thing you need to be doing right now to get your business to that end goal. Start big, then get narrow.

“I highly recommend keeping this list to three to five things that will really move the needle towards accomplishing those outcomes,” he said. “From there, it’s a daily gut check. Everything we’re doing should be benefitting those three main things. If they’re not, you have to question whether their necessary activities.”

One way Ed forces himself to distill his weekly priorities or goals down to one or two things is by writing them on a three-by three sticky note, which he keeps in his pocket all week to serve as a daily reminder. Every time he goes for his keys or wallet, he feels the sticky note - keeping the goal literally at his fingertips. If he hasn’t yet accomplished the goal, it motivates him to devote more attention to it. But once he has, that sticky note becomes a little validation for what he accomplished that week.

Finding Priority Numero Uno How do you distill your priorities down? Ed says, it starts with complete clarity to what success looks like.

“If you have that understanding, you’re better able to sort through the noise,” he said. “I can’t stress enough how important it is to have clarity on the outcome and understanding of the business.”

He recommends spending 10 minutes each day planning and organizing your priorities to get to the one thing that will get you closer to your outcome. Once you’ve identified it, it may be time to think about whether to outsource or keep it in house. For that, Ed has a few methods for gauging which is the best route to take.

1. Pipeline - sometimes instead of assuming overhead you might outsource or find a good, capable partner. “I always recommend you crawl before you walk. Find ways to outsource, and then you’re also networking and developing good business deals. It also allows you to understand how critical that function is to your business before you commit to that overhead right away.”

2. Understand your core competencies - “If it’s core to your business you probably want to insource and keep it in house.” Outsource functions that are not core to your biz.

3. Timing - how long does this function exist? Is it short or long term. That will also help you determine.

Finding a Quality Support Now that you’ve determined you have a function you need to outsource, the next (and often most challenging step) is to find quality talent to outsource to.

Ed has a couple of suggestions, starting with asking to see their work. It may see rudimentary, but many people overlook this step. Simply asking for samples and/or references can help you quickly weed out any candidates who may not be the best fit. Another key component is understanding how they communicate.

“How well do they communicate? Communication is a huge factor,” Ed said. “I’ve learned that the endeavors that have gone very well were a function of a capable, organized and great communicator.”

Ed also said he has found success hiring contractors any time they take a vested interest in the business and ask questions about the outcomes you’re trying to achieve. Try to find critical thinkers who will ask questions and presents strategies for helping achieve the outcome. Make sure they are prepared to be flexible enough to adjust along with you.

Bottomline, find your one thing right now that will either make every other task easier, or better yet, unnecessary.

Book referenced in this podcast: The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande.

Biz Hack: Clear is an app that organizes tasks, reminders and to-do lists. It allows you to input multiple types of lists whether for personal or business and can sync across all iOS and OS X devices. The goal of the app is help you become more productive. Clear is $4.99 for the iOs app and $9.99 for the Mac app.

Next week I’m in the Lab with Ryan Hermansky, co-founder of Talk 2 Legends, a cool new app that just launched in the app store that essentially allows fans to schedule times to talk to their favorite pro athletes. We talk about how he took this idea from concept to reality, and how he did it all while juggling a full time job. Be sure to tune in. Until then, have a prosperous week.

Music in this episode: "They Just Don't Know" by Gyft.

If you dig this podcast, why not leave a quick review or rating in iTunes?

View Details

It goes without saying that customers are absolutely essential to the success of any business, but to get to the customers you first have to understand where your product fits into the marketplace. So many new ventures, however, don’t think about this in depth until after launch.

Jerrod Bailey, who has worked in venture-backed technology start-ups for 15 years and today is a partner and VP of business development at Tallwave, said there are three main “levers” startups need to activate prior to launch.

Finding Product Market Fit Jerrod said a common path many ventures follow is they’ll think about the product then go develop it. Somewhere along that path they’ll think about the user experience then have a product they can launch. Branding doesn’t come into play until launch time.

“They’ll launch with a name and logo, then ask, ‘Who is our buyer, really?,’” Jerrod said. “Then they’ll start thinking in depth and detail about who their buyer is and what kind of position they want in the market to go after that buyer.”

It’s not until that point that most startups begin to think about how to reach their true buyers and create the systems to go after them. All of this should really be done during the build - in parallel. Jerrold said there are really three key things startups should be thinking about while they are building their product:

1. Product. What can the product itself do to drive business? What features can be included to drive virality? “Does it have any viral components? Can my software let users share things on social and get the word out? There’s any number of things a product can do to inherently share itself,” Jerrod said. “But there are three major categories of features that I’m worried about during a product’s development.”

• Activation: What will drive users to download, sign-up, create a login, complete a first task, etc. Focus on features and UX principles that either drive activation or eliminate barriers to activation. For instance, an activation feature of Instagram is the ability to share across multiple social networks. When your Facebook or Twitter friends see your post originated from Instagram, they are more likely to activate with the platform.
• Engagement: You have to be able to show and prove users are willing to engage with your product over time. You will need to track Daily Active Usage (DAU) and Monthly Active Usage (MAU). Regular engagement is key. This includes use of push notifications, email and other ways of bringing them back to the app. An example of this is Instagram’s “core loop” – take a photo, apply a filter, add a comment, share. It’s simple and effective.
• Retention: You have to prove users want to return over the long term. If 100 users engage, but 99 disappear after a month, you may not be around long. Instagram does effectively by showing you your follower count. Once you build it up, you are reluctant to quit after investing so much to grow that.

2. Tools. The next important thing a startup needs to be thinking about is creating a tool stack for sales and marketing.

“When you’re a startup, your tool stack is probably going to include things like a CRM, but it’s probably not going to be Salesforce,” Jerrod said. “As I’m collecting email addresses and users as I grow, I want to have a CRM in place so I don’t lose all of those people, so I might have a light weight CRM in place.”

Jerrod mentioned other tools for the tech stack should include an email system like Mailchimp and retargeting, which will allow you to cookie people as they visit the landing page you’ve created, then you can push ads to them as they browse online. From there you might begin to experiment with acquisition methods.

“Sometimes I’ll take my landing page and deploy to places like BetaList and other places that attract early adopters to join betas,” he said. “I might also run small, paid ad experiments to see if I can attract certain users.”

Jerrod said this allows him to learn what messaging works well, what questions people have, and start to build relationships.

“We’ve noticed that the original assumptions coming into building a company, as soon as you start engaging users and trying to get something from them like an email, you learn what’s true about your assumptions and what’s not,” he said. “And we pivoted whole businesses just looking at the interaction with the users.”

3. Branding. Finally it’s essential startups think about branding as they’re building. For more on this, see last week’s post, “How to Use Storytelling to Create a Game-Changer Company.”

Jerrod’s tool picks:

• Salestools.io
• Hubspot’s free CRM for startups
• Mailchimp
• Outreach.io
• Blockspring

Biz Hack: Mattermark crawls the web and compiles massive lists of companies in specific industries based on your search. You can create highly targeted and narrowed list based on revenue, geography, industry specific, etc. Mattermark will compile the list of companies with contact information.

Next week I’m in the Lab with Ed Borromeo, COO at Tallwave. That will be the fourth and final episode with the Tallwave team. Since the first three focused on what entrepreneurs need to do to have a successful launch, in this episode I talk with Ed about when entrepreneurs should start thinking about outsourcing and how to do it. He also gives a few productivity hacks. So that will be a nice way to round things up. So be sure to tune in. Until then, have a prosperous week.

View Details

Storytelling has been around since humans have been in existence. Ancient hunters used storytelling, depicted through drawings on cave walls, to share information about food opportunities to their neighbors. Fast forward approximately 10,000 years, and storytelling takes on a new form – poets reciting stories through spoken word. At the turn of the 5th Century, stories began appearing in the form of small-batch books. In the 1500s, William Shakespeare figured out how to use storytelling to appeal to the head and the heart by tapping into intellect and emotion.

It’s no surprise this ancient form of communication is also extremely valuable in marketing and branding. Robert Wallace, partner and executive VP of marketing at Tallwave, says it’s one of the only way brands, particularly those operating in commoditized markets, can capture the hearts and minds of customers.

Robert, who also serves as the president of the Phoenix chapter of TiE, has more than 15 years’ experience working with fast-growth companies and startups on building their marketing and branding strategies. In the late 1990s he worked with Airwalk International, which he labeled as a very large startup, developing new media marketing strategies. So the art of storytelling has reigned king throughout his career.

Though storytelling has been a big component of marketing and branding for decades, Robert says it’s one of the things many startup founders and even established businesses overlook.

Not Just a Pretty Face

Branding is more than great logo and polished look. While those elements are important, they’re a small sliver of the overall brand.

“If that’s your view of what branding is, then you probably think it’s a little superfluous to worry about it early on in your startup,” Robert said. “Instead you’re focused on your product, and there’s value to that. You should focus on your product. But we’re going to see more, as various product categories become more commoditized, you no longer have to be novel to be successful.”

As a result, companies need to shift their focus to developing a solid brand, but that brand needs go deeper than nice visuals, it needs to win over the minds and hearts of customers.

“The biggest mistake a lot of startups make is they think branding is just a logo, or pretty pictures, or a tagline,” Robert said. “It’s really about communicating your position in the marketplace, and that is incredibly important for any business.”

This is particularly true for different categories of business in which competition is high – there will always be leadership company in peoples’ minds. To be in that position or at least be in the running for holding that position in the minds of your customers, the branding and marketing needs to be thought of from the beginning.

“Take a company like Slack. At the end of the day, it’s a messaging app…not necessarily a terribly novel concept,” he said. “They have, however, injected personality, a great look and feel, great messaging and micro-copy throughout the site. Not to mention the Slackbot. Those were all conscious decisions that the Slack team made before or while they developed the product.”

“Only certain companies are going to win, and win the hearts and minds of people and hold that position whether they have the best product or not. Those things aren’t often considered early on with a lot of startups.”

Robert also cautioned not to decouple branding and product, and marketing and product. They need to be developed in tandem and should be a company-wide function, not just a function of the marketing team.

Developing Your Brand

As Simon Sinek says, “It starts with why.” Why does your company exist? Knowing your purpose and communicating that to not just potential customers, but also your employees and other company stakeholders is incredibly important. They need to know why you exist.

“With the internet, and this nearly infinite amount of information about companies now…it’s no longer just about a valuable product,” Robert said. “A lot of people want to know what a company stands for and why they’re doing what they’re doing. That is starting to factor more and more into the buying decision.”

Don’t get stuck on figuring out how to tell the perfect story. Instead Robert suggests focusing on the process of understanding who you serve, what pain points they have that you are trying to solve, who else is trying to solve the problem, and why you’re better and different. This, in essence, is why your company exists, and these things need to be thought about from the beginning.

Of course voice and tone also needs to be consistent throughout the product experience too.

To nail this, Robert suggests voiceandtone.com and playing “Apples to Apples” – something he leads startups through in his storytelling workshops.

“Sort through the word cards and get down to eight, at the most, voice and tone words," he said. “This should be based on the value of your company and what you think your value proposition is and what your purpose is. Once you’ve got those eight, the really difficult part is to create ‘but not’ statements.”

For example, if one of your voice and tone words is “intelligent”, you might say something like “we want to sound intelligent, but not arrogant. From there you can sketch out the words you should and shouldn’t use in your marketing copy.

“The brand isn’t just a marketing function, it’s the entire promise you are making to your customers,” Robert said.

The Art of Storytelling

To further integrate storytelling into your brand, think back to the basic story structure taught in grade school. It has a protagonist or hero, an antagonist (the person trying to get in the way of the hero), and a challenge or series of challenges that protagonist has to overcome. There’s a turning point and finally the resolution or outcome.

“You have a customer with a certain pain point, and there are reasons why they have that, and that’s why your is going company exists – to help that hero achieve their end outcome. It’s basic storytelling 101,” Robert said.

For startups, particularly tech startups, trying to differentiate themselves, the art of storytelling will prove more and more imperative. And this needs to be thought about from the beginning. This is in essence why your company exists.

“This should be at the core of your business strategy not just your product or marketing strategy,” he said.

Biz Hack: Several years ago MailChimp made public its Voice and Tone guide. The guide helps MailChimp employees write in a consistent voice, and provides a roadmap for adapting their tone based on various situations. It covers how certain emails, landing pages, Twitter and Facebook posts, and even press releases should convey messages. It’s a great tool for determining your brand’s voice, tone and overall personality.

Next week I’m in The Lab with Jerrod Bailey, partner and vice president of business development at Tallwave. We talk all things acquisition and how entrepreneurs can start building their sales and marketing stack even before they launch. Be sure to tune in! Until then, have a prosperous week.

View Details

Business startup is certainly not without its challenges. Just look at the percentages of failed startups versus those that have succeeded and see you the struggle is real. Approximately just 10 percent of startups actually succeed.

That begs the question, “Why do so many startups fail?”

Jesus Ramirez, vice president of product at Tallwave, and Scott Williams, lead engineer at Tallwave, routinely work with startups on helping them become part of that ten percent. Along the way, they’ve identified a few pitfalls many startup founders fall into.

“A common challenge I see is them not having the right kind of focus,” Scott said. “It’s really easy for them to just take a sheet of paper and start jotting down ideas, then start building features upon features. Never really knowing if what you’ve got on paper there is something viable, something that will fit any kind of market, or even how long it will take to produce.”

Jesus said he commonly sees entrepreneurs focus on the product rather than building a holistic business.

“Product or a mobile app may be a part of the overall business, it’s not the business in its entirety,” he said. “It’s not just about getting an app into the app store and pushing it to users. It’s about how are you going acquire and retain, what is the cost of acquisition going to be, what is the lifetime value of customers going to be, what marketing channels are you going to use to acquire customers, and so on.”

There are a lot of components beyond just the product entrepreneurs need to address from the beginning. Once these have been established, testing and validating ideas and assumptions is key.

Proving and Disproving Startup Theories

Entrepreneurs are constantly reminded to just start. The version one of a product or service doesn’t have to be perfect and the longer either of these sits in development, the more it costs. Today, building an early prototype and getting it in front of users for feedback and testing is easier than ever.

“There are so many tools out there now that allow you to put together what your concept is in rough form, to the point where you can put it in front of users and get some strong signals as to whether it’s viable or not,” Jesus said.

Going through this process also helps you uncover what features and benefits your target market really wants, rather than what you think they want, understand how you differ from the competition, and test pricing and messaging. Ultimately, when done right, testing and validating all components of the business – the features, branding, marketing, and acquisition strategy – early on helps you build a more sustainable product.

This is critical, particularly as the entrepreneurial landscape has grown even more competitive in the last decade.

“The barriers to entry have gone down and so there’s been an influx of entrepreneurs. So the competition has gone up,” Jesus said. “The second thing is that the bar has been raised.”

He said this is because there are so many great, high-quality consumer applications and products out there like Slack and Mailchimp that have primed users to command it. The cost of launching a business and building an app, specifically, have come down tremendously, which has also increased the amount of competition and reduced the time to market.

“The costs of building an application for back in 2000 were huge,” Scott said. “Those prices have come down, and in some cases their free.”

Building a Sustainable Business

Building a sustainable business overall requires a mind shift from thinking about the product or service as the sole component of the business. Your product is part of your brand and how you interact with the customer.

“You may not have a growth specialist, or content writer, or branding specialist on your team, but you need to have somebody who’s focused on those things from the onset, because your product is going to impact your brand and your sales,” Jesus said.

To do that you have to figure out what your values are and what you stand for, then determine your voice and tone.

“When you’re thinking about how you’re going to incorporate those elements of the brand into your product, it’s important to think about where those messages will come through in your product,” Jesus said.

This can include push notifications, the welcome screen, modals that pop up when a user completes a task, and so on. The voice, tone and messaging need to be deliberate and integrated throughout the user experience.

Scott and Jesus recommended looking at how Mailchimp has integrated voice and tone into their brand. They publish their brand guidelines on their site, as well as every interaction the user has at voiceandtone.com.

“That level of nuance and empathy, and understanding of the user goes such a long way in building retention, and loyalty and engagement with the user,” Jesus said.

And branding is absolutely essential to build into the product or business from the beginning. It’s the purpose and why behind what you do. It’s everything.

“You want to establish that as one of the first things you do,” Jesus said. “As an entrepreneur, think about why you’re building what you’re building. That will become the epicenter of your brand.”

“Any time you’re making something you have to ask yourself who is it for,” Scott said. “Do I need a mass appeal or a very focused set.”

Finally, Scott and Jesus said a narrowed focus is essential. More many entrepreneurs, casting a wide net feels like the safer route, but zeroing in on a niche audience enables you to better understand their needs, wants and desires. This, in turn, enables you to build a solution that better meets their needs and target your marketing more effectively.

Biz Hack: Socedo helps you leverage Twitter as a lead-generation tool. It essentially discovers social prospects that match your ideal customer then qualifies them through automated engagement on Twitter. It’s essentially applying an if this, then that algorithm to Twitter interactions.

Quote of the Week: “Don't measure yourself by what you have accomplished, but by what you should have accomplished with your ability.” ~ John Wooden

Next week I’m in The Lab with Robert Wallace, executive vp of marketing at Tallwave. We deep dive into the art of storytelling in business and how to use it to acquire customers and turn them into raving fans. Be sure to tune! Until then, have prosperous week!

View Details

Kimber Lanning is an intrepid entrepreneur and community builder. At a young age, after realizing college just wasn’t for her, she started her first business - Stinkweeds - an alternative music record shop in Phoenix. That was 28 years ago. Along the way she has had her share of challenges and has had to pivot many times to keep the business relevant. In 2003, she launched Local First Arizona, a nonprofit working to strengthen the local economy by supporting locally owned businesses throughout Arizona.

In this episode we talk about how she has pivoted to keep both businesses thriving and how she finds the time to manage it all - she operates two other businesses. She also shares a few tips every entrepreneur should hear.

Biz Hack: SocialRank helps brands find and manage their followers. You can sort your followers by most valuable (your higher-profile followers), most engaged (based on how much they engage with you), best followers, most followed, and so on. You can also filter your followers based on keywords in their bio, geographic location, interests, activity. Just think how you could tailor your tweets and even your advertising campaigns on Twitter. This does come with a cost though. Their basic tier is $49 per month, and then it jumps up fairly significantly.

Quote of the Week: “If you really want to get ahead, you’ve got to keep your eyes focused on the path.” ~Russell Simmons.

View Details

Ramon Ray says he is first and foremost an entrepreneur and lover of small business success. On paper he is a best selling author, publisher of Smart Hustle Magazine, and the small business evangelist at InfusionSoft.

He had spent many years helping large brands reach small businesses, but his true passion was educating small business owners and entrepreneurs grow their businesses through marketing, technology and best practices.

“My real passion is educating small business owners,” Ramon said. “My first venture was Small Biz Technology, my second company was The Small Business Summit, which I sold, and this [Smart Hustle Magazine] is my third.”

Ramon is a high-energetic, hustler, not afraid to approach and build relationships with some of the most notable entrepreneurs. He even got Seth Godin to speak at one of his Small Business Summits and attend another event he produced called “Small Biz, Big Things.” But he admits, he’s just a fan boy of Seth Godin, like so many others.

Beyond his knack for building relationships, Ramon has authored three books, publishes Smart Hustle Magazine and works with small businesses through Infusionsoft. Where does he find the time and the energy to do all of this?

He said he focuses on consistency in everything he does, whether writing a book, speaking or working with a small business.

“I love it. I wake up in the morning excited about educating small businesses,” Ramon said. “Since I love it and it’s something I’ve done for many years, it comes very effortlessly to me, but I use a lot of good tools to keep me managed, and I have a good team.”

Finding Success Amidst the Challenges

Of course everyone faces challenges, and Ramon has had his share too. But he said the key is being adaptable and immersing himself in education. For that he turns to books or simply asking others. He also shared a few tips from his “23 Rules for Success in Life and Careers”:

• Be nice
• Explore
• Expand your network
• Be a great professional
• Dial in your skill set

Ramon also shared a few things he tries to teach all entrepreneurs who are just starting out: Have smarts behind your hustle, surround yourself with good people and expand your network.

He is also a big believer in integrating technology into business to help streamline and simplify various aspects. But this comes with a caveat. “Technology is not going to save your business. At the end of the day you need to know how to shake hands firmly, hire good people, and not have idiots in your business. Technology only helps businesses that great, be greater.”

Some core fundamentals every biz owner should understand when it comes to leveraging technology, however, include:

• Have your marketing tool dialed in
• Social is real - understand it in some regard
• Mobile - are you ready?
• Leverage video - it’s growing and only going to continue
• Get some sort of accounting tool

Quick and Dirty Tips and Tools:

Building relationships: Ramon is a people person, but he puts effort into it. “There’s a few things I found important,” he said. “Meet them offline. You have to start somewhere. You don’t have to go straight to the top, start somewhere. Just be a nice person.” He said a good read for this is Gary Vaynerchuk’s, “One Is Greater Than Zero.”

Dealing with overwhelm: He admits it happens about twice per month. “To prevent being overwhelmed today, you have to discipline yourself a month or two months earlier so that point doesn’t happen. I try to discipline myself with task management tools and plan in advance.”

One quote Ramon lives by: “Life is a journey.” His point…live is going to keep moving. You always have a chance no matter which direction you go.

A couple others: “Keep hustling.” And one from Seth Godin, “Make a ruckus.” It doesn’t have to be perfect. Just do it!

Favorite tools for business:

• Asana
• Infusionsoft
• Office 365 and Google Apps
• TripIt app for travel
• A good smart phone and mobile hotspot

Favorite conferences:

• ICON
• SxSW
• Inc.’s Grow Co.
• New York Expo
• Market New York
• Smart Hustle Grow and Thrive
• HustleCon Collision
• Small Giants in Dallas

BizHack: Social Mention, a real-time social media search and analysis tool. It can be used to search specific terms and see what types of conversations are happening around them, or find current trending topics.

Quote of the Week: “Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” ~ John Wooden

View Details

Some people realize at a young age what they were put on this earth to do. Others, while they may have an inkling or a passion that seems to recur throughout their lives, have a longer path to discovery. The latter was the case for Tanner Lawley, who today is a renowned, internationally collected artist known for his heart paintings.

Yes, this 6’6” Texas native who, could probably give The Rock a run for his money, paints figures of love and compassion. But like many, the road he took to get to this place is sprinkled with several dead ends, some rocky patches, and a few forks, but this all made him who he is today. And who Tanner is today is a very passionate artist with a tremendous entrepreneurial spirit and a sky’s-the-limit mentality.

I spoke with Tanner at the Celebration of Fine Art, an art show in Arizona. He opened up about his journey - from his original plan to seek out a career in business and finance, graduating from business school, to then becoming a bodyguard for musicians and athletes, to a brief mix up with drugs that landed him in jail. But it was from his stint in jail that led him to art. Today Tanner owns and operates the Lawley Art Group, under which he sells his artwork, but also operates a sprawling art gallery in Dallas, Texas that features the work of numerous artists. And he’s got sites set on building it into a million-dollar business.

This week’s Biz Hack: This week’s biz hack is Crystal (found at crystalknows.com). This tool helps you tailor your emails to the recipient’s communication style. It will make suggestions on words, phrases, style and tone to use. It essentially translates your communication style to theirs, giving you words to use, words to avoid and suggestions for improvement. It’s still in beta mode, so you can get in free. You just have to request an invite at crystalknows.com.

Next week I’m in The Lab with Ramon Ray, creator of SmallBizTechnology.com and publisher of Smart Hustle Magazine. This guy has a ton a of energy and a positivity that’s infectious. We talk about how he stays energized and gets through moments of overwhelm, some of the core fundamentals every business owner needs, and a few success tips. Be sure to tune! Until then, have prosperous week!

View Details

Greg Hickman is a mobile marketing consultant, podcaster, speaker and coach who last year decided to leave the steady routine and steady income of a 9 to 5 to start his entrepreneurial journey. Last December he started publicly tracking his journey towards reaching $20k in income per month. He is very candid about his journey and admits it hasn’t always been easy.

Greg was balancing a full-time job while trying to build up his business in the off hours. When he finally decided to make the calculated leap into full-time entrepreneurship he was thrilled to be able to finally dedicate a full day’s work to his business. He was waking up earlier, excited about the day, saving time not having to commute into an office, and could finally dedicate those 8 hours previously spent on someone else's business actually working on his own. Time to crush it…right?

Well that wasn’t quite the case. For Greg, like many of us, when we have the extra time on our hands we tend to leap all over the place - from one project to another - never quite finishing any. It’s easy to lose focus or not have any to begin with. The Superman effect also can come into play. Somehow, and this this true for me, when I know I have a full day to tackle anything, my to-do list tends to become a mile long.

Greg knew this wasn’t working for him, so he took action. He attended Chris Ducker’s Tropical Think Tank Conference and took home a few productivity tips. One thing he did was implement a daily routine and the concept of the Zero-Based Calendar, a concept his friend and fellow blogger Bryan Harris introduced him to. It’s based on Dave Ramsey’s Zero-Based Budget in which all money in your budget is accounted for. In this case, every hour in the day is accounted for - even if it’s rest time or reading time, it’s on the calendar.

This was working for Greg, but he still found he was trying to divide his time between too many projects. What came next was something we’ve talked about a lot on this podcast and one of my favorite books…”The ONE Thing” by Gary Keller. From that book Greg set out to identify his most important thing and trim out the rest.

This got him into full productivity mode. He was crushing it, but soon discovered the entrepreneurial journey can become an emotional roller coast. Many entrepreneurs go through feelings of self doubt, and that’s what he was battling.

Someone recommended Hal Elrod’s “The Miracle Morning.” He read the book, implemented the strategies and said it changed his life.

Hal’s Miracle Morning consists of six elements, all buttoned up into one nice, snackable acronym: S.A.V.E.R.S.

S = Silence

A = Affirmations

V= Visualization

E = Exercise

R = Reading

S = Scribing/journaling

Beyond implementing “The Miracle Morning” routine, one other key thing Greg did was declare his goal publicly, and he’s been tracking it since.

Quote of the Week: “Never mistake activity for achievement.” ~ John Wooden

This week’s Biz Hack: Read The ONE Thing by Gary Keller and/or Essentialism by Greg McKeown. The ONE Thing is all about finding that one important daily thing that’s going to propel you towards your larger, long-term goals and cutting out the rest. Essentialism is somewhat similar. It challenges the assumptions many of us have of “I have to do everything” and trying to do it all, and replaces it with the idea of pursuing “the right thing, in the right way, at the right time.” The book focuses on regaining control of your choices about where you spend your time and energy, and more importantly, not allowing others to simply choose for you.

Thank you to Greg Hickman for sharing his journey so candidly and how he has worked to overcome the very common obstacles that often accompany entrepreneurship. Next week I’m in the lab with Tanner Lawley, a former finance major, turned bodyguard, turned artpreneur. He opens up about a battle with drug addiction, how he overcame it and how he has built up his fine art business and has become an internationally known fine art artist. Be sure to tune in. Until then, have a prosperous week. Music in this episode: "They Just Don't Know" by Gyft.

View Details

When it comes to launching a business, product or idea there's a lot to think about even just in the naming of it. What will capture your brand? Is the URL available? Are the social handles available? But one thing that is often overlooked or even avoided out of sheer confusion is trademarking.

It can be an involved, expensive, and lengthy process. Adding to the complexity, beyond trademarks, there are also service marks, certification marks, trade dress, and collective marks. Which one do you need? Do you even need one? And if so, when should you be thinking about trademarking your brand?

Rachel Rodgers, founder of Rachel Rodgers Law said business owners need to be thinking about trademarking from day one, unless it’s a concept or idea that’s still in development. But once you’ve got a name, tagline, product, packaging, or logo then it’s time to think about trademarking.

“At that stage you need to start thinking about trademarking,” she said. “Even if you’re not ready to register your trademark, at that point you should absolutely start doing a trademark search to make sure the name you want to go with isn’t infringing on someone else’s business.”

This involves an in depth search to see if any competitors in your industry are currently using that name. One place to start is the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s electronic search (TESS). Rachel also suggests other online searches using various search engines…not just Google (yes, others exist).

“Don’t just search Google or just the first page,” she said. “You have to go beyond the first page! Just as an added search, I also check Amazon.”

Of course attorneys can do all of this for you, just expect to pay around $500 for a comprehensive search. Rachel did have a note of caution about some of the low-cost online services…sometimes you get what you pay for. Similarly, when business owners have opted to file their own, she has seen far too many of them end up with not as much brand protection as they initially thought simply because the way the application was drafted.

And if you do hire someone to complete the entire process, you can expect to pay anywhere from $500 to $2500 to conduct the search and file the trademark. But do your due diligence. Some online services will only file the initial application, and according to Rachel, 80 percent of trademark applications will get hit with an office action.

Trademark vs. Service Mark Now back to all those types of marks...how do you know which is right for your business?

“Trademarks and service marks are pretty much the same thing,” said Rachel. “A trademark is supposed to be attached to goods, whether that’s a physical product or a digital product. And service marks are attached to services. So if you only sell services, the USPTO will issue a service mark. If you sell services and products, they will issue a trademark.”

And if you do sell multiple digital products, all with different names, you will want to trademark each one of those names. If they’re under one theme, like “Podcasting for Dummies,” “Quickbooks for Dummies,” etc. you may be able to just trademark the main root phrase “For Dummies.”

As for those others mentioned, it’s likely you won’t need to worry about those. Trademarks and service marks are the most common. One other misconception to steer clear of…Rachel said a lot of business owner think a DBA will suffice in place of a trademark, but this offers zero protection to the brand.

Getting Protected the Right Way There are a few other key things Rachel said business owners should do to protect themselves when starting out to limit their liability. She calls dubs it the four layers of liability protection:

1. Create a business entity, like an LLC, to separate your personal assets from your business assets.
2. Insurance up! There is professional liability insurance, product liability insurance, a business owner’s policy (also known as a BOP) that is like a protective umbrella over the business.
3. Have contracts in place for clients, customers, contractors, etc.
4. Provide good customer service. This will go a long way in preventing being sued. Not to mention it’s all around good business practice.

For us entrepreneurs, our businesses are our livelihoods - something that not only allows us to keep food on the table and pay bills, but also give us a reason to wake up and stay motivated. So be sure you’re protecting it!

This week’s Biz Hack: Slack, an online platform for team communication. I’ve been using it more frequently o communicate with my team since we work remotely. It’s also been all the rage at the co-working space I work from. You can use it in place of email, Google chat, text, Skype messaging, etc., to send messages and share files…or just send funny pictures or gifs.

You can also create channels to organize specific teams around specific projects. It also integrates with nearly every other platform imaginable…Asana, Dropbox, Mailchimp, Google Drive, IFTTT, GitHub, Stripe, and the list goes on. Hash tagging conversations allows you to go back and search those specific conversations. And…it’s free! An all around great tool for streamlining communications between groups.

Quote of the Week:

Finally, this quote by John Beecher: “Strength is a matter of the made-up mind.” So very true. Think about how powerful you are once you’ve made up your mind about something. It’s almost as though you can’t see any other option. Of course this can work against you in certain situations, but in terms of determination and achieving goals, a made-up mind is a powerful thing.

View Details

That was Jay Feitlinger, a serial entrepreneur and CEO and Founder of StringCan Interactive, a digital marketing agency in Phoenix. In this episode I talk to Jay about some of his biggest successes, failures, lessons learned, and how he takes calculated risks to take his business to the next level.

A common thread throughout Jay’s entrepreneurial journey was having to contend with skeptics…people who thought his ideas or the direction he was taking was crazy and wouldn’t work. Jay often plowed forward anyways, but not without the right amount of due diligence first and building a solid foundation.

Jay went from corporate America to entrepreneurship, first launching a pet grooming franchise, but quickly learned it was not his passion.

Following the pet grooming stint, he got into a few other businesses launching a publishing business focused on real estate, but timing was not on his side. The launch happened to coincide with the crash of the real estate market, and though he was passionate about the industry, a successful business requires more than just passion alone. But what came next, Jay considers one of his bigger wins.

“I was doing a lot of consulting for some larger retail organizations, and this was when social media started getting really popular,” Jay said. “I started recommending my retail clients get involved there, and ended up launching a business called Site Tab. We were one of the first social commerce applications for business launched.”

He sold that company and used the funds to fast track his next business….his current business StringCan Interactive, which he launched in 2010.

“That’s really the main focus of my energy today where I’m leveraging all of my backgrounding marketing and sales and trying to disrupt the whole digital marketing landscape,” he said.

Beyond the hiring, what were some of the other challenges Jay faced in the early days of StringCan?

“One challenge was that no one heard of our company, there are more than 800 agencies in Arizona alone, but also my main service offering was one that was one that was very uncommon to sell,” he said. “The good news is that also differentiated us.”

Calculated Risk and Reward

Over the years Jay has grown StringCan significantly, working with major brands, and even expanding the company into the European market. But during these periods of massive growth, how did he know the risk would pay off? It goes back to due diligence and building a solid foundation.

Jay and his team went out there and did a trial, got positive feedback, met with other agencies out there and closed the largest European cruise company. Once they worked with that company and validated the idea, set up a different entity and have been building up operations in Paris over the course of the last year. But it wasn’t easy, they had to acclimate to the way business was done there, but they took the time to do that.

“You really want to vet and validate your expansion strategies before you invest a ton of money and time,” he said. “Just because you believe this idea is going to be a goldmine, almost like the Midas touch, that isn’t always the case.”

Taking the time to validate this idea of expanding into an international market enabled Jay and his team to build something they are proud of. That isn’t to say they didn’t have their skeptics…

“When I launched it I got a lot more negative feedback from people thinking I’m absolutely crazy,” he said. “But we figured out what the gaps were there and we knew we had a solid solution to solve it.”

Finding Balance

Running a business of scale, and now an international office, requires a lot of work and achieving balance can be a challenge. Jay said finding balance has been a work in progress over the years, but one strategy he implements is finding his MIT (most important thing) each morning and tackling it before anything else.

“You find yourself as an entrepreneur…all you’re seeing is opportunity out there,” he said. “My first few businesses…I pull all-nighters all the time. It can be very hard to stay focused. But I”m only going to be of value to my team and my clients if I’m healthy and focused on the right things. So I decided to build this thing personally, called MITs…most important things.”

The idea of tackling your most important thing or your ONE thing has been around for some time. In fact there’s a famous quote by Mark Twain that says, “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” And William James, who has been called the father of American psychology, noted there’s nothing as fatiguing as an uncompleted task.

Fast forward several decades and we have books like “Eat That Frog!” by Brian Tracy and “The ONE Thing” by Gary Keller - all based around the notion that if you do your most difficult task…the one you’re most likely to procrastinate on, doing so will give you energy and momentum for the rest of the day. Not doing it can crush your productivity. So follow Jay’s advice, set your more important thing and tackle first thing in the morning. It’s one of the best ways to kickstart your energy and momentum for the rest of the day.

Connect:

• Jay Feitlinger
• StringCan Interactive
• Twitter
• Google+

Biz Hack:

I recently started using Sanebox and fell in love with it. It basically works on top of your email account to help prioritize important emails and summarize the rest. It enables one-click unsubscribes, response tracking - notifying you when an email you sent hasn’t been replied to so you can follow up, you can also snooze non-urgent emails, and filter out any unimportant emails. It works across all devices and platforms, basically fitting in seamlessly with everything you’re currently doing, but helps you get to inbox zero!

Quote of the Week: “The man who goes the farthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure-think boat never gets far from the shore. ~ Dale Carnegie

Thank you to Jay Feitlinger for sharing his challenges, successes and lessons learned. To connect with Jay or StringCan find them on any social network…and they’re easily found on all of them…they are an interactive marketing company after all. Or head to successlab.fm for the link. The music in this podcast is “Float” by The Lab Rats and “They Just Don’t Know” by Gyft. And for those of you keeping track this was episode 41. Now get out there and eat that frog!

View Details

Crowdfunding, while still a relatively young concept, has become such a part of our societal bedrock it’s hard to imagine a time without it. While it’s most commonly associated with platforms like Kickstarter, Indie GoGo and RocketHub, before the introduction of online-mediated crowdfunding, creators would typically turn to their fan base or community. Raising funds from non-accredited investors however has traditionally been tightly regulated by the SEC, but most seeking backers on crowdfunding sites fly far below the radar and get around it by not trading support for equity in the business.

Just last month though the SEC approved Title VI of the JOBS Act, which allows companies to raise to up to $50 million through crowdfunding…and now they can tap non-accredited investors, so long as the investor is not investing in excess of 10% of their net worth or annual income.

So while crowdfunding as we commonly think of it as today - launching a project on Kickstarter or RocketHub - will likely continue to boon, entrepreneurs and creators may sidestep that process, instead trading interest in their startups in exchange for monetary support - offering a mini IPO of sorts.

Equity, though, is one thing many entrepreneurs are not willing to part ways with - one of the many appeals of crowdfunding platforms.

“The thing that really appealed to me in terms of crowdfunding is that unlike getting an investor, you don’t have to sell off part of your company in order to raise the funds,” said Katarina Kovacevic, founder of RUBY, an online lifestyle publication promoting women empowerment.

Katrina is currently trying to raise seed funding for RUBY, and she said she also likes the idea of online crowdfunding for the added benefits of not having to payback a loan, being able to validate her product before bringing it to market, and gaining early stage feedback from the community.

For startups that don’t necessarily have a product that would appeal to venture capital investment, crowdfunding platforms also offer them a shot at raising seed money.

“SitGREEN was never the company people were clamoring to give money to,” said Jon Irons, founder of SitGREEN, a line of earth-friendly cardboard furniture, share their Kickstarter journeys. “If people wanted to support they would buy product from me. I think Kickstarter just seemed like the right option at the time.”

SitGREEN is a line of earth-friendly cardboard furniture that Jon introduced on Kickstarter. And unfortunately he’s experienced the highs and lows of crowd funding.

“I’ve run six Kickstarters and I’ve I had one successful one,” Jon said. “It definitely does hurt when you put yourself out there with a product that you really believe in. It stings when it isn’t successful when you think it’s going to be.”

Why Crowdfunding? With such a low success rate, why do so many entrepreneurs take a chance at crowdfunding as opposed to some other form of fundraising?

“Kickstarter is the best form of marketing campaign as far as a product launch,” Jon said. “It’s a pre-sale campaign and a marketing campaign all in one.”

For Katarina, though she had considered other means of raising the money, it was the known name of Kickstarter that also appealed to her.

“You still have that element of reaching out to your own personal network, but crowdfunding through a platform like Kickstarter just gives you a little more clout,” she said.

As alluring as raising seed money is, the success rate of actually funding the project is less than half. Kickstarter for instance, only has about a 38% success rate. To be a part of that percentage it takes a lot of work - planning and preparing well in advance of campaign launch.

“There was a lot of planning that went into the Kickstarter,” Katarina said. “I’ve had the idea for RUBY for two or three years now, and I would say the past year or more has just been planning the Kickstarter.”

For Jon’s successful campaign, he actually started his preparation during the tail end of his first unsuccessful campaign. Rather than attempting to push that first campaign to its funding goal himself, he decided to first get to know the wants, needs and desires of his audience - a sound business practice for any entrepreneur thinking about launching a business - crowdfunding or not.

“We were going for $12,000 and ended up getting $11,300 and we could’ve pushed it over, but I kind of had this feeling it was the design,” he said. “We had a lot of people who really seemed to want it, but I realized there was something broken with the idea. So instead of pushing it over, we decided to take a step back and redesign the entire line.”

Crowdfunding Challenges Despite the planning and preparation, crowdfunding is not without its challenges. For Katarina, it’s been keeping the momentum going. A challenge she expected. For Jon, the challenge came after the campaign ended.

“When you first launch, if you’ve got an idea there’s a lot of excite and momentum,” Katarina said. “The first week in particular was huge for us in terms of funding and social media excitement. But like most other Kickstarter campaigns, the in between time is a little bit of a lull. So the biggest challenge there is how to keep that excitement going.”

“The biggest challenge by far was definitely fulfilling it,” Jon said. “I totally undersold them.” A mix of cost, and the time involved it required to put a single piece of furniture together set Jon back about six months.

Another major lesson Jon said he learned through the process. Fulfillment is often one of the biggest challenges of a Kickstarter campaign, and it’s one Katarina is already thinking about.

“We’re on track to hopefully launch by the end of this year,” she said. “While my huge focus is really on this Kickstarter campaign, I’ve definitely been working in the background on what happens after the launch. I think that’s really important. you build so much momentum and excitement around a Kickstarter campaign and you don’t want to keep your backers in the background too long. You want to keep them engaged and the best way to do that is to get your product off the ground.”

And if the campaign doesn’t fund, Katarina does have another option waiting in the wings.

“If anything this Kickstarter campaign has more than solidified the idea that something like this is really needed. So if we don’t reach our goal then it’s on to plan B.”

But for Jon, despite having a successful campaign, determined those challenges he had with fulfillment uncovered a flaw in the business model.

“That was when I realized that SitGREEN wasn’t really a cost effective business model in the form that it was,” he said.

Jon said he will likely bring back SitGREEN, but in a completely different shape. As for Katarina, no matter what happens with her RUBY campaign, she believes Kickstarter is a great platform for entrepreneurs.

Links: RUBY Kickstarter campaign RUBY (the official site) SitGREEN

Biz Hack: Refresh - get creeper-status insights on people you are scheduled to have meetings with. Refresh is a “digital debriefing book” that allows you to discover common ground and learn more about people before you have a meeting with them. It helps form a deeper connection during conversations, and provides some great insights on the individuals that can be used to break the ice.

Quote of the Week: “I will not lose, for even in defeat there’s a valuable lesson learned, so it evens up.” ~Jay Z.

Thank you to Katarina Kovacevic and Jon Irons for sharing their Kickstarter challenges, lessons learned and successes. Music in this episode: "Entre Nos" by DJ Fubu and "Once I Went To You" by Kara Square.

View Details

Like many entrepreneurs, Laura Curtis Retana ended up in a business she never dreamed she would be in.

“I never thought I would go into marshmallow, although I’ve always really loved them,” she said.

In fact, Laura initially went to college to study psychology. Every summer or semester off however, was spent in a kitchen, and it was clear a passion was brewing.

“I just started falling in love with cooking and sharing food, and I ended up going to the Culinary Institute of America after I got my undergrad,” she said. “From there I went to New York and fell into research and development.”

After work, Laura would spend her evenings in the kitchen experimenting with the idea of a gourmet smore of sorts. Little did she know, this little confection would be a game changer for her. After her stint in New York, Laura moved to Atlanta with her husband, it was there they decided to see if what she had created had legs.

“My husband and I decided to put this thing out there that we had created at home out there into the universe,” she said. “We wanted to see who responded to it, how people liked it. We knew we loved it. So we put it up on Kickstarter.”

December 2013. The campaign funded, giving Laura the affirmation she needed to pursue the idea further, but still she wanted to be cautious. Because, despite the validation, Laura’s background was in food R&D. She was comfortable in the kitchen and crafting a product that would hold up and be appealing to the palate. It was all the business stuff that was the challenge.

That is something many of us struggle with as entrepreneurs. We’re well-versed in our craft, but it’s the uncharted territory of running and scaling a successful business that forces us to learn as we go, taking countless little risks along the way.

So how do you prepare? Unfortunately there's not a one-size-fits all template we can follow, but there are models and processes that have proven effective. One, is the idea of scaling out not up.

James Kenigsberg, chief technology officer and founding member of 2U, a technology platform that partners with leading colleges and universities to deliver online degree programs to students globally, says scaling out helps startups form a more solid foundation.

“I believe when you start a company it's important to build a base just like you would build a base for a pyramid - it’s important for that base to be stable,” James said. ‘You figure out your architecture first and automate your processes.”

James knows a thing or two about building a sustainable product. He has a long history with technology and product development at companies like The Princeton Review and Oglivy & Mathers, and now at his own startup, 2U, where they focused on scaling out early on.

Scaling Out vs. Scaling Up. Scaling out and scaling up are terms you will most commonly hear associated with tech-based companies or those reliant on servers. It’s akin to putting all your eggs into one powerful and pricey server vs. dividing the load amongst multiple lower-cost servers. The latter affords you the ability to add servers as needed, creating more flexibility. Applied in the business sense, scaling out would mean you are putting putting the processes and architecture in place to ensure flexibility. So hiring or ramping up production simply becomes a matter of replicating or falling into a process you’ve already created with little to no downtime.

Luckily for Laura, the idea of building a solid foundation was something she was wired for, and it was working.

“We don’t spend money lightly,” she said. “We really think through how we’re going to turn an investment around to make it worth while. But I feel like we’ve been really lucky and have had a smooth ride.”

But then, as luck would have it, an unexpected order came in. Anthropologie, the women’s clothing and home decor store, wanted to stock Malvi Mallows in their stores nationwide just for the holiday season.

“That came out of the blue and it was something we could not have prepared for, and it totally blew us over,” she said. “But it’s definitely helped us take a big step into 2015.”

Meeting the Demands. Though meeting the demands of that seasonal order was a challenge for a small operation like Malvi, they were able to pull it off. There were long days, and some nights with only a couple hours of sleep, but she did have some help waiting in the wings. Her husband and supportive family members.

“We knew we wouldn’t have extended capital to invest in new kitchen equipment and labor, so it was a scrappy affair,” she said.

But Laura was fortunate to have supportive family members to help fill the void. And this is something James actually recommends for startups…hiring people you know.

“I would highly recommend hiring people you know,” he said. “If you’re a startup, for the first year you probably shouldn’t be hiring anyone outside of people you know. Because those are the people who can see your passion and get as passionate about the product.”

Right now, it’s just Laura, and her lean team of two part-timers - her husband and sister-in-law. The team scaled back down after the holiday rush. So what about the long-term? How do you know when it’s time to hire? This is often a pivotal point for most small businesses.

“We don’t have a sales force…we’re all doing it ourselves,” she said. “While it’s a 24-hour-a-day job, we’ve pushed ourselves further than we expected to go just with our core team.”

James experienced similar growing pains.

“When we started the company, I was the only tech guy for a while,” he said. “You try to do everything, but eventually you can’t do all those things at once, so you have to figure out how you will build your team and how you will shard yourself into other roles. You start by hiring one of each of the hats you wear and start building processes.”

And that’s exactly what Dean Heckler did. Dean is the founder of Heckler Design, a product design company that started out small but grew into a globally distributed and recognizable brand. The first hat he took of…customer service.

“I was doing everything and it was becoming too much to try to keep up with new designs, or day-to-day shipping, and customer service as well,” he said.

He said that hire was quickly validated, as it freed up his time to build the company. But what about all those other little make-or-break decisions business owners have to make?

“Right now we’re thinking about growth and what our next step is,” she said. “It’s a big question. I think come across millions of those little make-or-break decisions and that’s the big one that’s ahead of us.”

Laura is contemplating organic growth vs. seeking an outside investor, and timing of it all. Until then, she said she is along for the ride. But she has found value in the direction a few other business owners have provided her.

Making Connections. “I feel like I’m kind of hanging on and along for the ride in a lot of this,” she said. “As for as growing the business, I’m out of my depths and have found it really valuable talking to other business people in a similar sphere, but a few steps ahead of me. I’m learning every day.”

And maybe that’s what this entrepreneurial game is all about….connections and serving as each others support system. Most of us don’t come pre-programmed knowing how to grow sustainable business and overcoming the many challenges that come along with it. By passing along what we’ve learned, and seeking out the support of those one step ahead of us when we don’t have the answers the struggle becomes just a little bit easier. After all, we all experience similar challenges no matter what industry we’re in or audience we serve.

Links:

Malvi Mallow

2U, James Kenigsberg

Heckler Design

RUBY Kickstarter campaign

Biz Hack: GQueues is a task manager for Google and Google Apps users. So that means it syncs with all of your Google Apps products like Gmail, contacts, Google Drive, calendar, etc. For instance, if you set a task with a due date in GQueues it will sync with your calendar. If you need to change the due date, you can either do it from your calendar or the task manager and it will sync across both. You an also attach Google Drive documents in a GQueues task or turn emails in to tasks.

So if you’re into task management systems and Google Apps, you might dig GQueues. There is a free version, but if you want the integrations, you have to upgrade to the $25 per year option. There’s also a $50 per year option for businesses.

Quote of the Week: “Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It’s courage that counts." ~ John Wooden also known as “Coach”

Thank you to Laura Curtis Retana for sharing her journey with Malvi Mallows, and Dean Heckler from Heckler Design, and James Kenigsberg from 2U for sharing their insights. Music in this episode: "Bellevue" by Gates and "Higher" by Sean D.

View Details

Matt Griffin, or “Griff” as everyone refers to him, is a military veteran turned entrepreneur. Which, as it turns out, is a path many former military follow. In fact, it’s been the focus of numerous studies - researchers wanting to find out if veterans are more likely than their civilian counterparts to become entrepreneurs.

Studies have found that they are. But why? Is it the training, education or psychological qualities like self discipline, leadership, and mental fortitude, the military instills? Perhaps.

James Bogle, program director for the Master of Business for Veterans program at the University of Southern California, said he has seen an increase in the number of entrepreneurs in their program - and that’s just in the two years since the program has launched.

James, who served more than 20 years in the military in various capacities and on various assignments all over the world, also said among the entrepreneurs in the program, he has seen two common traits: creativity and confidence.

“There's a real creativity,” James said. “I think it starts in the military. There’s not a lot of things you do new. A lot of what you do is prescribed by regulation or by field manuals. So I think a lot of people who have that creativity then have a hunger to get out and do something on their own. The other part is I think you develop a real tremendous sense of self confidence in the military.”

Another school of thought is most veterans exit the military having taken on so much responsibility and making such a massive impact, they want to continue it. And usually the corporate environment doesn’t afford that.

“They were having such more impact and such a large amount of responsibility that they don’t think they don’t think they can go work for someone else,” said Scott Fussell, founder of Command Your Business, a podcast and online business focused on military veteran entrepreneurship. “I think that’s why we’re seeing a lot of veterans go into entrepreneurship. They want to have an impact and a lot of them are finding entrepreneurship is a way they can have that impact.”

Scott, a military veteran, has interviewed more than 70 veterans on the subject of entrepreneurship, and has seen time and time again, that impact is one common reason many vets set out to start their own businesses. That was certainly the case for Griff.

Several years after returning stateside, Griff who served three tours in Afghanistan and one tour in Iraq, had the idea for Combat Flip Flops, a company that would have a social impact, while on a business trip in Afghanistan. But it wasn’t until a few years later that he would officially launch the company with co-founders Andy Sewrey, his brother in law, and Donald Lee, his brother in arms.

“My intent was to keep those guys in that factory, employed, once the war ended,” Griff said. “From that moment forward that was my purpose.”

Training for Entrepreneurship

But what about those skill sets obtained in the military? Do those make veterans better candidates for entrepreneurship? Maybe. Maybe not. But it certainly primes them for it.

“If you’ve been around enough startups you see that same team, professional, mission-driven mentality, and you see that same thing in the military,” Griff said. “ The ability to fail, come back, learn, regroup, and go out and execute better the next day is something that has really helped us in the startup mode.”

Scott has certainly seen similar traits in himself and among the veterans he’s interviewed - the ability to learn and solve problems with limited resources.

“You have to be able to learn and pick up things quickly [in the military],” Scott said. “Our veterans are very much entrepreneurs and have entrepreneur mindsets. They’re given very limited guidance and given very difficult missions and they’re able to go out and accomplish them. I think that’s what makes many veterans suited for entrepreneurship.”

One other trait Scott has noticed, is the ability to iterate on the fly. Though the military plans very well, these plans often go out the window once the first round flies in combat. Scott said having a “commanders intent” or in the case of a business, a strong vision, is key. This ensures everyone knows the end goal and can figure out a way to get there even if the initial roadmap is derailed.

The Early Days of Combat Flip Flops

In the early days of Combat Flip Flops, how did these trained military skills help Griff and his co-founders?

“People thought we were crazy, so we couldn’t get any money to invest in the idea,” Griff said. “We guerrilla’d it as much as possible because we had no time, no money and no experience, but we knew we wanted to start this company.”

The question remains, can regular civilians pick up those same skills without having to serve in the military?

“I think so, it just takes a little bit longer to do,” Griff said. “Because of the fact that the military has specific programs to instill those personality traits in people. But I’ve met and worked with guys who’ve never served a day in the military that have the exact same traits and skills, or better traits and skills than guys we saw in the military or special operations unit.”

Many entrepreneurs are already innately programmed with these traits, but for those of us who don’t come pre-wired with all of the skill sets necessary to entrepreneurship, Scott believes one way to develop these skills, without serving in the military, is to practice getting comfortable with being uncomfortable. Something the military does quite well.

For Griff, it was getting comfortable with failure. Something that happens frequently to anyone gutsy enough to start a business, challenge the status quo, or disrupt an industry.

While the military certainly primes you to be resilient, it certainly doesn’t make you immune to failures, setbacks and challenges. When I asked Griff, ‘If you could return to those early days, when you were just starting out, and knowing what you know now, is there anything you would do differently?,’ he gave a chuckle and said “patience.” A characteristic that is foreign to most entrepreneurs.

“We executed daily on 60 percent solutions, so I think we would have been a little bit more patient and executed with a little bit more restraint,” Griff said. “We failed early and often, but we recovered. But if I were to do it all over again, I would plan more and execute more deliberately.”

Patience is not a virtue you see much among entrepreneurs, but that can often be a good thing. As Griff mentioned, however, deliberate execution is a skill every business owner should strive to master. While that was a challenge during the early days of Combat Flip Flops, today their biggest struggle is supply.

The company has been sold out of product for three years.

“In the last six months we had another veteran-owned investment group fund us, so now we’re able to ramp up the scale in our factories and deliver regularly, so we can turn up the marketing machine and deliver the product. Starting March we’ll have our first full season of deliveries.”

Links:

• Griff and the Combat Flip Flops
• Command Your Business and Scott Fussell
• The Master in Business for Veterans program at USC

Biz Hack:

Hyper-Caff from Ranger Coffee, a veteran-owned business. This is super caffeinated coffee that come with a warning: “Not for the weak or faint of heart.”

For writing, if you want to check your work before you publish it, check out Hemingway App and Slick Write. Both are free tools that allow you to copy your text into the field, the site will review it and spit out a grade. It also offers up ideas for improvement.

Quote of the Week: “Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really: Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, so go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that;s where you will find success.” ~ Thomas J. Watson.

Next week’s episode is all about scaling a business. We’ll hear from Laura Curtis Retana, founder of Malvi Mallow, and Dean Heckler, founder of Heckler Design.

Thank you to Griff for sharing his story, James Bogle from the Master of Business for Veterans program at USC and Scott Fussell of Command Your Business for his insights and making the connection to Griff. Be sure to check out the Command Your Business podcast for some amazing veteran entrepreneur stories.

View Details

Welcome back to the SuccessLab Podcast! I'm in The Lab with John Biggs, East Coast editor of TechCrunch. We talk networking, breaking into the startup scene, and navigating the testy waters of PR.

1. Can you tell us a bit about your journey? What brought you to TechCrunch? I ran Gizmodo for a little while. They got rid of me there, and immediately, like a week after, I got a call from Mike Arrington about Crunch Gear, which was going to be a gadget site for TechCrunch. I ran that for a few years, and it got folded into TechCrunch proper. Now, I guess I'm the only surviving TechCruncher from those days.

2. How do you manage being an editor, building a startup, and advising another? I'm not sure! I'm starting to try to say no a little more. Right now, I'm able to manage it because I try to compartmentalize the things that I do. When I'm writing, I'll do 1,000 words a day, rain or shine. If I'm doing a podcast, I'll try to record it as quickly and easily as possible, essentially streamlining all the things I need to do. The most time I spend during the day right now is just trying to get cool stories together for TechCrunch, put cool things up, reaching out to startups to try to help them out, that sort of thing. My day's essentially full.

3. You are obviously very immersed in the startup scene. Are there common challenges you see many startups face? I think the biggest question is, "How do you get started?" What do you have to do? I used to understand this only in theory, but essentially, you have to have a product. You can't sell something that doesn't exist, unless you have a proven track record in The Valley and people are going to invest in you. It's been a challenge, but it hasn't been too much of a challenge to get folks to listen to us. They're all excited about listening to us. But right now, The Valley doesn't want to drop almost any money into ideas that don't actually have products. You basically have to build a product, and that's the hardest thing to do.

4. If you could offer one piece of advice to an entrepreneur trying to build their business, what would you say? You have to be ready, and you have to be calling people all the time. You have to be talking to people. If you're trying to network, you need to reach out, you need to follow up, and you need to do your due diligence. It's a lot of work, and it's frustrating, and it's boring. A lot of people just want to build something cool. But the boring stuff gets you to the cool stuff.

5. There have been numerous blog posts written about how to get on TechCrunch…are there any tips you can share? Email us. There's so much out there right now that it's really difficult to grab everybody, but if you know who you're talking to, if you actually know who you're approaching and understand them, it's fairly easy to get in. The vast majority of the time, you won't get a response, but you can say, "We've got this cool thing, and we want to show it to you." And it has to be a thing—it can't just be an announcement that you hired somebody new or you changed something slightly. Everybody's essentially chasing the same story. I'm trying to find a story that nobody else has.

6. What media do you follow? I read Y Combinator news, and I follow a lot of Reddit boards to take a look at the smaller things that are happening. I follow smaller sights.

You can reach out to John Biggs at John@techcrunch.com or on Twitter at @johnbiggs.

This Week's Biz Hacks If you do plan to reach out to media on your own, these two Biz Hacks can help point you in the right direction: Similar Web and Just Reach Out.

I’ve talked about Similar Web before, but in this scenario, you can use it to find other similar sites. For instance, if you’ve got your sights set on the likes of TechCrunch, but you’re not sure where else to reach out, you can use Similar Web to find other sites like TechCrunch. You can also see top referring sites where people venture to after they leave TechCrunch and other sites TechCrunch users visit.

Just Reach Out is a site that allows you to search a specific topic and see who is writing about it. Keep in mind: This tool is a jumping off point. You’ll want to do more research to make sure you are not pitching off-topic or pitching a story they’ve already written about.

Quote of the Week "Big shots were once small shots who kept shooting." ~ Rev Run

Thank you to John Biggs, Ed Zitron, J.J. Colao, and Vivek and Chase from NeoLight for sharing their story and insights. The music in this episode included “Float” by The Lab Rats and “Once I Went to You” by Kara Square.

Until next time, have a prosperous week!

If you dig this podcast, why not leave a quick review or rating in iTunes?

View Details

Most of us are familiar with budgeting, saving for retirement and maybe evening investing, but what about actual wealth building with the goal of financial freedom? Early retirement anyone? It may be more approachable than you think. In this episode (#36) Todd Tresidder, founder of Financial Mentor shares his story (how he was able to retire at 35), life lessons he's learned along the way, and how entrepreneurs can achieve financial freedom.

Show highlights: 1. Tell us about your journey. How did you retire at 35? I got into the hedge fund business because I got this idea that if I was going to build wealth, I had to become an expert in investing, so I figured I'd get paid to do that. My job was to develop and research most of what's out there in terms of investment strategy and prove what works and what didn't. And so I did that for twelve years. We had a very successful run, a very successful portfolio, and then sold the company. I was "retired" at age 35.

1. How can entrepreneurs find balance between enjoying life and not working their lives away, but still striving towards financial freedom? There's not a quick or clear answer to it. As you have more money, obviously, it's easier—you can buy more help, you can make decisions more based on what's fulfilling than based on your financial needs. But that's not true in the beginning, and sometimes you just have to work hard.

2. What mistakes or pitfalls should entrepreneurs avoid when starting on the road to achieving financial freedom? One mistake is not designing with the end goal in mind. For example, my business is designed to be completely remote. I can operate it from Reno, Nevada, which is where I am now, or I could operate it from Panama, or Paris, France.

3. Once they are achieving positive cash flow and actually saving, what types of investments do you recommend? Can the business itself make investments? Your business IS an investment. When you build your business, you're building an asset, and therefore by definition, it's an investment. You're building equity in it. As long as you're not building a business that's just a job, which is typically a service business, where you're the only service provider. If you do that, then you're not really building equity because it dies with you. But if you have a product, or you have a service business that involves delivery by other people, then you can build equity in the business, and you have an asset.

4. What are your "seven steps to financial freedom"? I've been coaching people one-on-one for about 17 years now, and I noticed that there was a distinct pattern. Within that pattern, people would come to me at different points in the journey, but the pattern was always the same:

5. Step 1: Basic financial planning

6. Step 2: "Habitudes" of the wealthy
7. Step 3: The wealth plan
8. Step 4: Commitment
9. Step 5: Structuring your life and environment to reach your goal
10. Step 6: Investing

11. Step 7: Answering the question, "You're a millionaire, now what?"

12. Todd makes an excellent point about determining when enough is enough...when your time and life energy is more valuable than growing your financial empire: It's different for everyone. There are some bloggers who've popularized themselves—one lives on $25,000 a year for a family of three, one lives on $17,000 a year with his wife, and they declare that financial freedom, and that's cool. No judgment at all. That's living with extreme frugality and declaring that freedom. My personal experience and my personal twist on it is that you can spend as much time trying to figure out how to save money as you could just making it, and then you don't have to pay as much attention to what's spent. It's just an expression of your values and what works for you.

13. How do mental blocks keep us from achieving wealth? A great book on the subject is War of Art by Steven Pressfield. He talks about Resistance, which is Resistance with a capital 'R' because he's essentially deifying it. It came from the world of art, or in his case, writing. Any time you try to improve yourself, or create, or move your life forward, you're going to encounter resistance. It's this diabolical part of our human existence. It exists in all of us. Me included, and you included. Every time we move our lives forward, we experience resistance, and we have to overcome it, and he's got a whole process of explaining how you do that. (Check out Financial Mentor's episode with Dane Maxwell to hear a great exercise on breaking through limiting beliefs.)

14. What business or financial books do you recommend? Michael Gerber's The E-Myth is a classic. A new classic out there is Essentialism by Greg McKeown. It's got a timeless message to it, and that message is only becoming more relevant. We're basically in an information overload world now, and there's more opportunity than any of us can handle. So it's not a question of adding more/better/different; it's a question of selecting only that which is essential and critical, and that's the only way you can find fulfillment in life. There's many more: Rework by Jason Fried, Lean Startup… I think that's a good list!

This Week's Biz Hack Music adds great ambiance to nearly everything. Whether for a YouTube video, presentation, podcast, commercial, or party, great music or even ambient sounds help enrich the experience. Finding the right music is the challenge, though. Two tools I’ve been using for finding music are Jamendo and Music Alley from Mevio. Both have massive libraries of free music under the Creative Commons license.

Quote of the Week “You can either fit in or stand out. Not both.” ~ Seth Godin Special thank you to Todd Tresidder for sharing his insights and personal story. Next week I’m in The Lab with John Biggs, East Coast editor of TechCrunch. Be sure to tune in! Until then, have prosperous week! The music you heard in this podcast was “Happiness” by Music for Your Media and “I Want To Be Rich” by Kitchen Cowboys.

View Details

Welcome to the SuccessLab Podcast, Episode #35! I'm in the lab with Evo Terra, self-proclaimed Digital Nomad. Evo is one of the early adopters of podcasting and co-authored Expert Podcasting Practices for Dummies in 2007 and Podcasting for Dummies in 2008. He’s also gone on to author other books and is the co-founder of Podiobooks.com, as well as a business consultation company for startups and entrepreneurs called Big Bounce. Currently, he and his wife are traveling around the world and tracking it all at ShEvo.wtf.

1. You were one of the first podcasters. What was your first podcast? My very first podcast came out on October 14, 2004. (Yes, I can recall the exact date.) It was a science-fiction interview show with authors that my partner and I had been doing as an internet radio show that got picked up by terrestrial and satellite broadcast radio stations, even before there was a thing called podcasting. When podcasting technology finally hit the scene and hit our radar, it took me all of about 15 minutes to get podcasting as part of our repetoire. So not only were we heard on radio stations, but suddenly, people walking around with digital, portable media players in their pockets could listen to us as well.

2. Where do you think podcasting is headed? Podcasting has had ups and downs. We're currently on an up, which is awesome and one of the reasons I've gotten back into it, with ten years of experience doing this. It's quite interesting to see how things are going. Back when we first started, it was filled with people who did one of two things. There were the "Record & Release" variety of podcasters, who were individual solo people who would just record what they were thinking about or talking about and throw it up on the internet for people to hear. That was one style. The other style was what I like to call "Two Dorks and a Microphone," and that's what me and my partner were doing: Two guys or gals (and of course the number could be two or twelve, doesn't really matter) talking about stuff, pretending we were talk radio guys.

Where it's going right now is that people will get more professional. People will start doing more, I think, because the audience is demanding better quality stuff.

1. You've talked about entrepreneurs building businesses with "Free" at their core. Do you have any advice on how an entrepreneur can take that approach? "Free" is an interesting way of doing things, and a lot of people balk at the idea of giving something away for free, and then turning around and trying to find a way to make money from that. But it works quite a lot. The "freemium" model didn't exist a few years, and now it's kind of rampant. There are all sorts of places that will let you have the base core of the services for free. Think about Spotify.

Many people are afraid of giving things away because they're afraid it's going to be stolen or be pirated away from them, and that's moronically thought. You have a lot more to fear, as an independent artist, from obscurity than you do from piracy. And I think that same thing holds true for a lot of businesses. Holding everything back and making everybody pay for everything along the way can work for you, but it's kind of a novel approach at times to be the first one to offer a good or service for free and put something better on top of it. You'll find that some people (not all, not even most, but enough, if you plan it right) will be willing to actually pay you and will help keep the service alive and line your pockets with some cash eventually.

1. You talk about the idea of disruption. How do you think companies can create disruption? A lot of people toss out the word "disruption," especially when it comes to being a startup. It's had several different meanings over time, and of course things can be disruptive for a lot of different reasons. Specifically, the way I think about it for startups is this. A disruptive startup is a company, product, or service that's doing these three things:

2. Going after a stable, extant marketplace.

3. Appealing to the under-served minority.

4. Ensuring their product or service scales.

5. What mistakes do you see most entrepreneurs or startups making? Typically, the mistake happens in not truly fitting an under-served minority, and then not understanding what it takes to scale. If, every time you scale up, you have to pay an additional dollar to support an additional dollar of revenue, it's not going to happen.

6. Are there any tips or tools you can recommend for entrepreneurs? Anything you're loving right now? Two websites to read if you're an entrepreneur, and you want to figure out what you're doing, and you want to get your startup game up: Brad Feld and Steve Blank.

Podcasts you should listen to if you want to up your game: Radio Utopia and Gimlet Media.

1. How can people get in touch with you? The best way to reach me these days is at ShEvo.wtf.

This Week's Biz Hack: Scheduling Tools That Help You Take Control Of Your Time I absolutely hate trying to schedule meetings. For me, it ranks up there with painting or moving. Let me amend that—I don’t mind it when it’s a quick one-and-done, but most of the time, there’s so much back-and-forth involved simply trying to coordinate schedules. Add multiple people into the fold, and it’s just coconuts. My good pal and fellow SuccessLabr, Vince Baarson, recently started using the free version of YouCanBook.Me for scheduling, so I checked it out…

Quote of the Week “Develop success from failures. Discouragement and failure are two of the surest stepping stones to success.” ~ Dale Carnegie

Next week, I’m in The Lab with Todd Tresidder from FinancialMentor.com and the Financial Mentor Podcast. We dive into some pretty interesting wealth building strategies and common mistakes that can throw even the most savvy entrepreneurs off their road to financial independence.

A special thank you to Evo Terra for sharing his insights and allowing us all to live vicariously through him and his travels, if only for 20 minutes. Until next time, have a prosperous week!

If you dig this podcast, why not leave a quick review or rating in iTunes?

View Details

The SuccessLab Podcast is back with Episode #34! I'm in the lab with Patrick Mathieson, a venture capitalist at Toba Capital. We talk all things venture capital and how entrepreneurs can get the funding they need.

1. Can you tell us a bit about your journey and what you do at Toba Capital? I met, pretty randomly, an entrepreneur that had a startup and hit it off with him. While I was getting to know him, his company got acquired by Dell—a big, nine-figure acquisition. After they got acquired, they grew very quickly within Dell, and when they grew sufficiently, they were looking to hire new people, and they had a role for me. That entrepreneur who started that company eventually left, after putting in his three years at Dell, and shortly thereafter became a partner at Toba Capital. Because he and I worked together for a really long time, I had the chance to come with him as well.

2. How do you typically work with startups? When your team first starts working with a startup, how involved do you guys get in making sure they have a solid foundation in place? The short answer is, it totally depends. At the very beginning, the way that you find companies that are interesting totally varies. There's services that exist specifically for that. On the other hand, you have things like, "Oh, my old college roommate is working in Austin, Texas at this startup," and we catch up just casually over a beer or something. So there's this funky blending of your personal and your professional life in this profession because you're kind of always on.

3. How can startups evaluate if they do in fact need investor capital, and how much they might need? I think that right now, at least in the technology industry, there's too much emphasis on raising outside money. By that I mean there's too much emphasis on people like us. If you go on Tech Crunch and look at the front page, it's all, "Company Raised An Enormous Amount of Money." We're celebrating the fundraising, but in reality, not every company needs to be built in a way that requires tons of outside capital. You should think really carefully about if there's different ways to accomplish what you're trying to do without giving away a big slice of equity in your company.

4. You mentioned you often work with your startups on generating more leads and tightening up leaks in their lead gen. Can you provide a few tips or best practices? The first thing we do is look at their messaging and how they are positioning their product. We generally think that is the most important thing, from the marketing side, that companies can do. The way that you describe your product to customers affects everything in the marketing process.

5. Are there any tips or tools you can recommend for entrepreneurs? Anything you're loving right now? We have a tool called ClearSlide. It's meant for web presentations and screensharing. ClearSlide's a company in our portfolio that's doing really well and growing really quickly, and their product is getting awesome.

If you're interested in what makes up term sheets, the best resource out there is Venture Deals by Brad Feld.

Slack is a chat and internal communication tool. Seems like everyone's using it now.

For general knowledge, I think everybody should be on Quora. There's so much good content on Quora, whether it's about business, or politics, or fitness, there are experts on pretty much anything.

1. How can people get in touch with you? I do the vast majority of my writing on Quora. You can follow or message me there.

If you're running a technology growth company, please check out TobaCapital.com. There's some information about how to contact us at the bottom of the page. Please don't hesitate to get in touch!

This Week's Biz Hack: BuiltWith Gives You The Scoop On Your Favorite Sites Have you ever been on a site and wondered what tools they are using? Maybe you wanted to integrate a similar feature on your site but didn’t know how. BuiltWith has a really cool Chrome plugin that allows you see what exactly they are using. Once you’ve installed the plugin, you can navigate to any site, hit the plugin icon at the top of your toolbar, and a dropdown box will appear with all the info. Much easier than trying to search through code to figure it out.

BuiltWith is a software that allows you to generate leads, conduct market analysis and gain sales intelligence. That software comes with a fairly pricey monthly cost, but there are some great trend reports on their site you can check out for free. It’s worth a look.

Action Item: Change "I Can't" to "I Don't." When it comes to maintaining laser focus and productivity, we often hear you should say “no” more. The challenge is it’s tough to do and even tougher to stick with it. But as it turns out, how you say “no” can impact your success rate for sticking with it.

This applies more to creating new habits and resisting temptations as opposed to saying no to a friend who asks you for a ride to the airport. The trick is to say “I don’t…” rather than “I can’t.” Actual research has been conducted on this: Students who told themselves “I can’t eat X” gave into temptation 61% of the time, whereas the students who said “I don’t eat X” only gave in 36% of the time. This simple shift in terminology helped them stick with it over the long haul.

The term “I can’t…” is also a reminder of limitations, whereas “I don’t…” is more empowering. It’s an affirmation.

So your action item this week is to practice awareness when it comes to saying “no.” Every time you find yourself saying “I can’t,” change it to an “I don’t” statement. “I don’t schedule meetings Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.” “I don’t work passed 8 p.m.” “I don’t browse Facebook between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.” You get the idea.

Quote of the Week “One can have no smaller or greater mastery than mastery of oneself.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci

Next week, I’m in The Lab with Evo Terra. He is one of the early adopters of podcasting. He co-authored Expert Podcasting Practices for Dummies in 2007 and Podcasting for Dummies in 2008. He’s also gone on to author other books and is the co-founder of Podiobooks.com, as well as a business consultation company for startups and entrepreneurs called Big Bounce. Currently he and his wife are traveling around the world. They took off on their adventure earlier this month and tracking it all at ShEvo.wtf. Be sure to tune in! Until then, have prosperous week!

View Details

Welcome back to another SuccessLab Podcast, Episode #33! Here with me is Matt Racz, COO and Co-Founder of his startup USEED, which provides crowdfunding resources for higher education. We're talking all things startup, how to identify your passions, and how to stay true to your vision as your business grows.

1.Can you tell us a bit about your journey? What led to the launch of USEED? USEED just turned three years old (or I guess, three years young!) in December of this past year. Those three years have been quite an adventure, a crazy roller coaster ride. I certainly feel like I've led 10 different lives within USEED since we began.

The idea of USEED really started back in 2011, and it came out of the idea of being really passionate about education and helping student entrepreneurs pursue their passions, but in a way that set them up for success in today's world.

1. Mission and vision are everything. How did you identify your mission and build a compelling vision, then work to stay true to them? It's a really challenging thing to stay true to your mission, and it's certainly difficult to identify what you believe in. But I think it's also the number one critical thing you need to do. If you're starting something, you need to identify why you're doing what you're doing. Certainly, if you're going to start your own business, whatever it might be, you're going to be dedicating a tremendous amount of resources, time, energy, and your life to it. If you haven't got a good reason for it, you're probably going to burn out or fail.

What it comes down to is discovering what problem you want to solve. What are you really passionate about? If you look at the world today, in 2015, there are massive global challenges that are happening, and there's a lot of opportunity to solve many of them. Instead of thinking, "How can I create the next Snapchat or Instagram?" ask: How do you find something you're really passionate about, and how can you build a mission and a life around it? You have to be pretty open with yourself. You have to be introspective and ask yourself, "What problem am I really passionate about solving, and why am I passionate about it, and how can I communicate that to other people?"

1. I believe you implemented some of the Lean Startup methodologies for USEED. Which did you use, and how did you do it? Lean Startup Machine, StartUp weekend, the book —all those things came out when we first started USEED. That became the big trend. We said, "Woah." There's this whole resource and framework to test and validate some of your assumptions and to build a product and be super lean, be really scientific. As people who are really passionate about learning, we absolutely want to be scientific. But at the time, Lean Startup was really geared toward apps, or a B2C-type company. For us, it's really hard to be lean when selling a client takes anywhere from three to six months. How do you be lean? We used the Lean Startup principles to test if our go-to market strategy would be better going directly to students or working with institutions.

2. As you’ve grown (hired on others), how have you ensured that they adopt the vision and company culture? People can tell you really positive things about themselves; anyone can do that. We've learned this through our hiring process because we've been trying to do it for three years. We've hired many people, and a lot of them didn't work. It's about behavior. If you say you're going to do something, and you don't do it, there's a broken contract there. Then, I don't trust you as a person. You've broken my trust, and therefore, I don't care if you're a culture fit or not.

3. Do you have any tips or tools you can share with entrepreneurs? Here at USEED, we're such a small team, but we have a lot of demands individually in many different areas. We use a lot of different apps for our workflow to make us more efficient: communication tools, task management tools, things like that. Some of my favorites that I use religiously are:

RedBooth, which is a collaborative task management system. I use it to manage my own, weekly tasks.

Hipchat for team communication. One of our biggest challenges as a company is communication. We're all over the place all the time, so communication is really key.

This tool has revolutionized my entire workflow: TextExpander. It takes hotkeys to the next level. You get to create your own shortcuts for text.

Also Moom, which allows you to create hotkeys for resizing the windows on your computer.

1. How can folks connect with you or USEED? Send me an email! That's matt@useed.org. You can also check out the USEED website, my Instagram, and LinkedIn.

This Week's Biz Hack Have you ever had one of those days where you just can’t get going? Suddenly, it’s 3 p.m., and you realize you haven’t accomplished anything you set out to do that day?

Oftentimes, this is just a matter of being physically and mentally fatigued, overloaded, or building up a particular goal or task into a monumental challenge that feels impossible to tackle. Naturally, any one of these situations are total productivity killers. So how do you overcome it?

Well, first diagnose if it is fatigue. If so, it may be worth it to take a quick nap or do something to mentally recharge. If it’s overwhelm, one work-around to apply the two-minute rule. You may be familiar with this approach from the book Getting Things Done, in which author David Allen suggests this: If a task takes less than two minutes to do, just get it done immediately rather than letting all those little tasks build up.

If you apply this to your work, goals, or in forming new habits, it can be very powerful. Of course, most larger tasks, goals, and habit formations cannot be accomplished in two-minutes, but what is the toughest part of these? Typically, the toughest part is just getting started. So just break off the first two minutes.

Once you get going, it’s easier to continue doing it.

Do you need to write a blog post or article? Give yourself two minutes to write just one sentence. Need to create a marketing campaign? Give yourself two minutes to simply brainstorm what could go in that campaign.

Two minutes can have a massive impact on your productivity.

Action Item Give the two-minute rule a try. Keep in mind that this approach may not work for everyone, but give it a try. What is one thing you’ve been putting off? Give yourself two minutes to get it going.

Quote of the Week "To be successful you must accept all challenges that come your way. You can’t just accept the ones you like." ~ Mike Gafka

Next week I’m in The Lab with Patrick Mathieson, a junior venture capitalist at Toba Capital. We talk about how entrepreneurs can gauge if in fact they need funding, and if so, how to work with a VC, as well as the process his VC uses to set up the startups they invest in for success. Until then, have prosperous week!

If you found value in this podcast, please leave a quick review or rating in iTunes.

View Details

Welcome to SuccessLab Podcast #32! Hope your year is off to a great start. This week, I'm in the lab with Denise Duffield-Thomas. She's the founder of Lucky Bitch, where she offers coaching and an online bootcamp for entrepreneurs. I felt totally recharged after this interview, and I hope it does the same for you!

1. Can you tell us a bit about your journey and what brought you to where you are now? Like a lot of people, I think I always wanted to be an entrepreneur, but to be honest, I hadn't met any entrepreneurs before. I'd seen on TV that women could have power and money—I kept thinking of Dynasty, and that's what I thought of women who had their own power and money, that you kind of had to be this "rich bitch." I didn't ever really meet a normal woman in my everyday life who had their own business until I was way into my twenties.

Throughout my twenties, I lived in London (even though I'm from Australia), and I had some really cool gigs: I did some sustainability consulting, I did events, I ran sale bootcamps. But I knew in my heart of hearts that I wanted to work for myself around helping women make transformations in their lives. At that point, I didn't even think about doing it around money. I just wanted to help women make transformations, and I had a burning desire to work for myself.

1. How did you come to the realization that you had certain mental blocks around achieving wealth? My husband and I were in a competition to go blogging around the world. It was a six-month, all-expenses-paid trip around the world. Afterward, I was sleeping on my mum's couch after living in five-star hotels, with no job, completely unemployed, and not wanting to get a job. I thought, "Holy crap. I just manifested this trip that was worth half a million dollars in value, and I was staying in amazing places and eating the best food, but not having any money." I remember thinking, "Wow, I think it's time for me to learn about making money." Not just being lucky, not just winning things, being given things for free, or having great relationships, but being okay to make real cash and then spend it how I want to spend it.

2. How can one identify if they have those mental blocks? Sometimes it's really obvious: You don't have money in your bank account. Then, there's probably a really good chance you've got a block around receiving money. But sometimes it's really subtle. Some people might think, "Oh, I don't have any blocks around money." Maybe your parents always had money growing up, or you just feel like you're okay with money. But when you start to dig deeper, there might be a few key beliefs that you have around money that really stop you from earning more.

I'll tell you a really common one: "I don't want to make money—I just want to help people." Have you heard people say that? It sounds really noble. "Money's not important to me and my business. Helping people is important to my business." The thing is, that's really noble, but it sets up this expectation that you don't deal in currency, you're not open to business, and you're not open to receive more. You have to really look at that and say, "If I help more people, I will make more money. If I make more money, I will help more people." The two do not have to be mutually exclusive.

1. How do you know if you are undervaluing your product or services? The most telltale sign is if you're burnt out and resentful. Every time you're with clients, you feel like you're getting ripped off. It doesn't feel like a fair exchange of value. That's a perfect sign that you need to increase your prices or, to be honest, change your business or change the type of clients you work with. Another sign is if there's a lot of demand for what you do. If you just can't keep up with demand, you're trying to stuff clients in to every available space, you don't have time to pee or eat proper lunch because you're working—all those things are a sign that there's not a fair exchange of value going on.

2. If you are undervaluing your products or services, how do you go about increasing your rate for cost of the product without ruffling too many feathers? I have a free resource for this, actually. The first thing is getting into yourself that it's okay for you to increase your prices. Lots of companies do it every single year as just a matter of course. If you're getting better and better at what you do (therefore getting better and quicker results for your clients), that can totally justify a rate increase. If you invest heavily in your own education (which you can then pass on to clients), again, that totally justifies a price increase. They're borrowing your knowledge without having to invest in it themselves. I think there's sometimes a bit of backlash against increasing your prices or charging premium pricing, and I totally agree because you do have to justify it. But you don't necessarily have to justify it to people in your industry. Some people might say, "Oh, in our industry, we normally charge X, and we're not allowed to charge Y." That's total crap. You don't have to justify it to your competitors, your colleagues, and you don't have to justify it to your parents.

3. I know you have steps to overcoming blocks and attracting wealth. Can you share those with us? Step #1: De-clutter. Not just de-cluttering your house, which absolutely does help. You always start there; you get rid of messes in your life. But it comes down to de-cluttering your beliefs around money. I'd really encourage people to go back and look at your money memories. What did your parents say about money? What ideas did they have around money? That's always the first place to look.

Step #2: Decide. Get really clear on what you want to manifest. How much money do you want to make? People can send really conflicting messages around this. I'll ask, "How much money do you want to make?" And they go, "Oh, I want to do 200, but I'd be happy to get 50." Well, what do you think you're going to get? 200 or 50? It's always going to be what message you send into the universe. Get very clear on how much you want to make.

Step #3: Surround yourself with positivity. Absolutely get infused, in every part of your day and what you want to achieve. You have to infuse every part of your day with Reminders, Triggers, and Anchors about that goal. It could a Post-It on your computer. You get in your car, and a podcast you've been listening to comes on about people who earn six figures.

Step #4: Taking inspired action. We know nothing is going to happen unless you take action. You can't sit on your couch and meditate and light an abundance candle. Yes, someone might knock on your door and hand you a check out of the blue—that does happen, I've heard that happen. But really it's going to come by taking action. Inspired action is just those teeny little things that will make a difference: picking up the phone and talking to the right person, sending that e-mail that promotes the course, opening for business. It's not researching, it's not Googling, it's not procrastinating.

Step #5: Learning to receive. It's okay for you to receive that money. Put that PayPal link in there and feel okay about it. Honestly, Step #5 can really trigger people sometimes. When the money actually starts coming, that's when people's blocks also start coming up. Then, you have to go back to Step #1.

If at any stage you get blocked, you just go back to #1.

1. Take us back to when you decided to launch the Lucky Bitch brand. Did you know there would be such demand for a product like this? I started out doing life coaching. I'd help people with anything, any problem. It was really fun because people would come to me with interesting problems and say, "Can you help me manifest a soulmate?" and, "I want to sell my house." It was really fun, but the thing people kept coming to me and saying was, "I really want to earn money. What's going on?" And I said, "Universe, I do not want to be the Money Girl. Please, no. Anything else. Don't make me talk about money." Because I was scared about money, too, and I didn't want to talk about it either. I thought, "I should work on my own money stuff. I think it's time for me to earn some cash and explore some of these fears that I have around money." Before the Lucky Bitch brand, I was doing a very generic brand. It was very soft and polite and lovely. I decided to bring more of myself into my brand, to have a bit more fun with it, to have that kind of cheeky side that's total Me.

2. In those early days, how did you grow Lucky Bitch? Consistency, consistency, consistency. Unless you get a lucky break, not a lot of people are watching at the start. It can take courage to have that consistency, but that's where your business is going to grow. I've done a blog post or a video pretty much weekly for the last four years. That takes consistency to do. Some weeks, I had nothing to say, but I had made that commitment to myself, so I had to come up with something. I see that a lot with entrepreneurs at the start, or even further along in their journey, where they just do it when they feel like it or when inspiration strikes. You can't do that. People are waiting to see you.

3. Is there a piece of advice you can share with entrepreneurs? Everybody's scared. Everybody has fear. Unfortunately, it never goes away. It's just the business of being in business. Don't let it stop you from creating a life and a business that truly serves your purpose in life.

4. Are there any tools or books that you are absolutely loving right now? I'm not reading a lot of business books at the moment. Sometimes as entrepreneurs, we don't get enough creative space. So I'm reading the Outlander series! A bit of adventure, a bit of history, a bit of sex.

In terms of tools, Masterminding is rocking my world at the moment, just being around women and other entrepreneurs who have similar goals to me.

1. How can people connect with you? LuckyBitch.com. I'm generally more on Facebook than anything else, and I'm always happy to hear about money "ahas" and anything that's come up for you.

This Week's Biz Hack Typeform! This tool launched with its full version last February, but it was in beta for a year prior. It was created by two designer/developers out of Spain and has taken off. At its core, Typeform allows you to make really cool forms for things like surveys, questionnaires, and polls, but you can also use it for client intake or customer feedback, fun quizzes, and competitions.

Another really cool use for it is to serve up the specific content your users are looking for. For instance, if you have a series of marketing videos, you can ask your users a set of leading questions that routes them to the appropriate video based on their answer. So if they came specifically for tips on content marketing, that video can be dished up to them, rather than having them scroll through all of your content. It’s very similar to a CRM tool in which you set up "if this/then that" scenarios.

A few other really cool features of Typeform include its responsiveness—it automatically adapts to the user’s device. You can also link it with Google Analytics to track user behavior. Typeform also integrates with Zapier, which allows you to link it with an email service like Mailchimp. The Facebook Conversion Tracking Pixel can also be integrated into the form, allowing you to potentially market to those users on Facebook down the road.

Here are a few cool uses to get you thinking about how you can use it:

• Xmas Llama Creator
• What Would You Say to Your 18-Year-Old Self?
• Alice in Wonderland Character Quiz
• Blood Donation Social Awareness

Action Item Review your pricing. Be real with yourself. Are you charging enough? If you haven’t raised your rates in years, but have gotten better or faster at what you do, or even added more bells and whistles to your product or service, it may be time to up your rate.

Pricing is one of the most challenging parts of business, and unfortunately there’s no formula or out-of-the-box approach that applies to all. This is especially true for service-based businesses. A few things to take into consideration include cost of goods (Have the goods and services you use gone up over time?), continued education (Have you paid to attend conferences or courses?), and growth (Have you hired on additional support?).

Of course, raising rates is never an easy feat when presenting it to existing clients. A few ways to do this is to develop new packages or services to roll customers into, or grandfather existing clients in at their rate, while all new ones will be at the higher price. As Denise mentioned earlier in the podcast, she has a pricing guide that is really helpful. Just remember: You owe it to yourself and your business to be relentless in managing your pricing strategy.

Quote of the Week "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." ~ Thomas A. Edison

View Details

The new year has finally arrived! Are you ready for it?

In this episode (#31), I’m in the lab with Chris Stark, president of Digital MGMT. We talk digital advertising and remarketing—two increasingly important visibility channels. The Biz Hack covers a 2015 reading list for entrepreneurs.

1. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey? What led you to create Digital MGMT? I had originally been working for a company that needed help making more money off their website traffic. That evolved into other sites asking me to do that, and it turned into a business. After about a year at my old job, I started my own company that was slowly growing and eventually turned into what it is now, representing websites and helping them make more money.

2. You recently had dinner with Bob Parsons, the infamous founder of Go Daddy. How did that come about? A friend of mine asked me to a holiday dinner. It just so happened that one of the companies that Bob Parsons invested in after Go Daddy is an agency here in town. Pretty interesting guy, definitely tech royalty in Arizona. He's definitely animated, as you can tell from interviews he's done or TV appearances. He's definitely like that in person. He's a funny guy. When you're at that point, you can kind of say whatever you want, and he definitely speaks his mind!

3. You work with publishers of high-traffic sites to massively grow their revenue stream. One trap they often fall into is trying to manage all of the content production that got them the audience in the first place, along with the advertising. Are there common mistakes you see publishers make? The most common mistake I see made is this: They're good at what they know and start to push the boundaries of their knowledge on the business side of things. As they grow, they start to see themselves having issues across the board: a huge traffic spike that shuts down their website because they don't have the hosting in place for that, or not having advanced systems that can make them more revenue, or the systems they have aren't set up incorrectly. A lot of the time, the sites that they start working with will have a rat's nest of things wrong with them. We're about coming in and either making sure those systems are set up correctly or adding to them.

4. Are there any tips you can share for how publishers can maximize their revenues? Something that's not necessarily directly related to advertising but definitely affects it is site speed. The number one requested feature of any site is speed. There's been a number of polls that have been done by big websites to ask, "What's most important to you?" If a site doesn't load, it doesn't matter. Focus on site speed as your first priority—over design, over features—so that people can actually get to your site. That's a big issue that people tend to lose site of.

5. On the flip side, you also work with advertisers on digital marketing—online display advertising, retargeting, mobile marketing… the list goes on. Are there common mistakes you see online advertisers making? There's two big issues I've seen. One, their creatives are too simple. They have a graphic designer build a static ad that's just an image and hope that people click on it. A lot of the time, they're not doing a lot of the best practices they should be. Going to a more sophisticated creative drastically increases performance. Then, once people have actually seen the ad, there's tracking. A lot of clients I work with initially might be using bitly. They're really only tracking that direct click, and once that happens, they don't necessarily know what was produced out of that. With that, there's maybe a third issue, too: Having a valuable key performance indicator—getting an e-mail address or a sale, as opposed to sending them to a dealer page. The money that was spent on advertising is effectively lost. Those three things: creative, attribution, and picking a key performance indicator that's of value and trackable.

6. What online ad tools do you like? There's a lot of tools out there. The major one is Google AdWords. You can reach Google's display network through that, including YouTube and any banner ads that anyone runs the Google ad network through. If you wanted to do a search engine marketing campaign on Google, the original AdWords is where you'd do that, as well. That's the main tool that most people use.

7. What retargeting ad tools do you like? The two major services right now are Perfect Audience and AdRoll. There are number of options out there, but those are the two biggest. You can also do retargeting through Google AdWords as well.

8. Do you like display ads or text ads? It depends on your goal. In general, display is a richer experience. This is why TV continues to be a good place to advertise for some. People want a rich experience. Text and links tend to be vague, maybe even to the point of being deceptive. You don't want people to click into something because they've been duped. Giving someone the experience of mousing over an ad and having it pop out to a video about your product is a really good way to make people aware of your product, so they can then perform an action. They're prepared before they get there.

9. Do you have a favorite productivity tool or best practice you can share with entrepreneurs? Asana for time management, and Harvest for time tracking. For Gmail, I use Boomerang, Banana Tag, and Rapportive.

10. How can folks connect with you?

On the Digital MGMT website—the contact form there is a good way to get in touch with me. Also on Twitter, @digimgmt.

This week’s Biz Hack: As entrepreneurs, many of us have an insatiable thirst for knowledge and, as such, love books. We may not feel we have the time to read but love it nonetheless. We often want to know what other successful entrepreneurs have read, what they’re currently reading, and the top books they recommend.

As you put together your 2015 reading list, here are 10 greats to consider:

1. The ONE Thing – The title says it all. In this book, Gary Keller talks about how to be more productive by stripping away distractions and focusing on your most important thing.
2. The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It" target="_blank">The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber covers why most businesses fail and how to avoid these very common pitfalls.
3. The Four Steps to the Epiphany" target="_blank">The Four Steps to the Epiphany by Steve Blank – This one is said to have launched the Lean Startup approach to new ventures. It provides a four-step customer development process, steps for iterating rapidly, getting customer feedback, testing assumptions, and marketing and sales.
4. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change" target="_blank">The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change by Stephen R. Covey – You may have read this one in high school; I know we had to, and I remember being so excited to read it. It’s an amazing book that has sort of become a staple for business owners. It is essentially a manual for performing better personally and professionally by accomplishing a “paradigm shift.” It covers productivity, time management, positive thinking, team work, and being proactive.
5. Think and Grow Rich: The Landmark Bestseller - Now Revised and Updated for the 21st Century" target="_blank">Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill – Another timeless classic inspired by a suggestion from Dale Carnegie that teaches the power of positive thinking and overcoming psychological barriers that can hold people back from achieving wealth. One of the most powerful takeaways from the books is the six steps to wealth and the script he recommends creating and referring to regularly.
6. Rework" target="_blank">Rework by Jason Fried and David Hansson, the founders of 37signals, is like a playbook for launching a business. It shows you how to be more productive and more easily and efficiently succeed in business.
7. The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich (Expanded and Updated)" target="_blank">The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss – In all honesty, I was reluctant to read this one initially because I thought the title was all hype. But this book really lives up to the title and is a great read for anyone who wants to take more control of their life. It’s a highly motivating book.
8. Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Revised Edition" target="_blank">Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion by Robert Cialdini – I love this book! It outlines the psychology of why people say “yes” and how to apply these in your own marketing or sales. It also makes you become more aware as a consumer. Very interesting read. The author is also from my alma mater.
9. The Innovator's Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change the Way You Do Business" target="_blank">The Innovator’s Dilemma: The Revolutionary Book That Will Change The Way You Do Business by Clayton M. Christensen – This one is on my list. It focuses on why creating disruptive technology is essential in business and how to know when it’s time to abandon traditional business practices for the sake of the company.
10. The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses" target="_blank">The Lean Startup – Author Eric Ries provides a scientific approach that relies on “validated learning” to create and manage successful startups and deal with uncertainty. It allows startups to learn what customers really want and how to shift directions with agility before it’s too late.

There are so many greats out there. Just find what resonates most with you. Another one that’s on my list came from a recommendation from my good friend, and fellow SuccessLabr, Sean Tierney. It’s called Launch: An Internet Millionaire's Secret Formula To Sell Almost Anything Online, Build A Business You Love, And Live The Life Of Your Dreams" target="_blank">Launch by Jeff Walker and is great read for anyone looking to start a business or launch a new project. The author gives a step-by-step on how he launched his lucrative online business.

Action Item: Continually learning will keep you motivated, inspired, and sharp. If you're ever feeling a lull, the simple act of reading an informative book or blog post or listening to a podcast can bring back that spark of motivation. Create a 2015 inspiration list. Maybe this is in the form of a book list, audio book list, podcasts you want to subscribe to, documentaries to watch, online courses to take, or even conferences to attend.

So far for this year, I plan to get through the Google Analytics Academy courses and read or revisit the following:

• Youtility – almost done with this one. Highly recommended.
• The ONE Thing
• Rework
• The Four Steps to the Epiphany
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
• Launch

What's on your list? Share it in the comments below. It'd be great to see what everyone has in store for 2015!

Quote of the Week: "The successful warrior is the average man with laser-like focus." ~ Bruce Lee

Next week I'm in The Lab with Denise Duffield-Thomas. She is the founder of Lucky Bitch where she teaches entrepreneurs how to release money blocks and start getting paid what they’re worth. Be sure to tune in! Until then, have prosperous week, and let’s make it an amazing year!

View Details

In this episode (#30! I can't believe it!) I’m in the lab with Dan Tyre, Director at HubSpot. Dan is Hubspot's employee #6. He's been there almost from the beginning and has been a key part of their growth. Dan also developed the concept of smarketing at HubSpot.

1. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey? What led you to HubSpot? I graduated from college in upstate New York, at Colgate University. While I was at school, and afterwards, I was a bass player in a heavy metal rock band. Which was a lot of fun, super exciting, but didn't pay a whole lot. My bass playing days were very fundamental in understanding how to deal with different types of people. I sold dictionaries, working my way through college, door to door in Washington and Oregon. I knew I had a skill there, so I started selling computers in Boston. Then my boss moved to a company by the name of Businessland, a company that IPO-ed in 1983. I had an eight-year run with Businessland, where I worked as a salesperson, sales manager, and general manager. We went through fantastic growth, and I got addicted to fast-growing companies.

2. How do you maintain work/life balance and productivity? There is no such thing as work/life balance. I've got a beautiful wife Amy, who I've been married to for 25 years. We try to set the right boundaries. She knew when we got married that I was pretty hardcore. She's been incredibly accepting of that lifestyle for most of our marriage. If it gets too bad and the travel doesn't work, she's very upfront and will tell me. My family is great and very supportive of all the times I jump on planes. It's not always easy, but they've been a solid support. The only things I do are work and my family. I only have a couple of other outside interests. But work for me isn't work. Work for me is getting on the phone and talking to people like you, doing the Startup Grind, or talking with customers. And that's a ball of fun. I laugh all day. My dog, when I work from home, thinks I'm insane.

3. You’ve been a driving force in the growth and scale-up of several businesses, and even your own. Are there any keys to to success or tips you can share for an entrepreneur trying to grow their business?

4. Focus: If you're trying to do too many things, you can't concentrate. Any time I come to a guy who's running three or four businesses, I'm always a little skeptical. Running HubSpot is like five full-time jobs.

5. Stay Positive: You're never as good as you think you are, you're never as bad as you think you are.

6. Be Resilient: Being an entrepreneur, by definition, means you're going to get whacked around a little bit. That's the fun of it. If it was easy, everybody would do it.

7. Learn to Sell: Selling is a hugely valuable skill. Everybody is selling every hour of every day. Even on this podcast, you're either buying what I'm saying, or you're not. It's helpful to understand which side of the equation you're on. There's some great books to help with that: New Sales Simplified by Mike Weinberg and SNAP Selling by Jill Konrath.

8. Goals: Figure out your business goals and work towards them.

9. Don't Stop: You can't beat somebody who refuses to stop. Even if you're miserable, even if it's really hard, just put one foot in front of the other.

10. Are there any common challenges you see entrepreneurs struggle with the most? You have to pick your first few employees very selectively. When you're first starting a company, you're going to be hanging with these people a lot. You're going to have to bust tail. We're talking 60 or 80-hour weeks for months and years. Then it becomes a little easier when you have 100 people. But up to that time, everybody's wearing 14 hats. Picking the right people, that you're going to spend all that time with, making sure they have a good attitude, and making sure you have a good business model.

11. Did you have a mentor that helped shape your career and the type of business person you are today? Steve Levy, who was CEO of BBN, a federal contractor for the US government. They actually built the ARPANET, the precursor to the internet. I knew his son, and he said, "If you ever start a company, let me know." He assembled a board of directors for me that was unparalleled. I had this little, less than a million-dollar company. We pulled all the guys on the board together. Four times a year, they would come in and tell me what I needed to do to run my business strategically. They essentially invested my company and helped me grow to do that. All I had to do was buy them dinner four times a year. They weren't big drinkers, so it was a cheap date. They were the smartest guys, and it was such an education to understand board governance and scaling. The only thing Steve asked me to do was, when I got successful, if I could help encourage other entrepreneurs to do the same thing.

12. At Startup Grind, you talked about your approach to managing a team. Can you talk more about it? Motivating people and motivating a team is an incredibly important component to being an entrepreneur. In any relationship, whether it's your significant other, your parental relationship, a business relationship, you have nothing unless you have trust. Trust is critically important. When I take over a team for the first time, or when I recruit somebody, I tell them, "For the next 30 days, all we're going to do is build trust." I also want to make sure I understand their goals. There's a great book by Heidi Grant Halvorson called Success: How We Can Reach Our Goals. The people who set goals, time frames for goals, and tangible goals are going to accomplish more, live longer, be healthier, have stronger relationships, and make more money. I give this book to all my subordinates, tell them to read it, and then ask them to do their goals.

13. Do you have a favorite productivity tool or best practice you can share with entrepreneurs? I'm obsessive about preparation. The reason I wanted these questions in advance is because I think pretty quickly on my feet, but I want to have a logical process. I'm a prep monster. I teach all my folks that until you're really good, and it's like second nature, you always prep. That's my best practice.

14. How can folks connect with you? LinkedIn, Twitter, dtyre@hubspot.com, and dantyre@gmail.com.

Biz Hack This week’s biz hack is about how to hack your marketing and overall business recipe by first learning the recipe for creating a pancake. This one actually comes from Christopher S. Penn. If you don’t follow him, check out his blog here. In a nutshell, he relates marketing to a simple pancake recipe. Here's the essential elements of a pancake (or any recipe, for that matter):

• Flour: provides stability
• Milk: the liquid protein provides the gluten to further support the dough’s matrix
• Baking powder: further supports the dough’s matrix (or leavening) and gives the pancake its fluffy characteristic

Then of course there’s the salt, sugar, and oil to enhance the flavor and keep the pancake from sticking to the pan. So where is all this headed? Well, the folks who know the foundation for a good pancake, and what each of the components does and why it is used, can then make any variety of pancake: paleo, vegan, gluten-free, chocolate chip, pumpkin, banana, blueberry, buttermilk… the list goes on. In these cases, you can swap out certain ingredients for others (cow’s milk for almond milk) or increase the amount of others to compensate for eliminating a particular ingredient. Marketing, and even building your business, can also be thought of as a recipe in which the recipe is the tactic. Christopher puts it best: "If you just blindly follow marketing recipes without understanding what they do or what the outcome is supposed to look like, then you’ll forever be locked into the same way of doing things, rather than adapting to change." First, you have to know what your end goal is (what is the outcome supposed to look like) and the essential ingredients (the components that can’t be changed). Say, for example, you find a recipe that suggests you create a media kit and pitch, and you send it to the 25 top national media outlets. Taking a step back, what is this outcome of this? Establishing your brand’s messaging or story (a media kit and pitch force you to document this)? Building brand awareness and credibility (positive media coverage can do this)? But media outreach is not the only route to achieving this outcome. You just have to know what those ingredients do. Then, you can determine what to change. For brand awareness, if reaching out to media is not your gig, you can create an online advertising campaign, speak at notable conferences, or seek out awards for your company. The list goes on. One last thing to keep in mind: while the recipe is the tactic (and a cookbook is your book of tactics), the strategy is the menu. It’s more of a high-level look at how each of the recipes fit together. For instance, when a chef is planning a tasting menu, they won’t start with a steak and red wine, then dish up a salad paired with a white wine to follow. For winter menus, they also tend to stick to more soul-warming foods, not light, cooling recipes. The season, your audience, your budget, and your goals will all impact your marketing menu (strategy) and the recipes (tactics) you use to achieve that outcome.

Action Item Spend some time determining the underlying structure of your marketing or business goals. What is the menu? And what recipes or tactics can be used to make that menu successful? Most importantly, what do each of those recipes do, and how will they help you achieve your end goal?

Quote of the Week "There is no failure except no longer trying." — Elbert Hubbard

Join me next week, when I’ll be testing out a slightly different format. You'll still get the podcast, but I'll also be posting a video interview to go along with it. This was a suggestion from our next guest, Chris Stark. He is the founder of Digital MGMT and is an incredibly brilliant entrepreneur and digital marketer. It came as no surprise that he suggested I step up my game with video. We talk all about online marketing—a big question mark for a lot of folks. Be sure to tune in! For past Biz Hacks, Action Items and Quotes of the Week, visit, SuccessLabr.com. Until then, have prosperous week!

View Details

Welcome to the SuccessLab Podcast episode #29. I’m in the lab with Juan Kingsbury, founder of Career Blindspot. We discuss how to find and hire the right people, and perhaps more importantly how to find your role within in your own company. A lot of times, as entrepreneurs we have to wear so many hats - initially it’s just something that must be done. But as you grow and begin to hire people on, how do you know what role you should play in the company and where you will be most effective?

1. Can you give us a little background on you?
   • I’m 32 and for the last two years I ran my own consulting company now known as Career Blind Spot. I worked for about 6 years for a assessment company that provided personality profiles to other consultants that use them in their businesses. From fortune 500 to mom-and-pops, they would coach, help them hire the right people, deal with poor-performing employees, etc. As a background player or a third party I would help these other companies and one day I realized I have a learned a lot and I think for the most part I can do this just as well or better. About two years ago I made my official jump and cut the cord. A large part of my time is devoted to helping other consultants to help them figure out what they want to do.
2. You work a lot with people who may not be entirely happy with their current job, how do you generally advise them on making changes?
   • There’s not a simple answer. But the reality is most people are too afraid to take that leap and go into something full time. I don’t think everyone has to be an entrepreneur. One thing I’ve found common among entrepreneurs is they don’t wait around but you don’t have to necessarily have your own business to take control of your career.
   • First, look around. Why are you dreaming about this other job or position? Why is this a mismatch? Self reflect.
   • Identify what kind of work you want to do? Where do you want to be challenged?
   • Decide to put your focus into what it is you want to do.
   • Ask what it will take to get you to that path.
3. Along similar lines, a lot of entrepreneurs struggle with burnout and that can be a product of them not fulfilling a role within their company they are not really happy with. And some times that can be a simple shift. How can they determine that role?
   • First, go to where your mind enjoys doing things. Think about where your mind lights up. What do you enjoy doing? One thing that a lot of people don’t realize when they start a business is they have to wear multiple hats. So if you’re burned out as an entrepreneur, it’s because you are wearing too many damn hats, and it’s very real that you may have to do that. But you need to be doing the roles that are most important and hire out the rest. I heard a great quote the other day, “If you expect to be promoted, you need to be replaceable.” Because if someone can’t do your job, that means you can’t stop doing that job and move on to something else.
4. If an entrepreneur is not in a position to hire, and has to do something they may feel resistance towards doing, how can they overcome that?
   • Do an annual review, and take a hard look at what it’s costing you to continue doing this and not get someone else. Of course in the immediate, you’re saving money by not hiring someone. And I hear this a lot, that the potential hire can’t do this as fast as me or as good as me. Run a cost analysis. If you’re doing something that you could’ve paid someone $10 an hour for, and you’re time is worth more than that, then you’re wasting a lot of money.
5. Do you have any tips for hiring? Does this apply to contractors as well.
   • It’s going to be different for everyone. Most people are bad at it, unless that’s your job, most people just aren’t great at hiring. It’s like dating. Most people are not good at dating. You’re good at it when you filter out all the people who aren’t the right fit. You have to know what you want first. Then clarify how that job should be done. If you don’t do those two things first, you won’t attract the right type of person. So know what you want first, and not the superficial stuff like I want someone who will work hard and show up on time.
6. Proverbial phrase - slow to hire, quick to fire. How do you know when it’s time to fire?
   • Again, know what you want. You have to have a clear picture of your goals. Identify what superior performance looks like. When you fire it comes down to, ‘Can this person do what they were hired to do?’ Then the next question is, ‘Are they willing to try?’
7. Do you have a tip or tool you can share? Something you’re loving right now?
   • My tip is if you’re a business owner get better at sales. If you can’t convince someone that your product or service is valuable, then you don’t have a business. My favorite sales book is called “Selling Techniques,” by Bill Brooks.
8. How can people connect with you?
   • CareerBlindSpot.com
   • @CareerBlindspot

This week’s Biz Hack: This week’s biz hack is not so much a hack, but something every entrepreneur should be aware of when planning their 2015 marketing strategy. It’s something that could really be detrimental to your plan. So what is it? Last year’s tactics. Christopher S. Penn actually talked about this in a recent blog post. His point was, we too often integrate past tactics and outdated knowledge into new plans, which often leads to ineffective marketing. Of course the big, overarching strategies are still very much relevant, but just look at how quickly marketing tactics have shifted in the past two years. To stay relevant, and effective, connect with customers and potential customers regularly. How, when, where and why do you they like to receive information from you? What do they most want to you, your industry, product or service? Christopher also suggests subscribing to a handful of email newsletters from key players in the marketing arena or in your industry. These folks usually keep a thumb on the pulse of what’s happening. Check out Christopher’s suggestions. A few he mentions that I absolutely love are Jay Baer’s One Thing for content marketing, Search Engine Land for search and SEO, and Social Fresh for social media. I also really like Content Marketing Institute for content marketing, SEO Moz for digital marketing, and of course Christopher’s newsletter, Almost Timely.

Action Items: Review your 2015 marketing plan and be on the hunt for evidence of last year’s approaches. Highlight them or make note of them, then go spend some time reading some timely resources. Take note of new trends and tactics. Then revisit your plan with this fresh knowledge and make changes accordingly.

Quote of the week: ”The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can’t be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it.” ~ Elbert Hubbard

You won’t want to miss next week’s episode. I’m in the Lab with Dan Tyre, employee #6 and a director at HubSpot. We talk about managing growth, hiring, firing and managing a team, and business mistakes to avoid. Dan is an energetic, quick-thinking, and inspiring guy with some of the craziest stories I’ve ever heard. We couldn’t pack them all into this episode, but it’s a really great interview.

For past action items, biz hacks, interviews and inspirational quotes venture over to SuccessLabr.com

View Details

Welcome to the SuccessLab Podcast Episode #28! I’m in the lab with Chris Kontakis, Art Director at eeko, and Founder and Creative Director of LocalRevibe, a digital and print publication focused on downtown culture in Phoenix. Chris is here to talk about how he's taken his publication from an idea into reality.

1. Can you tell us a bit about your journey? My background is graphic design and photography—no journalism or anything involved. I had never been involved in any kind of magazine at all. I had no idea how to go about doing any of it. I was working for a local company, an independent film news blog. When I parted ways from there, I didn't know what to do, so I decided, what the heck, I'll just try this idea and see how it goes. Originally LocalRevibe started as just a blog. Within three months I went into the digital flip magazine, and then moved into print, which was a really crazy experience for me!

2. What led to the creation of LocalRevibe? I was sitting in my kitchen at the time, and it just popped into my head. LocalRevibe was in my mind for five or six years, and I never really did anything with it. I didn't have the name at the time, either. That was a process for me, actually, to figure out a cool name and branding. I started doing a naming session, where I just scribbled names to try to come up with a brand.

3. How did you get it off the ground? I knew a lot of people. I met Jonathan Carol who runs Songbird Coffee House downtown. He was one of my biggest supporters at first. He let me interview Songbird and take photos. After that, I was just diving into everything I could find. If something downtown was cool or appealing to me, I would just call or e-mail, set up a time, and take the photos. Being involved in every possible event really helped. After a month and a half of doing the site, people would just start e-mailing me content. PR companies send me stuff all the time, which is a big help. That was really it, just getting involved.

4. At what point did you start adding to the team? At first I did the interviews myself and then gave them to writers. I did everything but write in the magazine. It was pretty crazy for a while and really tiring. Later on, I found out the writers really liked doing the interviews themselves, and that it made the stories better. I used contract and freelance help. The magazine at the time wasn't making massive profits. It was more like a side project that was starting to generate a little income and starting to gain speed and attention.

5. You also serve as Art Director and Creative Director for another company. It seems managing teams must be your strong suit. Managing a team, whether hired employees or contractors, can prove a challenge for a lot of entrepreneurs. Do you have any tips for managing? Staying organized somehow, whether you use online software to keep track of everything or even Google Calendar, which has been a lifesaver to me, especially with eeko. Being the art director, there's so many meetings, so much going on all the time. And when I'm at eeko, it's just eeko. I don't think about the magazine. On weekends, after 6:00 p.m., that's when I focus on the magazine. When you come home from work and you're dead tired, you don't want to do anything. But the magazine was such a passion project, I literally loved every second of it. Even the organizational part.

6. What was one of your biggest challenges in managing and growing LocalRevibe? I'd always heard magazines are a pain in the butt, that they're hard to keep going, and all that's true. I was running my web design company at the same time, which was just me and a programmer. I still had to meet clients on a daily basis, and that was a lot of work. The magazine became this monster; I had to go out every day and do photo shoots, interviews, and meet people all the time. It became overwhelming at one point.

But I learned to stay really structured. I made a spreadsheet. I'm really horrible at spreadsheets, I'm a graphic designer, but I put one together with the help of my girlfriend Tina. I started lining up all my shoots, all my possible contacts, people I need to talk to, and people I want to talk to. I tried to stay as organized as possible. That was the hardest thing for me. Doing layouts and photos is hard time-wise, but not hard in just the doing of it. Organization is so difficult for me to grasp. It became routine on a week-to-week basis. After a year, it was just natural.

1. What has been one of the most valuable things you have done for the business? Getting relationships, though not necessarily for advertising. For CityScape downtown, for instance, I worked out a partnership with them. They'd help me, and I'd help them; it was a back-and-forth thing. I'd put in ads for them, and they'd help me by pushing us on social media. It's possible an event will come through one day for the magazine. One of the largest things are partnerships and working with people. Someone will help you, you help them, and in the long run you both walk out of it winning.

2. Do you have a tip or tool you can share? Something you’re loving right now? At eeko studio, we use a program called Asana. It's a project management tool. If I didn't have that, I'd be completely lost. I'd have no idea what to do on a daily basis. Having a really good project management tool like Asana is so beneficial. At first I hated it. "Oh no, another thing I have to use." I was dreading it. A couple days down, and I thought, "This is awesome!"

Google Drive helps a lot with real-time editing. I always like to get input from writers about how they envision a layout. I always wanted to get feedback, so it wasn't always just me. Sometimes I get tunnel vision, being a graphic designer. I've been doing it for 12 years, and sometimes

1. How can people connect with you? Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We just hit 1,000 followers on Instagram! You can also visit localrevibemedia.com for stats and information for advertising.

This week’s Biz Hack: How are you showing those who matter most to your business you appreciate them this season? This time of year is not only the perfect time to show gratitude, but it's also a great excuse to reach out to old contacts and business leads. Though the clock is ticking, there are still some creative ways to make an impression.

• Send e-cards with a personal note or a gratitude e-mail campaign.
• Send physical hand-written cards. This can be a great way to break through the clutter and show you took some time to put together a thoughtful note.
• Host a party or fun outing for clients and business contacts. This can also be great networking for all involved.
• Send memorable gifts. One year, I received an interactive Christmas card from a creative/digital marketing company. The card had very simple elements on the front that formed a snowman but could be moved around to make several things.
• With gift giving, I always try to go the local, small, or independent route—not just to support other small businesses, but also because you can often find more unique, high-quality items.
• Do some social good. Maybe you can rally your contacts and clients all to do something good in the community.

Action Items: Nail down what your holiday gratitude gesture will be. Be cognizant of timing, though. If it requires mailing things out to clients across state or country lines, you’ll need to get them out within the next week to week-and-a-half.

Quote of the week: “To uncover your true potential, you must first find your own limits, and then you have to have the courage to blow past them.” — Picabo Street

Next week’s episode is an awesome one! I’m joined in the Lab by Juan Kingsbury, founder of Career Blindspot. We talk about how to hire the right people. The approach he talks about really can span many areas of business, not just hiring, so be sure to tune in.

Don’t forget: for past interviews, biz hacks, action items and inspirational quotes, venture over to SuccessLabr.com. Until next time, have prosperous week!

View Details

Welcome to the SuccessLab Podcast Episode #27. I'm in the lab with Jaime Derringer, founder and executive editor of Design Milk and Dog Milk. She is also an artist herself.

1. Can you tell us a bit about your journey? Design Milk began in 2006. We're going on nine years now, which seems so crazy to me! For the first couple of years, I was doing it part time and also working a full-time job. After three years, I decided to quit my job, just go at it, and see where it took me. Five years later, here I am. It's taken me on a really interesting journey. I was a project manager for about ten years in medical continuing education, and then marketing and advertising—a totally different world. Between doing that and being a manager of teams over the years, it's helped me run the site pretty efficiently. It's definitely helped a lot.

2. What led to the creation of Design Milk? I don't have a background in design—it's a passion. Art and design has always been of interest to me, furniture in particular, from a very young age. For some reason, that's where my focus landed, and that's the majority of what I posted on the site in the beginning. It still seems to be the majority of what we write about today.

3. How did you get it off the ground? There was a point when I said, "I'm going to learn as much as I can about design," but I also needed to learn website design and website programming. I had to learn all the new social media platforms. Every time something new came out, I'd have to learn how to do it. For a very long time in the beginning, it was only me running the site, so I had to jump in and wear as many hats as I could. It was a lot of learning on the fly, and lots of big learning curves. I think that's why I enjoy it so much. It keeps me on my feet. Every single day is totally different from the day before.

4. At what point did you start adding to the team? I was forced to add to my team. I ended up getting pregnant, and I thought, "Hey, you're going to have a person to take care of now! You're going to have to figure out what to do." It's almost like I was put in the position by nature, and I decided to bring on multiple people. I always find it hard to delegate. At the same time, I realized in order to grow, I have to delegate. Having the right people is key to making sure things continue with your original vision, even if you're not the one doing them. I've been really fortunate to have a team that supports what I do.

5. You’ve spoken on a panel about hiring help. Do you have any tips you can share? Managing people is not for everyone. Knowing your personality and knowing how you manage people is important.

Also, pay people what they're worth. Make sure you pay people, period. I love the idea of interns, but I also feel that people aren't as loyal to you if they're not getting paid. You're going get pushed to the back burner. It's important to hire people who have a similar passion. They tend to be driven and into what they do. For what I do, you really have to a have an interest in design. I've been lucky to have people that are super passionate.

6. What was one of your biggest challenges in growing your audience or driving traffic to your site? It was so organic in the beginning because there weren't as many blogs. It was much more of a small community. People found each other that way.

We were fortunate, in the beginning, to have content that was interesting enough to get noticed. Google put us on their Staff Picks for Google Reader. They only had 15 blogs on their Staff Picks, and we were one of them. That's where we started getting a lot readers. Then Google Reader went away, and I was freaking out! Surprisingly, they had already migrated to another way of reading us. When Google Reader went away, we didn't lose much traffic; we just shifted gears and focused on other social networks, and we ended up gaining more traffic that way. Twitter put us on their art and design "Who to Follow" list, so we ended up getting a lot of Twitter followers early on.

Now, there are so many blogs out there, it's nearly impossible to weed through all of them to find ones that you really connect with. I think it's getting more difficult now, and you have to constantly be in people's faces. That's a lot of work. We've noticed we've spent a ridiculous amount of time on social media just trying to get people to our website.

7. What has been one of the most valuable things you have done for the business? I think the best thing I did was hire people to help me. That's number one. I didn't think that I would do it as soon as I did; I was definitely forced into it. I don't know would've happened if I hadn't gotten pregnant and just kept doing what I was doing. Eventually, I was going to burn out. The blog needed to grow, and without me putting my energy into it, it wasn't going to grow. I had to bring people on to help—people who were experts in things I wasn't.

8. Do you have a tip or tool you can share? Something you’re loving right now? We use Hootsuite for our Twitter, and I still really love that program. I think it's versatile and useful. We are looking into doing some Twitter automation, but it's still in early phases. We're trying to look at things that are going to improve our workflow. We're still doing a lot of stuff using old school methods—we still go into Facebook and post each Facebook post. Technology's changing so rapidly that you can't create something that's going to solve all the problems.

9. How can people connect with you? We have a submission e-mail address and a contact form on the Design Milk website, or you can e-mail us at info@designmilk.com. We're also on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and more.

For me, it's @JaimeDerringer on Twitter and Instagram.

This Week's Biz Hack Google Analytics recently lifted the paywall from their Google Analytics IQ test. It’s now free to take. Previously, it was $50 per exam. With digital marketing becoming more and more important, having the certification can be good to have in your arsenal. Even if you don’t obtain the actual certification, going through the lessons will be a valuable practice. If you work in the marketing arena, it may prove essential.

You can access the exam now through the Google Partners program, but it does require you to set up a profile first. Then, you'll be able to access the exam from your dashboard.

To study for the exam, or simply get up to speed on Google Analytics, you can get everything you need in the Analytics Academy, where courses cover analytics fundamentals and platform principles. To give you an idea of the time commitment, there are 21 courses in the first block on digital analytics fundamentals, all consumable in about two to six hours, depending on your desired learning pace. The second module on platform principles contains 15 courses. There is also a study guide rife with information.

Again, it's a cool resource if you are in the market to learn more about Google Analytics.

Action Item How are you measuring the effectiveness of your marketing or growth strategies and tactics? Today, set forth a plan to measure your activities, whether that’s by using something digital like Google Analytics or simply tracking them against certain benchmarks.

Quote of the Week “Make sure your worst enemy doesn’t live between your own two ears.” — Laird Hamilton

Next week we’re in The Lab with Chris Kontakis. He's the founder and creative director of LocalRevibe, a really cool publication here in Phoenix. He's also the art director at eeko studio. Needless to say, he’s a busy guy. We talk about time and project management, and how he brought LocalRevibe from idea to reality.

Don’t forget, for past interviews, biz hacks, action items and inspirational quotes, venture over to SuccessLabr.com. Until next time, have a prosperous week!

View Details

In this episode we're joined in the lab by Zach Goldstein, the founder/CEO of a Bay-area startup called Thanx, a customer loyalty and rewards program and app.

1. Can you tell us a bit about your journey?
   • I was a consultant at Bain & Company working with large retailers and tech companies, and a lot of what I was on customer retention and customer satisfaction. The concept of Net Promoter Score was founded at Bain and a lot of research around customer retention being far more cost effective than acquisition. I spent a lot of my time working with businesses to help them understand that and act on it. But most of these businesses struggled and what became clear is that this is something they weren’t doing well. So when I was at business school at Stanford I started investigating what are ways we can help merchants identify and engage with their best customers. This was a time when Groupon and daily deals was a big deal and there was a lot of attention on how to acquire new customers, but very little around how do you figure out who current customers are and build deeper relationships with them. I founded Thanx with the goal entirely of helping these merchants build those deeper one-to-one relationships but without the hassle of point-of-sale integration or new hardware.
2. How did you get it off the ground?
   • I founded the company myself and then hired a team starting with an exceptional lead engineer, then our head of product and then ultimately growing the team from there. We’re now 15 people. We’re growing. What I needed to do first though was build a product that could attract the attention of our merchants we were looking to target. I designed and built a product with our first engineer, which was a basic prototype. Really we kind bootstrapped the company. That prototype was enough to close our first merchant relationships. Then we raised a larger seed round which allowed us to iterate on the product several times. That was important for us. Most recently we announced a series A round of funding from Sequoia Capital, which will be focused entirely on growth.
3. At what point did you start adding to the team?
   • As soon as we started. It was clear that we were biting off a very big problem. The vision was technically challenging to implement, but also building an experience that’s easy for consumers and really works, is challenging. So we needed to focus on design early on. We needed to grow the engineering team. So the challenge wasn’t when do we decide to bring on new people, but when could we. We maintained a really lean environment but added resources as soon as we could.
4. How did you build a solid team?
   • It’s constantly taught in business school, “hire slow, fire fast.” The last part feels unappetizing to me so I hire particularly slow. For us, building a strong team with exceptional people who want to be here because they believe in what we’re doing is number one. So when we’re interviewing, the first thing we do is evaluate for passion. The first call starts off by letting them know about the Thanx vision and the role and letting them ask questions. Before we ever interview someone we tell them to really give it a long, hard thought on whether they can get passionate about what we’re doing. Because those are the people who are great early stage startup employees. We evaluate on that dimensions before we ever go into their credentials.
5. Looking back is there anything you would’ve done differently?
   • There are lots of ups and downs in the growth of an early-stage startup. At the end of the day I’m not sure there is much we would do differently. I think we’ve made strong decisions along the way. Most of the we gotten luck and have paid out. And the ones that haven’t…I think you have to view them as a valuable learning experience.
6. What has been one of the most valuable things you have done for the business?
   • Without going back to hiring, which I think is the number one thing. Having a top-notch team pays off in a lot of ways that people don’t really think about. 1) You have a wonderful culture and you can be more productive. But it also means it’s easier to recruit more good talent. It’s the people that really matter at these companies, because what we’re doing is a tough map ahead. From the product standpoint, we made a very challenging decision as an early stage company to forgo the traditional advice to build a minimum viable product, get it out there on the market, see what happens and iterate. In some ways we did that in that we tested heavily and iterated. But we didn’t go live with a product that was really on the minimum side. That seems to have paid off, though it was risky because we had slower growth initially.
7. Do you have a mentor?
   • I have several. And that’s been key to my growth as CEO. I have a mentor who means everything to me and to Thanx who I met at Stanford Business School. He gave the advice to stay the course several times throughout the course of Thanx.
8. Do you have a tip or tool you can share? Something you’re loving right now?
   • The number one thing that I have had to come exceptional at is email management. The volume of email is mind blowing. So I’ve cobbled together a set of really useful email tricks to help it become manageable. I use Boomerang for Gmail, Sane Inbox, and HubSpot’s Sidekick plugin. I also use a feature called Inbox Pause made by the people behind Boomerang. The other email hack is to turn off my email when I’m not engaging with it and I block out time on my calendar to plow through email.
9. How can people connect with you?

Twitter: @zgoldstein and @thanxinc

In lieu of this week’s Biz Hack, I wanted to have a moment of gratitude. This past year in SuccessLab has been an incredibly fun, motivating, inspiring, and uplifting one. I’m so grateful for the connection that have been formed as a result of our mastermind groups. It’s also been amazing to watch the growth and transformation many of the SuccessLabrs (myself included) have experienced. This journey has been a bit unexpected…it started last year with one mastermind group and has grown into multiple groups, a podcast and has piqued the interest of entrepreneurs from across the world simply looking for support.

To my fellow SuccessLabrs: thank you for all of the support, input, motivation and guidance. You’ve become my trusted advisory board and for that I’m tremendously grateful.

To the amazing people who’ve let me interview them for the podcast: thank you for being so willing to share your time, knowledge and story. It’s helped other entrepreneurs around the globe.

Those who’ve supported SuccessLab and the podcast: Thank you for helping to spread the word about the podcast, and for providing invaluable feedback and suggestions. It continues to make the podcast better and better…well hopefully.

Action Items: This week’s action item is a simple one…find one thing, along your entrepreneurial journey, you are grateful for. Write it down either just for your eyes to see, or better yet, write a blog post about it or share it via Twitter. Refer back to this often.

Quote of the week: “Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement.” ~ Marv Levy

Next week we’re in The Lab with the founder and executive editor of Design Milk, Jaime Derringer. She has grown Design Milk (and Dog Milk) from a blog to a globally recognized authority site on all things design. We talk about how she grew the traffic and how she manages it all. Don’t miss that one. If you need ideas for DIY Christmas trees, there’s a really cool post on the Design Milk site right now.

Have a happy, delicious and safe Thanksgiving! Give gratitude and take some time off! Cheers everyone!

View Details

Welcome to the SuccessLab Podcast episode #25. In this episode I talk to Matthew Manos, an amazing entrepreneur out of L.A. I had the pleasure of meeting him when he visited Phoenix to help with Pro Bono Week. During our chat, I ask him how he grew his business based initially on nonprofit work. He now has three offices spread across the country and is a notable author. In the Biz Hack I take off from last week’s tip on maintaining focus and give you a cool tactic some us in the mastermind started implementing..

Official bio: Matthew Manos is an neo-philanthropist, creative director, author, and founder of verynice, a global design company that dedicates more than 50% of its work to free services for nonprofits. Matt was also named one of Seven Millennials Changing the World by The Huffington Post. Whew! And I’m leaving quite a bit out.

1. Can you tell us a bit about your journey?
   • I’m a graphic designer by trade. I started my freelance career when I was in high school. I took on my first pro-bono project when I was 16 years old, and fell in love with the idea of working with nonprofits. And seeing the power of design in the social sector, and what it could do in terms of creating a message or making a vision clear, or just communicating in general. I started getting a big enough stream of clients to turn this all into a business, and that’s what verynice is now.
2. For businesses already working with for-profit clients, can they reverse engineer this and start folding in nonprofit work?
   • Yes. It’s been done both ways. The way we started was 100 percent pro bono and then gradually adding paid work. But the way most people start to integrate this model is to start with 100 percent paid work then integrate pro bono.
3. How do you manage it all? How do you manage work/life balance?
   • I’m still trying to figure it out. But I do have an incredible team and leadership at verynice. We couldn’t do anything without our team and our volunteers and contractors. We have a vast network of people we collaborate with.
4. Do you have a staff in place to help?
   • The first time verynice had another staff member aside from myself was when I brought on a business partner, Bora, in 2012. Prior to that we were exclusively working with contractors on a per project basis and volunteers on a per project basis. Pretty rapidly after Bora came on and we had two people running this thing, we started to see a lot of efficiency in our work and our bandwidth growing. The challenge of staffing only came when we absolutely had to.
5. How do you find quality freelancers and contractors?
   • It’s all about how you position yourself. We slowly started to get featured on design blogs and that started to attract really quality designers looking for a place to give back using their skills. Around that time there really wasn’t a lot of messaging out there around pro bono in the design industry so it was a desire that a lot of people were looking for. We were sort of that place people would land if you Google “volunteer design opportunities.” People found us that way.
6. How do you manage communications with your team spread across LA, NY and Austin?
   • It’s actually simpler than you might think. We are still small teams. The three office managers will typically connect weekly, and Bora and I (the managing partners) will connect daily. It’s really just done through keeping a constant stream of communication over Google Hangout or phone or email. Just quick check-ins.
7. I know for me, and this seems true for number of entrepreneurs, it can be hard to let go of certain projects and delegate. How have you been able to do that?
   • Very often with designers we really like making stuff. So for me, the first time I brought on a freelance designer to work on something with me, it was terribly emotional because I really wanted to have my hands in the project. But over a couple of a years of experience managing designers, I started to see the value in collaboration, and the value in surprise of really just letting people run with what they think is the best fit for a creative problem. Now I hardly do any design because of that love of collaboration.
   • Just try it. A lot of times when entrepreneurs are afraid to let go of certain tasks it’s really because they haven’t experienced what that feels like. So I would recommend just trying it. Even if you’re still early stage. The point of starting any business isn’t to allow yourself to keep doing the same thing, but to create some sort of legacy where you’re almost not needed any more. That should be the goal of any founder. It’s also a very liberating goal.
8. Have you been able to automate certain processes in your business?
   • We continue to build upon our questionnaire which is the first place a nonprofit or for-profit will request our services. This has made the on-boarding or vetting process such easier and streamlined.
9. With your business model at verynice, you give away 50% of your work for free. I know you discuss how to do this in your book, but can provide any tips?
   • What’s important is to treat every project like you would a paid project. In a paid project you always have things like agreements or a set scope or a schedule. And very often with pro bono, people forget to set that kind of stuff in place. As a result projects can go wrong really fast and get really stressful for both parties . My biggest advice is to slowly take on more and more pro bono projects but always remember to utilize the same systems across the board.
10. Do you have any favorite communication tools you use with your team?
    • We use Google Hangout a lot for the remote teams. Internally we use Slack, which is a chatting platform which is great for sending cat pictures around.
11. Do you have a tip, tool or even a book you can share? Something you’re loving right now?
    • One of the books that was very influential to me was “Building Social Business” by Muhammad Yunus. (And of course check out Matthew’s book, “How to Give Half of Your Work Away for Free.”)
12. Do you have a mentor?
    • Starting a company when you’re 19-years-old is complicated to find mentors. A lot of people wrote off the idea entirely except for my mom and dad. So they were my mentors at first. Overtime people have reached out to offer advisory services.
13. How can people connect with you?
    • Twitter: @verynicetweets
    • givehalf.co
    • verynice.co

Last week’s hack was all about maintaining focus. It was a trick Jack Dorsey, CEO and co-founder of Square, implemented when he was simultaneously guiding Square and Twitter. So check that out if you missed it. This week’s hack is also related to maintaining focus.

Biz Hack: A few months ago a couple of us in the mastermind group buddied up and began emailing each other our daily most important things (MITs). At the end of the day we recap what from the list we accomplished. Initially this was just a form of accountability, but I also discovered it helped me refocus when the day felt it was getting off track. I could quickly refer to that email, zero in on my MITs and regain focus. Also knowing you are submitting your list of accomplishments to someone at the end of the day can light a fire and make you super productive.

Action Items: Find someone you can start this focus exercise with. It doesn’t necessarily have to be email, but it should be some sort of daily check in. Be sure to find someone who is equally as committed to the idea as you are and who isn’t afraid to call you out if they think your list of to-do’s is too long and unrealistic. The goal is not to set yourself up for failure, but to really hone in on what is most important for that day, and be held accountable.

Quote of the week: “There may be people that have more talent than you, but theres no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do.” ~ Derek Jeter

Next week we’re in The Lab with Zach Goldstein from a rapidly growing startup out of Silicon Valley called Thanx. We talk about how he took Thanx from idea to the marketplace. It’s a very insightful interview, so don’t miss it. For any other past episodes checkout SuccessLabr.com and if you’re in iTunes, please rate the podcast. I’d love to hear what you think. Until next time, have prosperous week!

View Details

Welcome to the SuccessLab Podcast episode #24! This week I’m joined in the lab by Hugh Stephens, founder of Dialogue Consulting in Australia and the new Instagram scheduler app, Schedugram. He is one accomplished guy. He has served on the advisory board for the Mayo Clinic Center for Social Media, and also spoken extensively on the role of social media in the health care industry.

1. Can you tell us a bit about your journey?
   • I’ve been involved in all kinds of businesses small and large since I was still in school. About five years ago I started Dialogue Consulting, which is not a digital agency, but more of a consulting company specializing in social and digital. We do a lot of risk management for larger brands and their use in social media. A few years down the track, I identified a need to be able to schedule a post to Instagram.
2. How do you know when to hire an employee vs. a freelancer?
   • I’ve made terrible hiring decisions before. But really the question it comes down to for me is how much of a disaster would it be if this person suddenly disappeared? If they play a role in your business that is core to how you operate, then I’m of the perspective then you’re better to bring them on as an employee.
3. Have you created systems before hiring or delegating work to a freelancer?
   • My attitude has always been you shouldn’t outsource something you haven’t done once before.
4. I know for me, and this seems true for number of entrepreneurs, it can be hard to let go of certain projects and delegate. How have you been able to do that?
   • It took me a very long time to be able to let go and realize other people do things differently and they don’t always have to do things my way as long as the outcome is the same. You can to communicate clearly what the outcome should be though and that there’s time constraints around that.
5. With your company Dialogue Consulting, I thought you had a really interesting approach. You focus on increasing their internal capability and capacity, so they can use social media effectively. How do you go about increasing the capacity?
   • One of the things about social media is that you can teach anyone to manage social media, so one of the areas we work on with our clients is identifying the people within the business who have knowledge or interest in social media and teaching them the technical implementation side of it.
6. Are there common mistakes you see most businesses make?
   • One is trying to do too many things. It’s better to do a few things well than many things poorly. Another is really understanding your audience and what value they (the business) can provide to the business. You have to provide value.
7. How do you know when it’s time to make a safe exit from a social media platform?
   • It’s ok to ask the audience. Ask where they want to hear from you, what do they want to hear through this particular channel. Sometimes you have to go back to the market research phase.
8. With Schedugram, I know you’ve had some bumps along the way. You are always very quick to alert customers and offer a solution or incentive. As entrepreneurs we’re going to face obstacles and the road is not always smooth, do you have any tips for dealing with set backs or the unexpected challenges that arise?
   • I’m of the opinion that it’s always best way to manage PR is to be as transparent as you are. People understand that mistakes happen, and what you need is to be building up that bank of trust so when something does go wrong, explain what went wrong. This is the problem, this is how we dealt with it, and this is how we’re going to make sure it doesn’t happen again, and here’s what we were going to do to correct it.
9. Do you have a tip, tool or even a book you can share? Something you’re loving right now?
   • I am a big fan of Business Model Generation.
10. How can people connect with you?
    • Twitter: @hughstephens
    • Email: hughstephens at hughstephens dot com

This week’s Biz Hack: This one actually came from a fellow SuccessLabr, Jenny Poon. She came across a productivity hack on Fast Company that suggests allotting a theme to each day to help maintain focus when distractions occur. Jack Dorsey, CEO and co-founder of Square, noted doing this while he was simultaneously guiding Square and Twitter, to quickly refocus the day’s tasks when a distraction would interrupt the flow. So for instance, his week might look like this:

Monday - Focus on management and running the company

Tuesday - was dedicated to product

Wednesday - Marketing, communications and growth

Thursday - Developers and partnerships

Friday - Company culture and recruiting

Saturday - Day off for hiking

Sunday - Reflect, feedback, strategy, get ready for the rest of the week

Action Items: Try dedicating themes to each day of the week. If you’re not sure where to start or which themes to set, try listing out all of your regular work activities so you can identify common themes. Then separate these tasks by theme. If you try it, let me know if it works for you in the comments section.

Quote of the week: “No matter how low the pendulum swings, there’s a high just on the other side. Be thankful for the failures, because those speak to you in a language you’ll never hear. You learn through failure.” ~ Tanner Lawley

Next week I talk with Matthew Manos. He is the other of “How to Give Half of Your Work Away for Free,” and was named one of “Seven Millennials Changing the World” by The Huffington Post. He’s done a lot and he’s only 26!

And if you’re compelled to do so, please rate The SuccessLab Podcast in iTunes…but only if you like it. Until next week, be prosperous!

View Details

Welcome to episode 23 of the SuccessLab Podcast. In this episode I’m in the lab with Sean Tierney, founder of Grid 7 and co-founder of Artilage. We talk about about shifting gears when something isn’t quite fitting, and marketing automation, which Sean is a genius with.

1. Can you tell us a bit about your journey (this will be more your entrepreneurial endeavors)?
   • The first entrepreneurial endeavor goes back to 8th grade. I took my parents video camera to a play and recorded it. Then snuck a flyer into the program and started selling VHS tapes of the play to the parents who were in attendance. I got 100 orders. I made $1000 on that first play. That’s a big chunk of money for an 8th grader. The whole experience was incredible. That really turned me on to entrepreneurship. Since then, I’ve done several things. I took a 40-foot city bus, gutted it, and put night club style floors and seats, and fiber optic lights. We drove that around for a while doing pub crawls and such.
   • JumpBox is probably the business I’m most known for. Basically I created a class of software called virtual appliances and became the largest provide for Amazon DM ware and parallels. Just have done a lot of stuff.
   • Also covered in the podcast: how Sean discovered marketing and business process automation through real estate.
2. Recently you sort of took a hiatus from some of this to get back to your core, can you tell us about that and what you’ve discovered?
   • Basically one of my companies, JumpBox, kind of burned me out. So I was still working and consulting, but it was a hiatus from the products company. So I went to the Dominican Republic, read a bunch of books, learned kite surfing, and tried to unplug for a while.
   • I arrived at a point, where I’m really happy where I’m at now.
3. Shifting gears, I know you are passionate about helping startups. In working with them, what are some common missteps or mistakes you see them make?
   • With startups the most common mistake I see is being attached to your idea. It’s your perception of what you think the solution is rather than going in and seeing what your customer wants.
   • In the show, Sean talks about customer development and Four Steps to the Epiphany.
4. You work with a lot of businesses on automation, being everywhere, and getting more leads in the funnel more efficiently. What are some of the primary things you recommend businesses automate?
   • One of the most important concepts is lifecycle marketing. It’s the idea that in business there’s a lifecycle. It’s the continuum of increasing engagement with you (or your business) that you can systematically move people through, and marketing automation is how you do that.
   • It depends on what they need and where they’re at, but basically you want to shoot for the things that are going to create more revenue - typically that’s client acquisition. So that’s where we start.
   • In the show we also talk about how to “be everywhere.”
5. What tools do you recommend for automation?
   • Check out grid7.com for a list of tools Sean uses to generate results
   • Active Campaign, even Boomerang for Gmail, If This Then That, Zapier, there’s a bunch of tools.
6. How do you recommend entrepreneurs go about systemizing their businesses?
   • When you start out do everything manually. Flinstone it.
7. You talk about being everywhere, obviously a challenge for busy entrepreneurs, how can they do this efficiently?
   • It can be a mix of automation and delegation, but it’s on a case by case basis. See what’s going to move the needle then start in on that. The 80/20 rule.
8. Do you have a tip, tool or even a book you can share? Something you’re loving right now?
   • Check out Sean’s blog for reviews of his latest reads (there will be 20 of them).

Connect with Sean:

Twitter: @ScrollinOnDubs

Blog: scrollinondubs.com/

This week’s Biz Hack: Where to distribute your awesome press release.

Action Items: Somewhat related to the Biz Hack, this week’s action item continues with the media outreach theme...

Quote of the week: Another great quote on decision making: “Make a decision. It doesn’t have to be a wise decision or a perfect one. Just make one.” ~ Seth Godin

Next week we’re in The Lab with Hugh Stephens, he is the founder of Dialogue Consulting in Australia. I first learned of Hugh when I came across a tool he developed called Schedugram, which allows you to schedule Instagtram posts. I started researching him a bit, and he is one impressive guy. We talk about what it’s like to operate multiple businesses and how he has handled growth. Be sure to tune! Hugh gives a lot of really great nuggets for entrepreneurs.

View Details

Welcome to the SuccessLab Podcast episode #22. In this episode, I’m in the lab with Eric Wagner, founder of Mighty Wise Media, where he operates a virtual academy for entrepreneurs. He is also a Forbes and Entrepreneur contributor, authoring articles about the core principles and secrets of entrepreneurship. We talk about the traits of an entrepreneur, time management through automation, delegation and elimination…basically all things related to entrepreneurship. Eric is truly amazing, so I hope you find this interview as inspirational, motivating and valuable as I did.

1. Can you tell us a bit about your journey? What led you to create Mighty Wise Media and how did you become a Forbes contributor?
   • I’ve been an entrepreneur all my life. I feel like I was born as an entrepreneur, and actually started my first company when I was 14 years old. I’ve been starting and building companies for the last 30+ years. My venture into starting Mighty Wise came from the desire and passion to want to give back and serve entrepreneurs. Having done it my entire life and been through the struggles of entrepreneurship, and I've been down to some of the lowest points I can remember in my life, and some of the peak points with some great successes. I have a passion and deep understanding of what entrepreneurs and business owners go through. That’s also why I write for Forbes and Entrepreneur, and why I’m getting ready to launch my first book for entrepreneurs.
2. What was your first business at 14?
   • I was working for a decorative glass company in Colorado that basically put logos on glasses, and I thought if I could buy some of these for a really good price from the owner, then take them down to the swap meet and resell them, then I could probably make some good money. So I bought the extras and that’s what I did.
3. Do you think entrepreneurship is something you’re born with or can it be learned over time?
   • I think there are a couple of traits that are inherent with entrepreneurship. I think you have to have these traits to succeed as an entrepreneur, and the rest is learned. The traits I think we need to have as entrepreneurs are one, the ability to be risk tolerant. For entrepreneurs starting a business, there’s risk involved. There’s always a risk because at the end of the day we don’t get to decide if our business is successful. Yes, we have a huge part to play in it, but the market determines our success. And the second, which I have found through interviewing many entrepreneurs and which I’ve found true for myself, is the ability to be tenacious. Tenacity is something I think we are born with. You either have it or you don’t. When you get knocked down, you’re either going to get up and keep fighting on, or your not. The bottom line is we’re going to get knocked down as entrepreneurs. It’s just part of the game of entrepreneurship. So it’s not a matter of whether you’re going to get knocked down. You’re going to. It’s a matter of whether you get up.
   • I do believe if you have those traits, then you can learn the methodologies of entrepreneurship and the core principles, you can learn leadership, and the craft of entrepreneurship. That’s one thing that a lot entrepreneurs and business owners do not do - learn the craft of entrepreneurship. There are certain methodologies and ways in which things have to be done to be successful.
4. What do you do at Mighty Wise Media?
   • Our purpose at Mighty Wise is to empower entrepreneurs to build great companies. And we do that by focusing on the core principles of entrepreneurship. If you come to Mighty Wise, into our Academy, we’re not teaching how to build a pretty Facebook fan page. We’re teaching whether or not you need one. When an entrepreneur struggles, it’s not about tactics, it’s not about getting more Facebook likes or followers on Twitter. It comes down to the core principles of understanding your business model, understanding the pain of the market and the pain of your customer, understanding who your customer is, understanding your value propositions, making sure you have effective messaging, and that you’re speaking the same language as your customer.
5. What would you say are common mistakes entrepreneurs make most often?
   • I have a quote I love. It’s an ancient Chinese proverb...“If you chase two rabbits, you will catch neither.” This is what I see a lot of entrepreneurs do. They’re chasing too many rabbits, too many opportunities, too many customer segments, trying to create too many products, and too much messaging to go into the market. Especially in the startup realm and for a smaller business that is trying to figure out how to scale, it comes down to the basics, and understanding what your secret formula or secret sauce is. Once you’ve figured that piece out, then you can start thinking about scaling it. There are a million things we have to do every day or we think we have to do every day, and the bottom line is, about 96 percent of it is not important and not what we need to be working on. So if we can identify the top three things that we need to be working on, as entrepreneurs and as businesses, and focus only on those things, that will get us closer to success than anything else. It’s all about knowing what your key activities are.
   • It’s unbelievable that you can just start a business with no resources. Twenty years ago when I was starting businesses, you had to have some resources. You don’t have to now, because we live in a shared economy. There are a lot of entrepreneurs getting into the game, which is great, because there’s no time better to do it. But because of that there’s a lot of entrepreneurs getting into it that don’t realize that they need to understand the core principles of entrepreneurship.
6. Are there any common challenges you see entrepreneurs struggle with the most?
   • Time management is a huge issue. It’s sort of a cliche to say, but it’s actually true. If you can understand the core activities that you need to be working on, and focus on those everyday, the compound effect of that is going to be great. As you consistently focus on the things you most need to work on, and take baby steps every day, you start to build momentum. That momentum going in the right direction starts to turn the small kindling of a fire into a massive inferno.
   • There’s also a big misunderstanding about customer dialogue. I see a lot of entrepreneurs dream up an idea, go into their “cave” so to speak and create this product or service, or whatever they think their market wants, and their doing it without constant feedback from the market. The book, “The Cluetrain Manifesto,” says “markets are conversations,” which means you have to be getting into a dialogue every step of the way. From the beginning when you first have an idea for your business, to the day you’re done with your business, you have to have feedback loops in place and dialogue with your customers, and a deep understanding of their pain, their desires, what their behaviors are, etc. I watch a lot of entrepreneurs, and even businesses that are moving somewhat strongly, but are stuck, simply do not understand who their customer is or how to have conversations with them. If you have those effective dialogues with you customers and begin to experiment with product ideas and messaging, and get the feedback immediately, you can fit the needs of your customer. Engage them in the process so you can have a great company that solves their problems.
7. Scaling a business can be one of the toughest challenges an entrepreneur has to face, how do you know when it's time to start outsourcing or hire someone?
   • As entrepreneurs we have to put a value on our time. I believe ever entrepreneur's time is worth $1000 an hour. So if you put $1000 an hour on your time, that helps frame everything you are going to spend your time on. Having said that, if you’re struggling and you're budget constrained, or you’re just starting out, you’re certainly going to have to wear multiple hats. It’s about understanding the things that you need to work on - what your key activities are - then taking a look at what you’re actually doing. You need to take a week to track that. Take a notepad with you and every time you do something, write down what you’re doing then go back through it and redline everything that’s a big waste of time. Once you do that you’re able to see the things you still need to do as a company, but don’t necessarily need to be doing yourself. Is there a way to automate it, delegate it, or is it possible to eliminate this. So it’s about automation, delegation, elimination. The more you can hone that skill, the more you will be focused on the things you should be doing everyday so you can create that compound effect.
   • Delegation is one thing, scaling is another. I see a lot of entrepreneurs trying to scale their companies before they understand their secret sauce, who their customer is, what their value propositions and revenue streams are, etc. Once you get that figured out on a small frame, then you scale with teams and systems.
8. You must have to monitor a lot to keep on top of emerging trends, how do you find balance between consuming information/content and staying productive?
   • That’s always a challenge. I consume a lot content and read a lot of books at night before going to bed, because that’s the time I’ve set aside to do that. I don’t consume a lot of content during the day because I’m doing the productivity piece of it. That’s just my system. But if you have a schedule for when you learn vs. when you earn, that’s the most important thing you can do.
9. Do you have any favorite productivity tools or best practices you can share?
   • One of the things I’ve found extremely helpful for me when I first started writing, because initially it was a challenge for me to get into the mode of writing, was to set an appointment with someone important. I asked myself, “who would I never break an appointment with, if I had it every day?” If I had a meeting with Richard Branson every day from 1 to 3 p.m., and that was on the schedule , would I break that? No of course not. So I put that on the calendar and every afternoon I would sit down to write - eliminating all distractions. That has increased the number of words I write 100 fold. So set an appointment with yourself and do not break it. Keep a boundary around that appointment on your books as if it was an appointment with someone important, is a huge productivity tip.

Connect with Eric Wagner:

• www.erictwagner.com
• www.mightywisemedia.com
• Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericwagner/

Look for his book, “Walk Through Fire: How to Rise Up, Face the Inferno and Build the Business of Your Dreams,” which will be out in December.

This week’s Biz Hack: Creating a press release for today’s media. In the PR world there’s a lot of debate as to whether or not the press release is dead. They are still in use, and while most media prefer short, succinct pitches, if they are interested in the news, they will generally ask for a press release if you didn’t send one on your initial outreach. What has changed however, is the importance of building in content sharing elements. This is particularly important if you plan to send it over any kind of newswire service, post it to your site, share it in your CRM platform, or post it to a site like PitchEngine. Overall, the structure and primary elements remain the same as the traditional press release. This includes:

• A captivating headline
• A subhead or secondary headline to fill in any details
• Lead paragraph - this should encapsulate your news or announcement in one succinct paragraph. In journalism this is called the nut graph (the article or news in a nutshell) and will include the who, what, when, where, why and how.
• Quotes - if applicable
• Facts
• Boilerplate - a brief description of your company
• Contact information
• Keywords
• Relevant links

Social media or content marketing press release elements include:

• Sharing buttons - pre-configured to share specific content or pieces of text
• A captivating headline - in 55 characters or less so that it can he shared via Twitter
• Contact information - include social links. Only include a the ones you are most active on.
• Multimedia - videos, images or a photo gallery, audio clips
• Tags

Another way to go about this, and this bucks tradition, is to completely rethink the press release, and focus more on creating a story. Think about your own patterns. Are you more apt to share a press release or a well-written, compelling blog or story from a company? Focusing on telling a story still gets your news across, but forces you to put your journalism hat on to create a more compelling, high-value piece of content. Today we’re no longer completely reliant on journalists to tell our stories. Thanks to various publishing platforms, newswire distribution services, and social sharing tools, your news can be published as is - thus becoming shareable web content. With that in mind, why not create something that delivers real value to the reader (journalists included)? To do this, there are a few questions to ask to help shape your story:

1. Why will people care?
2. What’s the real story, angle or hook here?
3. How will this add value to someone’s day?
4. Would Seth Godin (or whoever you think is cool) retweet this?

Once you’ve determined the answers to those basic questions, you’ll want to apply the laws of a good blog post. A few elements to keep in mind:

• Strong, eye-capturing headline, optimized for social, search and of course the reader
• A strong opening or lead paragraph
• Keywords - be sure to use applicable keywords, being careful not to detract from the content
• Multimedia - images, video, audio
• Easy-to-read layout - make use of bullet points, break text into small digestible paragraphs and use subtitles to separate sections, thoughts or actions
• Value - include a step-by-step, a downloadable how-to, humorous photos, an infographic with interesting facts, a diagram or demonstration, and the list goes on. Add value to the reader in some way.
• A call to action - don’t forget this all-important piece. It can be anything from downloading something, requesting additional information, visiting your site, etc.

Next week I’ll talk about where to share all of this amazing content you are going to start creating.

Action Items: Take a look at your news release or product release schedule for the next six months, and begin to create story ideas around this. Fold these stories into your overall content marketing strategy and editorial calendar. Instead of writing a traditional press release about your company merger or this new shiny object you are releasing, can you create a slide share presentation about, an ebook or an infographic to introduce the news in a more compelling and valuable way? Shift your thinking beyond how introducing this news will benefit your company, and begin to think about how it will benefit the reader’s.

Quote of the Week: I like to finish up each podcast with a quote, and this week’s is “You can usually correct a bad decision. You can’t correct a non decision.” Uncle Jerry.

Next week we’re in The Lab with Sean Tierney, founder of Grid 7 and co-founder ofArtilage. We talk about marketing automation, and knowing when to part ways with an idea and pursue that burning passion. Be sure to tune! Until then, have prosperous week!

View Details

Welcome to the SuccessLab Podcast episode #21. In this episode, I’m in the lab with Mignon Gould, the founder of TheChicSpy.com. We talk all about growing an online business and how Mignon is blazing a trail in the world of digital publishing.

1. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey and what led to the launch of The Chic Spy?
   • I had a blog called Hollywood Digs and I would find things for people that they had seen in films or on television. So, if they saw a handbag and said, “I had to have it,” I would do a little research and see where that handbag came from. It was fun and exciting and I even got featured in a local magazine during their television sweeps but I decided I wanted to write something a little bit more in depth that had to do with style and fashion. At that time I didn’t know what I wanted to call it, I just knew I wanted to do more writing rather than the service of finding things for people, so that’s how it began.
2. Have you always been interested in style and fashion?
   • I always say to people, when other kids were reading “Green Eggs and Ham,” I was flipping through my grandmother's Bergdorf Goodman catalogue, clipping out things and making montages of looks that I liked. So, I’ve always been intrigued by it and enjoyed it. To me, it is a form of art because you are able to create an aesthetic just by the way you match things and you put things together. I knew I wasn’t going to be a designer, but knew I wanted to work with it somehow, and that’s what led me to the journalistic side of the industry.
3. How have you built up your following over the years?
   • I launched The Chic Spy in 2007 when I was working for a local newspaper and I was writing and styling for a print publication. I decided I really wanted to write more - I wanted to go up that next notch with fashion. I wanted to know behind-the-scenes [information] - why they choose certain fabrics, what inspires designers, etc? So, I decided to pursue a graduate degree in fashion journalism and there were only two places in the world that offered it – Central Saint Martins in London and The Academy of Art University in San Francisco. I chose San Francisco, a beautiful city to explore. At first my blog was just a hobby, something fun, a way for me to share my passion with readers. When I went there [San Francisco], I was reignited to make my blog more than just a blog, and turn it into more of a publication. I used it for my thesis, so it was a re-launch for me. That’s basically how I got started with The Chic Spy evolving from a blog into a digital magazine.
   • Growing traffic in the beginning was quite difficult because usually when you are working on a blog, you really are trying to give people a service - something that they feel they can take away with them. How I really got the push in numbers was from one post in particular. The post was on how to pronounce fashion designer's names. It was kind of the phonetic spelling and now it’s actually an audio guide that people can listen to. It was featured on TeenVogue.com and just literally overnight, my numbers tripled after that was featured and they’ve been going up ever since.
   • One tip for attracting traffic is to study your traffic. Find some type of traffic-monitoring tool like Google Analytics. You gain an understanding of the people who are visiting your site you can create more content that appeals to them. At the time, before I was featured on Teen Vogue I was not really thinking about who my reader was, I was just putting out content. When I started seeing what they were actually visiting, what was getting a lot of hits, what was being shared the most, that gave me an indicator of the people who were visiting my site and what type of content they were interested in.
4. You've created a really great community around The Chic Spy. How have you done that?
   • I consider all the readers of the site to be “Chic Agents.” I encourage them to communicate on the site and my social media platforms, and some of them have been so passionate, they’ve reached out to even become contributors to the site. It has a lot to do with fully engaging the reader and making them feel like it’s something not only that they indulge in, but they’re a part of. I also do giveaways – that’s a great way to engage people, get people excited, get them to spread the word. People love to win something and I try to give away things that I’d want to win if I was competing.
5. Is there anything that you know now that you wish you knew when you first started?
   • There are several things. One, I’d have to say that when it comes to the technology side of things, is usability. When I first started The Chic Spy, all I really cared about was creating a site that I loved the way it looked. I was getting my message out there and it was more about me when I first started my site. As I’ve evolved, I’ve learned you know what, it’s not about me, it’s about my reader and my site being user friendly. When the site first launched, I thought it was very user friendly because I worked in it all the time, but when I started doing surveys and then having people in the industry who are developers kind of play with it, they found it difficult. So, I figured if they are having a difficult time and they’re developers, imagine what everyday people who just want to enjoy your content are experiencing. If it’s going to take them forever to get to something, people are going to lose interest. They don’t like to click several times – maybe one or two and that’s it. If they have to search for something and it’s complicated, you are going to lose people and that’s the last thing I wanted to do. So, I had to do a full re-design, and when I did this, I had to keep in mind what was best for the user and of course, and figure out a way to meld my aesthetic with what would work the best for the user - and one important feature I learned they wanted and needed was mobile. I was finding that because of the demographic that I have, which is about 18-34, they were really using mobile a lot heavier, so it was imperative my site was responsive.
6. Did you have all of your branding pre-planned or has it unfolded over time?
   • I would say a little bit of both. When I first started out, I was this person who loved to plan everything. I did start out with a plan, but the key is flexibility and I’ve learned to be flexible over time. The usability is a prime example. There were some things I had to change, whether I was ready for that change or not. A plan is always good, it’s like having a map. You want to have a direction that you’re going in, but be willing to deviate. As for the brand and the Chic Spy theme, I like to compare it to a combination of Audrey Hepburn and James Bond. I knew that was kind of the premise when I first started out and I tried to stay true to that aesthetic and that idea but I knew that there were times when things would have to deviate in order for me to make this work and make this engaging for the reader.
7. You’ve obviously figured out ways to monetize the site. Do you mind sharing some of the ways you’ve done that?
   • Sure, that is something that I am continually coming up with ideas for ,but some of the mainstream ways that people monetize digital magazines, blogs, or online sites are from affiliate networks. I’m a member of a couple of affiliate networks. You can do something one-on-one with a brand or you can partner to have an advertisement layout.
8. Do you have any favorite apps or any tools that you use for productivity, time management or marketing?
   • One of the main concerns that I have as the publisher of a digital magazine is how to maintain my editorial calendar. That has been the bane of my existence for over a year now. I've tried countless apps and tools, but ultimately came back to Google Calendar. I have fallen in love with Google Calendar and I’m right now getting ready to launch a new editorial calendar platform for myself and my contributors. I have not found any limitations to how many calendars you can create, so what I love about it is there’s apps where you can connect your content with your Google Calendar and to be able to manage it on your phone.
9. What’s next for Chic Spy?
   • I’ve started doing photo shoots. I’ve just had my first photo shoot that came out on Labor Day. I’m really excited about it – I really feel that there’s such a great space right now for online magazines and one of the things I want to do right now is meld what people might find in a print magazine with what people might also see on a blog.
10. When you do events such as Fashion Weeks, how do you draw attention to The Chic Spy? How do you maximize those in person events and get people back to your site?
    • Well, one of the things I do is kind of a small effort but it makes a big difference - I handout my business card. My business card has my character on it and it’s kind of fun and it’s designed to mimic what you might see an agent give someone. That was important for me because there are so many different events that I get invited to and it’s not really cost effective. I decided I wanted a business card that would catch people’s eye – that when it’s in their wallet, in their clutch, wherever they decide to put it, it would be something that's more difficult to throw away.

Connect with Mignon (aka The Chic Spy):

• www.TheChicSpy.com
• @thechicspy
• Instagram: The Chic Spy
• Email: editor@thechicspy.com

This week's Biz Hack is slightly different than usual. Last month I attended Content Marketing World in Cleveland and got to interview some of the top content marketers. I asked them to either share a tip for entrepreneurs or a productivity hack, and wanted to share what they had to say: Success Tips from Content Marketing World.

1. Get writing (Ian Cleary from Razor Social)
   • Produce good content on your blog and let Google send you traffic.
2. Use apps and GTD to get more done (Stephen Spencer, SEO expert, author and speaker)
   • Use apps to help you get things done like Things, Omnifocus and breakdown your large projects in to tasks and those into categories.
3. Block calendar time for personal projects (Amy Higgins, content and social manager at Concur)
   • Block out sections on your calendar to get work done uninterrupted. Tool: Concur App to manage your expenses while traveling.
4. Get out of your inbox (Chris Ducker, entrepreneur, author and founder of Virtual Staff Finder)
   • Use a 3-click rule to get those messages out of your inbox quickly: 1. Reply or Forward, 2. Delete, or 3. Archive and move on with your life.
5. Utilize DivvyHQ to manage content (Kim Higdon, social media manager at Off Madison Ave.
   • Manage content marketing efforts and collaborate team wide using this online platform.
6. Build your brand from the start (Heidi Cohen, chief content officer of Actionable Marketing Guide)
   • Choose the details for your brand from the start of your business and stay consistent as your business grows.
7. Use Evernote to create epic blog posts over time (Lee Odden, CEO of Top Rank Online Marketing)
   • Have a few spare moments? Put your ideas into Evernote and add to it whenever you can. It’s a great tool for organizing your ideas.
8. Get up earlier to write great content (Andy Crestodina, Co-Founder of Orbit Media)
   • Go to bed earlier, get up earlier and write something awesome before you look at your email and it will change your career.

Action Item: This week’s action item is to choose one tip, tool or hack suggested in these interviews and give it a try. Quote of the week: “Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.” ~Mark Twain Next week we’re in The Lab with Eric Wagner, founder of Mighty Wise Media and regular contributor to Forbes and Entrepreneur where he writes about the secrets of entrepreneurship. It’s an amazing interview, so be sure to tune! Until next time, have prosperous week!

View Details

In this episode of the SuccessLab Podcast I’m in The Lab with Tim Paige, the Conversion Educator at LeadPages and the Conversion Cast podcast. We talk about how to effectively use LeadPages to convert leads, build your email list, and lead potential customers into the sales funnel.

1. Can you tell us a bit more about LeadPages for those who may not know what it is?
   • LeadPages is a platform that allows people to implement the best marketing materials that work, based on the data that we have. We've collected over a billion points of data and with that, we’ve used that to create things like landing pages, click-up boxes or opt-in forms...tools that allow people not to have to hire a developer. You can simply put up a landing page in 5 minutes or put up a sales page in 5 minutes and be ready to go, and know that it’s going to convert
2. How are marketers/entrepreneurs using LeadPages?
   • Of the three most popular uses for LeadPages, one would be as email collection landing pages – using it as a general squeeze page/landing page kind of thing to get email addresses. The second most popular would be webinar registration pages. A lot of people are using it because it converts better than any other webinar registration pages I’ve ever seen. I’ve converted a lot of people who were using the general GoToWebinar registration pages, getting these 10% conversion rates. I’ve said for one webinar, just try LeadPages and see how that works out, and they get 60% to 70% and they're blown away. The third thing would be for sales pages. We have really, really beautiful highly optimized sales pages that people use, and again it’s so easy to deploy them that you don’t have to stress out about hiring somebody or going through all that hassle.
3. Does LeadPages only work for free webinars or does it work for paid webinars as well?
   • I think there's a place for paid webinars for sure. The beautiful thing, when you're doing something like selling software or information products, you can do a webinar and give 40 minutes or an hour of just insane value, have people fall in love with your brand, fall in love with you, fall in love with your company. Then when you offer something, and help them do what you just taught them to do, it's so much easier to get them to get out their credit card. So use the webinar to sell a paid webinar or series of webinars.
4. Ok, so you’ve got your LeadPage designed and ready to go, where do you go from there? How do you drive traffic to it?
   • There are a lot of ways to do this and I think we could do about 50 podcast episodes just on different ways to drive traffic. What we’ve been doing that’s really worked for us has been just focusing on lots of high-quality content. So, if you go to Leadpages.net, you’ll see we’re constantly posting really high-quality blog posts. We have all these different channels that we're creating lots of content for and in doing that, our SEO has gone crazy. If you're in a particular niche, and you create lots of content that's going to help your audience, that's going to work for getting lots of traffic. If you want to get traffic very quickly, something I'm learning a lot about is Facebook ads. It is a sweet science though and you should really learn it well. One way is to send traffic from a Facebook ad to a webinar registration page, but do it within Facebook (such as in a tab on Facebook). So, two big traffic generation strategies would be great content marketing and Facebook ads.
5. What are some of your top tips for building an effective LeadPage?
   • The first thing is, if you are not a conversion specialist or a marketing pro, I would say to start really simple. The big thing that people tend to do is they feel like they need to put all these things on a page to create engagement. So, for a landing page, we think that we need to have a bunch of bullet points that sell whatever it is that you're giving away or selling, but what we have actually found, the highest converting landing page that we’ve ever created was also the simplest. It gives away a 1-page PDF list of tools. And it has gotten us more opt-ins and more consistent business results and growth than a page that we created to giveaway a video course. At the end of the day something simple like a list of tools is the most valuable thing you can giveaway because it satisfies people's immediate gratification.
6. You talk to a lot of entrepreneurs and experts on your podcast, the Conversion Cast, is there an interview or strategy that really stuck out to you?
   • Every week! One really strong example is an interview I did with Greg Hickman from Mobile Mix. Greg shared how to use mobile to improve your webinar attendance. Using text message reminders. The average person opens a text within 3 seconds of receiving it. You cannot get that kind of response from anything else.
7. Efficiency tips and tools you love or that are working for you?
   • I’m probably a really poor example of this, but I would say, I am pretty decent at being efficient but I do it in the most convoluted way of all time. Tt really comes down to a combination of my iPhone, Google Calendar, Gmail and ScheduleOnce. That is how I schedule all of my appointments and the podcast interviews, all of my podcast interviews, all that kind of stuff goes through ScheduleOnce. If you don’t have an assistant, use that. The most valuable tool that I've ever gotten, in terms of efficiency, is the word "no." As entrepreneurs, we have this tendency to want to help everybody. As you're growing your business, say "no" to a lot of things, which is counterintuitive.
8. Where can folks connect with you?
   • Conversioncastgift.com and the Conversion Cast.

This week’s Biz Hack: It’s all about media kits - whether or not you need one and if so, what to include in it. Media kits are great to have on hand, particularly online where they can easily be downloaded. The goal of the media kit or press kit is to provide the media with enough information that they might need to report about you and your company. Creating an online “Press Room” can really help the media to tell your story. Typically the contents of the media kit will include:

• About Us - This is an overview of your company similar to your About Page on your website, but more factual. Include background information, when your company was founded, where it is headquartered, why it exists, who it serves, and any notable achievements or awards. It can also include a quote from the company founder about the company’s vision, or purpose.
• Relevant Bios - This includes bios from company leaders or founders, which should consist the person’s role within the company, a brief overview of previous career experience, any degrees, certificates or licenses obtained, any awards or recognition received, any memberships or associations that they may be a part of, or leadership roles, such as serving on a board of directors or chairing a committee. You can also include a little bit of personal information as well including, hobbies, city where they live, marital status, children, pets, favorite food, or any other information to add a little human element to the biography.
• Fact Sheet - Fact sheets are quick overviews of your company by the numbers. It is not necessary for every organization, but would typically contain any pertinent facts about the company in a “quick glance” layout. An overview that could be divided into easy to read columns that might include company name, year founded, key leaders, a list of products or services, any notable or significant projects completed. Sometimes fact sheets include financial facts and stats, number of employees, number of people served, and any other details you wish to include.
• Latest Press Releases - Include anywhere from 1-3 of the latest press releases.
• Past Media Coverage - Select the best pieces from your media coverage and include them.
• FAQs - Frequently Asked Questions page should be included if it’s relevant to your organization.
• Photos - Photos are a very important part of any media kit. Be sure to have high resolution, professional images of any projects, products, leaders and/or founders of the company. Visuals are so important to the media and the more that you can offer, the better.

Action Item: This week's action item is to start pulling together the components of your media kit. Even if you don’t have an immediate need to reach out to media, it’s great to go through this process. It will sort of force you to polish your look - you might notice your bios or About page need refreshing, or you might realize you some professional photography. So work on getting your media kit or press kit together. Quote of the week: “Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve." - Napolean Hill Next week we’re in The Lab with Mignon Gould, the founder of The Chic Spy. We talk about how she grew the traffic on her website and created a great community around it. Be sure to tune! Until then, have prosperous week!

View Details

Welcome to the SuccessLab Podcast episode #19. In this episode, I’m in The Lab with Jenny Poon! She is the founder of eeko studio and Co+Hoots, a co-working space in downtown Phoenix, and co-founder of Co+Hoots Foundation. In this episode we discuss how Jenny hatched and grew two businesses by tapping the power of community, prioritizing and hiring the right people.

1. Can you tell us a little about your journey? How did eeko studio and Co+Hoots come to be?

2. Eeko studio is a graphic design studio. I started that in 2009. It hatched from bad experiences working for different organizations. I worked for a range of different companies and some of them had really bad leadership, and some of them developed some bad culture and company morale.

3. How have you built up the Co+Hoots community over the years? Did you have a definitive plan or have things developed as you've gone along?

4. I go into all these business meetings, and these pitch sessions with these people who have been around in business for a long time. They talk about business plans and goal setting, and I feel a little embarrassed because we didn’t plan that well with this. So there’s definitely been a lot of things that I’ve learned over the years. I did not have a plan to begin with. I hatched this little idea and launched it in a month. I had very reasonable goals and I’m pretty conservative with my goals to make sure that I’m still motivated to move forward.

5. At what point did you decide to bring on help?

6. I thought that this could grow without any kind of staffing so I didn’t plan to hire staff and I was just aiming for sustainable plus extra so it could have a little nest egg fund. Co+Hoots is a side project of mine so it wasn’t anything that I had planned to make money off of, so I didn’t build that into it. Then I realized that "Ok, now we’re at 30 people, we should probably have someone here making sure the lights continue to stay on and that people are locking the doors."

7. In terms of building the community around it, everything from having the owl mascot to different events like Food Truck Wednesdays and the Mid-Week Mind Tweak, how have those things come about? Have you planned how to build the community in that regard?

8. No, this community is truly built by our community. The only thing I really did was force some interactions, force some questions - some leading questions. I often sit down with our members and have those conversations of “What do you think we should be doing?" "Do you have any good ideas?"

9. Was there ever a point, maybe early on, when you tried to do everything yourself?

10. I still get there. Early on, definitely. I think that when you are starting a business, you just have to know that you are going to be doing everything yourself in the beginning until you can ramp up in terms of salary and in terms of revenue to be able to support another staff member.

11. Is there anything you know now that you wish you knew when you first started out?

12. I wish I knew how important it was to hire the right person and I still have to remind myself about that every day. There is a level of training that goes with every role, but the most important thing that I’ve learned is making sure that you hire the right person.

13. Do you have any efficiency tips or tools you can share?

14. Yes! (Here comes my royalty check!) I use Asana a lot. I’m really into these small start-ups that have great technology because they are constantly focused on customer service and improving their business and they’re really listening to customers. So I really like Asana, they obviously have a bigger team but they are constantly improving their App. I love Freshbooks, which is my billing system. I also set up routines. Every night before I go to bed I look at my calendar so I can mentally prepare myself, and check my email and make sure anything that needed to be responded to did get a response. Other apps I love:

    • CloudMagic
    • Sunrise
    • Postagram
    • Pocket

This week’s Biz Hack: Generally, if you’ve considered trying to get media coverage, you already have a wish list of publications, websites, or TV or radio shows you would like to go after. For a while, when Oprah was still on regular television, if I had a dollar for every time a client said they wanted to be on the show, I’d have tens of dollars. I’m joking, but this was a very real goal for many clients. And while I’m a big proponent of aiming high, you also have to have a more realistic and strategic game plan just in case Oprah or Mashable doesn’t come calling. So how do you build a media list to target?

1. Start with your end goal in mind - what your goals? Is it to position yourself as a though leader or industry expert? Gain visibility for a specific product? Build brand awareness among a specific demographic?
2. Zero in on your target audience - while media exposure in large media outlets with massive audiences is great, sometimes it’s the niche media outlets that deliver the biggest return. When you target niche media outlets you are tapping into an audience that is often more attune to what you may have to say or offer. For instance, I work with a company that makes rugged mobile tablets, and our primary focus is industry publications in specific verticals like trucking and transportation, warehousing, machinery, and oil and gas. Not very sexy, but the people who read these publications are most likely looking for technology like this.

3. Discover what your audience reads - there are several ways to go about this. Some ideas include:

4. Poll your audience - If you already have audience (perhaps on your Facebook page, an email database, or blog following), simply ask them what media they most consume. You can either leave it an open ended questions, but you may get responses all over the place, or if you have a general idea, you could ask them to rank a list of specific media outlets.

5. Review media kits - most media outlets will have a media kit, usually in their advertising section that will outline their reader demographics. Some go really in depth with the demographic information (this information is also great for creating your buyer personas) so you can see if it’s targeting the right audience for you.

6. Research social networks - this one can be a bit time intensive, but you could also search on Facebook for people interested in a specific topic or your industry. You can add other filters like location, gender, age, etc. and see, based on their likes, what media they may be engaging with.

7. Look at your competition - Take a look at who is covering your competition. These media outlets will obviously be interested in your industry or topic and perhaps you can offer them a fresh perspective.

8. Google keywords - Search keywords relevant to your industry or topic and see who is currently covering it. This might help you discover new media outlets you can target. It might also give you some ideas on what and how to pitch them.
9. Timeliness - the other thing to take into account is the timeliness of the news you are trying to get coverage for. If you have a product that is launching soon or an upcoming event that’s only a couple weeks out, targeting print magazines that have 4-9-month lead times (some even more), wouldn’t be the best strategy. You’ll want to go after more immediate outlets like daily print, online or TV media.

Hopefully this helps get you started on planning your media outreach campaign!

Action Items: This week’s action item doesn’t have anything to do with the Biz Hack for a change. Your action time is to systematize and document one process you routinely do in your business. We all have them, so just pick one. Creating a system for that process then documenting will allow you to easily delegate this task, should you decide to offload some of your work down the road. For those of us who have trouble delegating because you think no other human being can possibly do this task as good as you, creating a system and documenting it will help you see that it just might be possible. If they follow your amazingly awesome process of course.

Quote of the week: Another Seth Godin great! “Quit or be exceptional. Average is for losers.”~Seth Godin Next week we're in the lab with Tim Paige, the conversion educator at LeadPages. It's an awesome interview...he provides great marketing tips! Be sure to tune in. Until next time, have prosperous week!