Rajesh Bhatia, CTO of Keap, joins Small Biz Buzz to talk about the relationship between AI and automation and how they make entrepreneurs’ lives easier. While conquering the chaos of a small business, entrepreneurs have so many things to worry about, mainly, their sales and marketing, which can be easily automated. For example, if somebody comes to your website and they populate a “contact me” form, the goal is to automate the communication by collecting and transferring the data to a lead capture spreadsheet. That's the kind of high-level AI and automation Keap is presenting to the small business arena.   “All we're doing here is providing [small business owners] the necessary applications, tools and capabilities to make their lives easier–either by being able to help manage their contact lists, their sales and marketing automation, their appointments, their pipelines, etc.,” said Rajesh. “We’re building the software so we can help our small business customers because we recognized how difficult their job is, how difficult their work is. And all we want to do is empower them because ultimately, we are fueled by small businesses. And their growth is important to us as a community, as a country. And more importantly, us here at Keap because that's our mission to help small businesses.” Click play for more.

Natasha Davis, who is the founder and CEO of Impact Branding Consulting, joins Small Biz Buzz in our Big Grit docuseries to talk about her journey from being a nurse to realizing her real passion of becoming an entrepreneur and all the obstacles she had to overcome to be successful.       “It takes time. Shifting from a mindset of being an employee is a big shift to being an entrepreneur, but then you have to shift from being an entrepreneur to being an employer, to being a business owner, it's two different mindsets,” said Natasha. “You have to begin to make different decisions. When you start a business, you're making $5,000 decisions, maybe $2,000 decisions, but then as you continue to grow, if you're doing it right, you're now making $25,000 decisions and $50,000 decisions, it's a different mindset.” Natasha stresses the importance of never stop trying; never give up on yourself. “Even when people say no to you, you have to truly believe in yourself. And you have to believe in what you're doing. Believe in what your cause is,” she said. “And don't look at yourself as this little minute thing. You're on this earth to do powerful things. You are that cargo. And if one person says no to you, screw it, go to the next person. There are people there who need you.” Natasha Davis can be found at impactbrandingconsulting.org.     Click play for more.

Clate Mask, Keap’s CEO, joins Small Biz Buzz to talk about the mindset of entrepreneurs versus small business owners and how having grit can get you through the hard times. Clate expresses the fact that the entrepreneurial journey is hard enough, let alone with the curve balls like we've had this year. COVID-19 really clarified the difference between the typical small business owner and the entrepreneur. “The typical small business owner generally lives in a very concerned state of being and is very cautious and very concerned about the present, and can easily be swayed by circumstances around them,” said Clate. “Whereas the entrepreneur is very focused on the future and is very optimistic and is very driven and action-oriented to not get stuck into a rut, but to actually drive to a better place and is willing to take some risk and is willing to be uncomfortable. Typical small business owners want to be comfortable. Entrepreneurs are okay when they're not uncomfortable so they can drive to a better state.” Clate also discusses Keap’s upcoming conference, IKON, which will be held virtually this year November 12-14. “If you're serious about growing your business and you want to be in a community of people that are like-minded and are serious about growing their business, if you want to understand sales and marketing automation and how it can change your business, and you want some inspiration and motivation, IKON is an event like none other,” said Clate. “It is so remarkable to see what happens when you bring people together and their stories, how they use our software to change the game, how they are overcoming the challenges, how they bring grit and optimism to their work every day. I just love our customers.” Speaking of grit, check out Keap’s newest Big Grit docuseries at keap.com/big-grit. Also, if you want to register for IKON, click here. Click play for more.

Paige Clark, Keap’s Corporate Communications Specialist, joins Small Biz Buzz to talk about utilizing the small business aspect in local marketing when it comes to social media. “If you're really working on growing [your] small business, you want to focus on the people who are your market,” said Paige. “And that's why you want to start with this local bubble on social media.” Per Paige, the first place you should start, whether it’s on Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, is geotagging your location, but use it strategically. Don’t tag a place that no one's ever heard of. Don't tag the taco stand on the side of the road because they have good tacos. You want to tag the more general area that is going to have an impact. Click play for more.

Kristen Boss, a business coach geared toward women entrepreneurs, joins Small Biz Buzz to discuss the challenges business owners face to make their first $100K, how to sell confidently and know when it’s time to pivot.   “Why not get there faster by learning from an expert, hiring mentors, getting involved in masterminds? Go get educated!” said Boss when it comes to selling. “It's always going to return back to you. I love grit for building business. It's where a passion and perseverance meet to create a long-term goal. So you have to have the long-term goal in mind and you have to have passion and perseverance, which is grit. You got to be gritty.” Boss said your business has to meet the needs of others. People can tell when someone is selling something to meet their own needs–the entire energy of the experience is very different. Boss also said when it's time to look at a pivot, you should be asking yourself: am I meeting my needs or a felt need I see? Is it an area where I'm an expert? Would I do it for free? Would I find joy and purpose in that? And then lastly, am I running from pain? Or is this a time for me to get critical and do some evaluations and look at what's working? What's not working? What do I need to do differently? Click play for more.

Jason Komosa, chief business officer at BlackCart and mental coach, joins Small Biz Buzz to discuss the importance of maintaining a work-life balance mentality when things hit the fan, especially while we’re all working through COVID-19.    Let’s face it, we are living in a world where overwork is overvalued–this idea of we’re working so much to get onto the next task, then onto the next, and the next. Then we develop chronic stress and ultimately, it's the number one enemy of success. It makes things worse. “We ignore our meaningful relationships. We cut out the fun of our lives. We eat poorly. We sleep poorly. We don't exercise. We don't move. We don't take walks. We're kind of just in this self-created isolated bubble,” said Komosa. “And we think it's helping us get more done when the reality is, it's having a reverse effect. It's actually hurting our quality work. I'd much rather have five quality hours of someone's time versus 12 hours of mediocre time. And they say, well, I'm going to wear this badge of pride that I worked 12 hours today. Well, great. And seven of those hours were terrible work. It's all backwards.” Komosa strongly recommends tracking your time. Go through your day and write down what you are doing in every 15, 30-minute blocks. What you'll notice is you will organically change your behaviors to what you want to achieve. The idea is first before you try to change and do something different, focus on what you are doing now. Then from that self-audit, decide you’re going to make some changes. The idea is to use that data to benefit yourself for the future–for tomorrow, for the next week, the next month. And so on. Click play for more.

Ramon Ray, the founder of SmartHustle.com, joins Small Biz Buzz to discuss how to build a community around your small business in which you can actively engage with customers and see more growth.     Ray emphasizes how important it is to bring people together and serve them value as well as provide solutions to your customers’ problems after they have come to know, like, and trust you. “This is what community is about. I would encourage you to get people together on a video call, get people together on a phone call, get people together in a discussion group whenever you want it,” said Ray. “Community can even be an email list. Other people can't see each other per se, but I think to a degree, that in a way, is community. Humans were meant to be with humans.” Click play for more.

Amber Anderson, owner of Tote + Pears, joins Small Biz Buzz to discuss how to market to an underserved audience with the appropriate ads, in this case, women and their families. Amber Anderson’s agency, Tote + Pears, focuses on supporting startups with product management and branding. About two and a half years after launching, she made the decision to focus 100% on women–women being consumers, women being employees, and women being the thread that tied a lot of things together. “[Women] make over 85% of all consumer purchasing decisions, and in many cases, they are the ones that are driving the decisions in their families,” said Anderson. “So that's how we got started and how we became a female-focused branding agency.” Brands and businesses usually don't ask, you're a woman and you're what else? That's the position that Anderson’s agency takes at Tote + Pears. “I feel like if we did that more often, we'd see a lot of ads that connected more authentically,” Anderson said. Click play for more.

Pam Slim, owner of Main Street Learning Lab, once again joins Small Biz Buzz to discuss how little marketing actions make it easier to take action in your small business. Slim recommends that small business owners leverage ecosystem development and partner development to look at ways in which they can understand their bigger systems. “I call [it] tiny marketing actions, which can definitely be marketing actions where you're planting the seed to get the word out, where you get more visibility, where you connect with customers, but it's also really tiny relationship actions,” said Slim. “There are ways that you're just slowly in little tiny ways connecting with people and connecting people with each other, and it's when you do that, at first it can take a little bit of time to learn the different players, but over time as you start to do that weaving, it begins to generate a certain kind of momentum.” Pam suggests that small business owners ask, "What are tiny little ways that I can start to plant the seed, connect with somebody, reach out, ask a question, make a connection?" and then make it a habit. That's the real key–make that the way you operate on a daily basis, and that's where you’ll find a lot of momentum in your marketing. Click play for more.

Jeremy Ryan Slate, who's the founder of Create Your Own Life podcast, joins Small Biz Buzz to discuss how your small business can compete with big brands without breaking your budget. When it comes to building your marketing strategy, Slate recommends thinking of your journey as climbing a flight of stairs. You have to figure out what the bottom stair is so you can start climbing up. You want to find out which stairs are already getting you there. It's the smaller ones, more niche, more industry related. “Your PR and your marketing should work together. You can't just have one,” said Slate. “Whether you're a small business, medium-sized business, whatever you are, if you learn how to get media the right way, you can really cut the learning curve.” Click play for more.

Foodfight! is the animated feature that is the center of discussion in this episode of Worst Business Ideas in History. The hosts break down what went wrong with the release of the 2012 film produced by Threshold Entertainment and directed by Lawrence Kasanoff that received very low ratings and nothing but negative reviews. They also tie in how important it is to listen to your business partners when you have an unpopular idea that may cause irreparable damages to your organization in the long run. Click play for more.

Melody Lewis and Turquoise Devereaux of the IndigenousCC join Small Biz Buzz to discuss the importance of having diversity in your small business.    “Diversity has to be the foundation of your business, that's just it, because naturally, it will impact all these other areas of work–your customer relations, your marketing, all of that,” said Melody Lewis. “Diversity, the understanding of it, what it means and how to apply it, that's the tone that will ensure the sustainability of it, because it's part of the way you do things.” Check out their REZponse Roundtable YouTube channel to see how they’re revitalizing the indigenous perspective in the workplace. Click play for more.

In this episode of Worst Business Ideas in History, the hosts break down what went wrong with the release of the Atari Jaguar and what a disappointment it was to its target audience, mainly teenagers. This product essentially killed Atari as a corporation, as it leveraged its console to bait and switch the audience with false claims that the product was better than those of its competitive counterparts. Click play for more.

Ronnie and Lamar Tyler of Tyler New Media join Small Biz Buzz to discuss the role of diversity in entrepreneurship and how small business owners can support each other through allyship in their respective communities. “There's a huge wealth gap, and it's not getting smaller between different groups in this country,” said Lamar Tyler. “And right now, African Americans are pulling up the rear, and we want to help close that gap through entrepreneurship.” “We are clear about our mission to uplift, equip, and support the community, to support families in our communities so that we can build strong families, we can close in the wealth gap, and just build up our communities. That's what our mission is,” said Ronnie Tyler. Click play for more.

Don Capparella, the CEO of Quality Travel Solutions, joins Small Biz Buzz to discuss how he adapted his travel agency through the hardships of COVID-19 when the travel industry took a major hit.   “We're going to save this industry. We're going to save our business and we created five pivots that we had to do to make sure that we were going to survive,” said Capparella. “We had to pivot our marketing. We had to pivot our client communications, pivot our offerings and destinations. We had to pivot our own internal process. And then we also had to pivot our mindset, which sometimes was the hardest.” Click play for more.

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Josh Collins, who works for an agency called Streetsense, is a TEDx alum, a speaker, and an expert in experience architecture. He will be discussing how he helps businesses design and create by leveraging experience as a strategy. “Essentially what we're talking about is serving our audience from awareness to advocacy, and everywhere in between,” said Collins. “Experience design, experience architecture really is about accessing empathy to understand where your audience is, how they experience your brand, your communications, and what they might offer, how they respond.” This leads to the idea of feedback loops, and learning to design intentional feedback loops that allow businesses to understand what those experiences are as quickly as possible. All small businesses intend certain things, but many times, those intentions don't deliver. Without feedback loops, and without really thinking critically about that, small businesses end up talking to themselves more often than not. “At the end of the day, it is the responsibility of everyone wanting to become a great brand, everyone wanting to grow their business, to make connections that your consumer, your audience never forgets,” said Collins. “That's how you get them to advocacy.” Click play for more.

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Derek Harju are joined by Kristin Rowan, the director of marketing and public relations and sales for Square Egg Entertainment, the parent company for Phoenix Fan Fusion, who discusses how to pivot and adjust when a large-scale event suddenly faces an emergency.   In this case, the coronavirus pandemic. When it started getting bad, everything changed when everybody started to realize this didn’t look like the seasonal flu, this was different. Rowan’s team started planning early when it became apparent that Phoenix Fan Fusion wasn’t happening. For her small, but mighty team of six, they didn't have a team of PR people or lawyers or all of those who can revise what they needed to do. Any revisions, any statements that they made came down to one person and long hours were experienced by all.   “We pivoted from, ‘Hey. Here are all the guests we have coming out, and here's all the events we're planning and look at all this fun,’ to virtually nothing,” said Rowan. “When you're planning an event that gets postponed like that, we don't know which panelists are going to be available. We don't know which rooms we're going to have in the convention center. We don't know what guests are still going to be available. And their filming schedule was stopped the same as our schedule was stopped. So for us, it was not so much a pivot as it was a full stop.” Click play for more.

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Chris Ducker, a personal branding expert, serial entrepreneur, and successful podcast host, who helps people monetize their expertise and their personal brand through the work he does at his company, Youpreneur. Ducker stands by the mantra of when you build the business of you, it's future-proof. It can't be copied, plain and simple. Because of your uniqueness and the way that you lean into that uniqueness is what ultimately makes you future-proof. “Regardless of what crisis you might be going through or what problems you might be facing, or whatever competitor has stolen your product idea, they can have the exact same product with the exact same packaging, but ultimately, people buy from you because you are their favorite,” said Ducker. “That's what the personal brand business model is all about. It's about becoming somebody's favorite.” Click play for more.

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Frank Gerola, a real estate agent in the Phoenix Metro Area, who discusses how he’s adapted his business during the COVID-19 pandemic. Gerola’s business represents both buyers and sellers. One area of concern that came up for his clients was safety while looking at houses during the coronavirus. “A lot of it is comfort level, how comfortable they are,” said Gerola. “One of the things that we try to limit is the buyers' exposure, and the exposure they're bringing to the property.” Gerola requested that no children were to be brought to a home showing. If people had to bring their children, each parent would view the home individually while the other parent stayed in the car with the kids, then they would switch. As children tend to “look with their hands,” this was a way to mitigate the spread of germs. During home showings, Gerola provided booties and gloves to his clients as well as wiped down the house once they were done looking at it. He requested the homes to have all of the lights on, all of the doors open in every one of the rooms, the closets open, a couple of the cupboards open so the only doors that visitors would have to touch are the front door, the rear door, and the garage entry door. “It’s working all together as a whole. And then letting the consumer know, the seller know, ‘We have your best interest in mind as well. We understand your concern and we hear you,’” said Gerola. “A lot of it is up to the consumer, but when you show them that you're proactive, it's a win-win.” You can find Frank Gerola’s business on Instagram, @GilbertNOW and on Facebook, GilbertNOW. His personal handle is @RealtorFrankG on Instagram and Frank Gerola on Facebook. Click play for more.

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by AJ Wilcox, who works for an ad agency that helps with the account management side of LinkedIn Ads as well as teaching, training, consulting, auditing, and anything else individual teams need to attract leads. Wilcox expressed that the big limiting factor for LinkedIn Ads is their cost. The average cost per click, when you're using their ad network in North America, ranges from $8 to $11. This isn't traffic that's ready to buy–these are individuals who are interested in learning more about topics, or they're interested in consuming content. So $8 to $11 a click for something that is more mid to top of funnel. “What I tell people is, if you have a lifetime value of $10,000, $15,000 or more of one of your future customers, then LinkedIn Ads is a great place to get to know them and get in front of them,” said Wilcox. “If less than that, smaller B2C offers, even smaller B2B offers, you're going to have a really hard time getting a return on your investment.” Wilcox said you're launching a combination of AMO–your audience, your message, and your offer when you present your LinkedIn ads. The first thing you're going to be looking for is your click-through rate. “I think most people who start using LinkedIn Ads should use one ad format. It's called single image sponsored content,” said Wilcox. “It's the simplest, shows up in your newsfeed type of ad. Very versatile. And the average click-through rate on these across the network is a little bit less than half a percent.” Click play for more.

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Brett Curry, who discusses how to leverage YouTube Ads to grow your business with a focus on ecommerce. For those small businesses that don’t have a video crew or can’t invest enough money in video production, Curry breaks down how to create a compelling YouTube ad on a budget that will still see sufficient viewership. He explains you can set your campaigns up to drive conversions, but you can also just set them up to optimize for views. Get creative when you start to build what's called a viewed video audience that has viewed your video before, so now you can run another ad to them or show them a display ad or a search ad next time they're searching on Google. If you approach it the right way, you're building an asset and an audience as well as potentially driving conversions right away. When crafting a video, you don't have to go full production. You don't need special effects and trained actors or to hire a scriptwriter for $50,000. If you just remember that the most important elements are the script or the story that the video tells, and the simple visuals, the message can still be compelling. “You could even use stock images if you had to, or basic footage that you add to it. So you don't have to go full production, in fact, I recommend you don't,” said Curry. “Start with some concepts, test those out. Once you know a concept works, then increase the production value and kind of take it a step further.” Curry also reveals three types of content that businesses can use to build brand awareness on YouTube. Click play for more.

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Michael Van Dusen are joined by Jason Komosa, a mental coach who helps leaders achieve their goals by creating a better balance in all areas of their lives.   A mental coach is a person who supports you, champions you, is your sidekick, your accountability partner, being very open, very authentic, very vulnerable. The idea is to just make you better while training your mentality, mind, and spirit. “Leaders and entrepreneurs need to make sure that they're prioritizing their life. Not just their work,” said Komosa. “If we're just constantly focusing on work and ignoring all the other things that we need to have that quality energy, that quality work, it doesn't make sense to work 15 hours if eight of those hours are really quality, awesome work and the other seven are just half-ass mediocre work.” “The message I preach is, ‘You might think you're doing yourself and your company a favor by putting the extra two or three hours of work. But the reality is you'd be much better off taking a break, stopping work, getting some rejuvenation, spending time with your family, go outside, get some exercise, get some movement, eat healthy, and get a good night's sleep,’” Komosa added.   Click play for more.

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Michael Van Dusen are joined by Freestar’s Co-founder David Freedman and President and CEO Kurt Donnell, who discuss how being advocates for publishers has maximized their revenue.     Freestar maximizes publishers’ programmatic ad revenue specifically. Basically, every time you see an ad that appears on the internet, there's an entire auction that's happening in milliseconds behind the scenes. Freestar puts pressure on that auction to drive up the price to help publishers make as much money as possible and be competitive in a world where Google and Facebook continue to take a lot of the market share. Freedman and Donnell deliver a real service that's very black and white in the sense that they drive revenue and people see it. It's also a revenue share model, so there's no upfront cost or fees for the publishers to work with them. “We're very passionate about the technology side and also giving a voice and a fighting chance for publishers these days, because it is a tough industry for them to survive in,” said Freedman. “Our industry is pretty much all geared towards the advertiser. Everyone's focused on satisfying them, which typically results in the publisher getting screwed,” Freedman continued. “We wanted to flip that theory on its head and go the opposite direction. Publisher first is one of our core values and kind of our guiding decision making on everything that we do.” Click play for more.

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Paul Ramondo, who helps small business owners and entrepreneurs generate highly-qualified leads and sales using Facebook ads and digital marketing funnels. Ramondo divulges how to use the tools that are available both intra-Facebook and extra-Facebook to find your audience, refine them, build an audience avatar, build an ad set for targeting so you can then run ads and test to see what resonates and what doesn't resonate with your target audience. “It’s important to define what the internal emotions are in which your product or service solves or activates for your audience, and how that relates to the avatar that you're targeting,” said Ramondo. Ramondo recommends spending $5 on targeting a cold audience in a cold audience campaign and $5 a day targeting a warm audience, which are based off your retargeting audiences and include retargeting people who have visited your website, retargeting your email list, retargeting people who have engaged with your Instagram or Facebook profile, etc. and then run ads variable to the audience that you're speaking to. “Customize to the audience that you're speaking to because the way that you speak to a cold audience is going to be different from the way you speak to someone that's already brand aware,” said Ramondo. “A warm audience already knows who you are, whereas, a cold audience needs to learn about who you are. You need to build trust, you need to build rapport with them before you can actually get them to take out their wallet and buy from you.” Click play for more.

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Mike Kim, an online educator of marketing who focuses on the personal brand and copywriting space. Kim’s business operates on two arms: copywriting for personal brands–meaning a speaker, a coach, an expert, a trainer, a thought leader, an author, anyone who's paid for their thoughts, and being a marketing consultant for some of the bigger thought leadership brands. “I always say that when you influence language you influence thinking,” said Kim. “We have that opportunity right now because the world is in a very, very unique place and we can use our words to bring comfort, to bring hope, to bring leadership, to bring clarity.” When Kim is ever asked, "What is unique about the way that you see marketing?" he says, marketing isn't about closing a sale. It's about opening a relationship. If you filter everything you say and do, marketing wise, through that lens, that's going to help you, because you're going to approach people as friends. You're going to approach people as people. People do business with people. “My marketing isn't just a nice slick campaign with a nice slogan. It's actually part of a bigger context, which is a movement I'm trying to start,” said Kim. “I'm not trying to be a religious leader, a cult leader, political leader, but in a sense, I'm trying to help the folks who want to become their own boss at a personal brand and help them through using the power of marketing to do it.” During this unprecedented time of the "coronapocalypse" as Kim refers to it, it is a golden opportunity for businesses to pivot the way they brand themselves and let their personal voice come out. Click play for more.

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Mel Kettle of Mel Kettle and Associates, who is a Communication Specialist whose area of expertise is helping people connect.     “I work with clients so that they can get a clear understanding of how to connect with compassion, with conviction,” said Kettle. “I help people communicate so they connect and engage with their people. Whether it’s their people, their workforce, their customers, their stakeholders, their investors, their volunteers or whoever else they need to have that strong relationship with.” She also has a podcast called This Connected Life where she discusses what’s important when it comes to connection and her audience, as well as welcoming many guests. “Probably 50% of my episodes are guest interviews where I talk to leaders about how they stay connected with their people so that they can achieve the outcomes that they want to achieve both personally and professionally,” Kettle said. Kettle believes that connecting starts with yourself. You need to have that self-connection piece and you need to be comfortable and competent with who you are and to look after yourself physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally. If you don't do that, then you're never going to present your best self as a leader to your workforce or to your client base, which is what many people forget when it comes to connection.   Kettle also provides insights on what small businesses can do to connect to their audience, their family, and themselves during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown and what they should be doing to anticipate permanent changes in the workforce for the future. Click play for more.

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Grace Abruzzo, the owner of Rooted Physical Therapy, who is a physical therapist specializing in the pelvis area, and discusses how her business aligns with her passions, her calling and how she uses it to provide a service. Abruzzo typically works with women, but also works with any gender, any transitioning transgender and any age group. She got into physical therapy because she has a history of needing from when she was a child what she now provides. She has been trained in treating the whole body, but specializes in the pelvis. “When I was in physical therapy school, I learned that this is the thing that I always needed that I never knew existed and that most people don't know exists,” said Abruzzo. “I was immediately hooked.” Abruzzo also tackles the subjects that people don't feel comfortable sharing with a medical provider or the conversations that they hardly have with their spouse–helping those overcome the stigma behind discussing pelvic health issues. “I'm working on one person at a time, but the change I'm making, I'm hoping that we're all going to experience it,” said Abruzzo. “Because if you do healing, your partner is going to feel it, your kids are going to feel it, your friends are going to feel it, it's going to change the world.” Click play for more.

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Jasmine Star, a photographer and business strategist who empowers entrepreneurs to build a brand and market it on social media to grow their business. “Your net worth is your network and that network is really built on social these days and that has been a game changer for my business,” said Star. The secret to a successful social media presence is the ability for people to show up consistently. It wasn't until Star had crafted a plan for consistency that people would expect her to show up as a representation of her business and her brand. She had created a brand using a blog with nothing more than her words and being consistent, and applied that same ideology to Instagram. Her social curator business will help any type of content or organization see authentic engagement on social media.   “You are enough. Do you have the willingness to keep on pushing forward to get to where you want to go? I believe that we all have that wild ability for success as long as you remain undaunted,” said Star. Jasmine Star can be found on all social platforms @JasmineStar. You can also find her at jasminestar.com and all of her social media membership. For those who want to create a brand in marketing and social media, you can find her at socialcurator.com. Click play for more.

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Derek Harju are joined by Odeen Domingo, founder and owner of CO+HOOTS Coworking in Phoenix, Arizona, who discusses his experience being an entrepreneur, a husband and a father and how he balances it all.    “You're a team. A family is just not a family. You have to work together,” said Domingo. “For me, I feel like you have to have the introspective what you want in your life. We go through stages where your business is everything. Then you have a family and then your family is everything but then you'd still have a business.” Domingo believes if you're trying to be a family person, that's all you can do. If you're just trying, that's perfect. As a business owner, or someone who wants to be a business owner or entrepreneur or a startup founder, you learn that your time is valuable and that time blocks are critical. “Any time that you can give to your family, even though your business is taking over your life, that's perfect. It's fine. As long as your child knows that you love them, that's all they really need,” Domingo expressed. “As long as you're trying, as long as you're being intentional about it and everything else, it's perfect.” Click play for more.

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Susan Baier, the owner and founder of Audience Audit, who talks about attitudinal segmentation and identifying an audience that actually works for a small business. As a small business owner, your audience is not based on what it looks like. Your audience is based on the problems your small business is solving, and who has them, and why your customers haven't solved them already–that is attitudinal segmentation. “In our research, what we're doing is looking at populations, customers, prospects, whatever it may be, B2B, B2C, and saying, we can look at company size for these people, or we can look at their age or their gender, but instead let's look at the kinds of attitudes that they have about this category, the kinds of experiences they've had in the past, the things that are important to them and the things that aren't, and let's group people that way,” said Baier. “You don't have to choose just one audience, but you have to be super clear, for the audiences that you choose, and choose is the operative word,” Baier continued. “The ones that you want to serve, the problem that you want to solve, you have to be crystal clear about why they're looking, and what is involved in their choice, and who they're putting you up against, so that you can provide relevant marketing content, product services, whatever it is.” “Who” is not the question you have to answer in marketing. “Why” is the question you have to answer and find your niche. Tune in for more.

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Derek Harju are joined by Veronica Belmont, product manager and evangelist at Adobe Spark, who divulges how those two roles at her company align in an effort to expand her brand, make decisions around products and how small businesses can leverage brand evangelists to supercharge their companies on social media.     “We use Airtable within our own organization to keep track of all the content that we're posting to social or on the blog to make sure that we are getting ahead of our publishing schedule and [having content] in the pipeline. That's one of the biggest tips that I can give to small companies,” said Belmont. “Understand that it's going to make it harder for you if you're posting off the cuff–have a plan, know what kind of engagement you want to drive, know what kind of voice you want to have on social and starting with those building blocks before you start working on campaigns is really crucial.” Belmont also suggests seeking those who may not have achieved the full evangelist level yet; they don't necessarily need to have a huge audience of their own but if they're already having conversations with other people about your product, you can find them by searching your hashtag on Twitter, replies or looking into other conversations on other platforms about the kind of work you're doing. Tune in for more. 

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Lindsey Schwartz, the founder of Powerhouse Women and author of “Powerhouse Woman,” who discusses how she benefited from attending mastermind programs where she got the chance to dive deep with a group of other people on the same journey that she was, which reaffirmed all of the overwhelming feelings she was experiencing about starting her own business. As far as focusing her business strictly on women, Schwartz said, “I never intended from the start to create a women's community only because in my past I worked with men and women, but I noticed most of the conversations I was having were specific to women.” Schwartz believes there are so many women with really brilliant ideas who aren't getting into the entrepreneurial spirit because they only see the highlight reel and think they’re not meant for this journey. “That whole conversation inspired [my book], which was really written from my own story of how not together I have it and showing women how you don't need to become more, you don't need to learn more in order to be this powerhouse, you just need to turn into what's already within us. And the fundamentals for creation, just creating things from nothing are within all of us,” said Schwartz.   She also hosts a podcast where she talks about how to equip women with the tools and the mindset to get out of their own way and into action around their own big ideas. “That's actually one of the reasons I love having a podcast. We can just go a lot deeper into what a little caption can share, but I think it's more just about us realizing that if we're feeling icky looking at social media, we're just comparing our blooper reel to someone else's highlight reel,” said Schwartz. “You have to get it straight, social media is always going to be a highlight reel.” Tune in for more.  

In this very special edition of Small Biz Buzz, hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by Keap CEO Clate Mask, who talks about overcoming challenges small businesses are encountering right now during the coronavirus pandemic and the different opportunities, processes and systems entrepreneurs can leverage to adapt and keep their startups alive.   “While this is an unprecedented event, there's certainly been events like it in the past in terms of taking down the economy, and causing all kinds of problems,” said Mask. “So I think it starts with the state of mind, and then it goes to the innovation and creativity, and the ways that you respond, and recognize opportunities to serve others and create solutions to problems that people are facing.” This is the opportunity to give and serve and this is where building relationships with prospects and customers shines through. What businesses need to do, and what entrepreneurs should be looking at is, "How can I serve? Let me just be in the posture of serving and giving, and helping." Mask also offers small business owners ideas on how they can adjust their products and services, specifically right now during the coronavirus outbreak, as now’s the time to work on your business, and put systems in place. Tune in for more.  

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Scott Martineau are joined by personal-brand strategist Isha Cogborn of the Epiphany Institute, which is her company. Per Cogborn when it comes to branding, it's about being able to share your expertise at a level where you can have the impact that you're really created to make. “There are a lot of people who are very bright and shiny, and they've got very slick marketing and they look great, and unfortunately, they don't have what people are looking for. So for those people that are on the unknown end of that, I really want to help them to be able to develop the skillsets to be found by the people that need them, and to really be able to connect with the people that they're uniquely gifted to serve.” Also according to Cogborn, there are three distinct categories when it comes to people building their own brands online: Influencers, experts and thought leaders. Which one do you fall under as a small business owner? Tune in to find out.

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Derek Harju are joined by Tanya Moushi of Moushi & Co. to talk about solopreneurship executive coaching. Moushi discusses her experience as a solopreneur and starting her own coaching business and why this business model works for her personally. She divulges about the importance of being empathetic in business, common missteps and oversights, and what criteria she considers when helping a business find its purpose and how it can improve.   She also discusses her GECKO model–gratitude, empathy, care, kindness, optimism, which is a framework that a business can use to be good. It helps instill virtues and shapes culture within a company and influences impact on stakeholders, employees, customers, shareholders and the community. “All of these things that would make you a good human, make you a great business,” said Moushi. Tune in for more.

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Derek Harju are joined by Scott Martineau, co-founder of Keap, who talks about how lifecycle marketing evolved. He created a movement around an approach to marketing. It's his attempt to explain to small business owners common problems that they’ll face as they're trying to acquire new customers. Keap helps small business owners hone in on how to use lifecycle marketing in what they're doing. Small business owners have a really unique advantage to show up in the lifecycle relationship and deliver value to their prospective customers in advance of a sale. It’s about engaging your customers with educational content using three different systems. Tune in to find out what they are.

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Jack Smithson are joined by Brendan Alan Barrett, founder of StartInPhx, who talks about how to overcome pushback when it comes to following up with B2B clients. It’s a matter of talking to as many people in the same area on the same day to build content, collateral or touch points that you can refer back to. While prospecting into an account, there's always something that can be learned. The rule with prospecting and follow up is questions. You're going for engagement, but if you're asking the right questions, you can decipher if this is engagement for their benefit versus engagement for your benefit. Know who your audience is so you don’t spread yourself too thin and make sure you're following up with the people who are going to move through the funnel and be acquired. At a certain point, you should also know when to cut your losses. In matters of work-life balance, the big themes are boundaries. To set good boundaries, you have to have good clarity and best practices put in place. Tune in for more.

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Jack Smithson are joined by Pamela Slim, co-founder of the Main Street Learning Lab in Mesa, Arizona to discuss Tiny Marketing Actions (TMA). A TMA is a small, outbound marketing action you take each day to streamline your tasks, helping you establish direct connections, build your brand and provide value for your ideal clients and customers. Tune in to find out how taking baby steps can build a solid foundation when starting your own business.

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Rob Stevenson are joined by JT Benton, founder and CEO of WorkBook6, who divulged a powerful story on how he left his stable job as an executive to start a small business. After being very judicious with cash flows and investing some of his family’s personal savings, it gave him the freedom to have an individual mindset and be in charge of his own organization. His advice: If you really believe in what you're doing, you'll find a way. Tune in for more.

Small Biz Buzz hosts Crystal Heuft and Rob Stevenson welcome guest Paige Clark to talk about how customers’ online reviews set the precedent for your company’s success. Consumer reviews hold more leverage and are more trusted than a simple business description. They also talk about how to maximize the power of positive reviews to drive revenue and relevance and how a company should handle negative reviews. Tune in for more.    

In this episode of Small Biz Buzz, Crystal Heuft and Rob Stevenson talk about the growing trend of working remotely and what the insights and predictions are for 2020. How will this affect employee engagement? Does it depend on the industry or the job position? Will it catch on with more corporations? Tune in for more.

Crystal Heuft and Rob Stevenson talk about how keeping employees happy contributes to their success. They discuss competitive salaries, benefits, perks, and company culture. Companies that show an interest in their employees’ success tend to make more of an effort to raise morale in many different ways. Some companies have even gone as far as to hire a Chief Happiness Officer. Tune in for more.

Crystal Heuft and Rob Stevenson define what personalizing the customer experience means, the steps it takes to make the customer feel welcome and catered to individually, and the psychology behind personalized customer experience. Tune in for more.

It's been a while, but we're back with all new content, new hosts, new producers (and a few familiar voices) and hopefully, new subscribers. Tune in every week to learn how to take your small business and yourself to the next level. 

Dusey and Daniel talk about building partnerships, and the ever present need to focus your attention on the most important things first.

Today, Dusey, Scott and Crystal, our Social Media Manager, give you ideas on how to make the most of your social media presence, such as being proactive, saving time with bots, dealing with negative interactions, and time saving tricks. Check out our guide to handling customer complaints at bit.ly/complaintbasics

What’s the most important thing most small businesses should be doing, but aren’t?  According to Dennis Yu and Logan Young from Blitzmetrics it’s “Digital Plumbing”—making sure you have the technical foundation in place to make sure your traffic isn’t being lost, but is getting the right message and experience at the right time.

Our resident SEO expert Rachel Meyers talks with Clate & Scott about how a business improve their SEO, even if they don’t have a lot of free time to dedicate to it.  From hiring the right contractor, to avoiding the Google-slap. Check out our guide to SEO Basics for small businesses.

Nancy Seeger, the CEO of Seeger Consulting joins us in our final episode of our Partner series, which is packed with market research tips, as well as why the often overlooked tactic of sponsoring events might be a great move for your business.   To learn how to make sure your get a strong ROI on sponsoring an event, check out their Top 10 Things That You Can Do To Make Money When Sponsoring Events.

Continuing our Partner series, this episode Micheline Christophe joins us from babel-team, a Brazillian agency that has helped countless businesses grow, as well as Jennifer Leslie, a Content Creator at Infusionsoft.  Micheline walks us through the three things most small business forget to do that make a huge difference in their bottom line.   Babel-team attended Elite Forum and it made a big impact in their business, as did Michael Gerber’s books like The E Myth.

Dobbin Buck of GetUWired joins the podcast again as does Jennifer Leslie, and we tackle scaling your business without destroying your culture—which Dobbin knows all about as Entrepreneur Magazine says GetUWired is in the top 25 Company Cultures among small businesses. Learn how to build your company from 7 to 8 figures at Infusionsoft’s Elite Forum.

Continuing our series where we met with small business experts who solve problems for entrepreneurs and small business owners every day.  We are joined by Mauricio Rodriguez, Director General of mit-mut.com (listen to find out what that name means) and Erin Case, Partner Marketing Manager at Infusionsoft. Find out what Mauricio means when he says small business owners are terrible, and the how to overcome small businesses most common problems.

Announcement - 2 Week Schedule

We’re fresh back from Infusionsoft’s PartnerCon where we met with a ton of small business experts who solve problems for entrepreneurs and small business owners every day.  This episode we hear from Daan Schmidt of Schmidt Communicatie and host of SchmidtCast - Europe's #1 EntrepreneurCast for business.  We talk about working with family, the importance of starting with a revenue goal, and more. Check out the free trial of Infusionsoft to tackle the day to day tasks of running your business.

Join guest host Ben Snedeker and small business advocate Ramon Ray, the Editor & Founder of Smart Hustle Magazine.  Topics include why it’s important for a small business to automate follow up, and how to make sure it doesn’t feel “robotronic.”

Join guest host Ben Snedeker and Sean Greeley, the CEO of Net Profit Explosion, as we chat about how to market your business  problems that come along with a marketing and growth focused mind set. Follow Sean and NPE on Twitter. Check out the free trial of Infusionsoft to tackle the day to day tasks of running your business.

Today we help you find your target audience—and talk about why it’s so important. Learn more about How to Analyze Your Target Market

Clate & Scott talk to Mike Koenigs, CEO of You Everywhere Now! which teaches how you can build, engage and monetize an audience quickly and easily. Mike is a 12 time #1 best selling author and advisor to Tony Robbins, John Assaraf, JJ Virgin, Peter Diamandis, Paula Abdul and over 52,000 customers in 121 countries. They talk about how to grow your list, and methods of capturing leads, and making sure they are leads that will actually buy your product or service. Check out How to Create Lead Magnets: A Step-by-Step Guide to get started attracting customers. To try Mike’s demo of how to capture leads visit www.yen.tv/infusion or text “infusion” to 619-457-6248 to see how it works on mobile. Start collecting leads today with Infusionsoft’s Free Trial.

Don Miller from Stroybrand joins Infusionsoft Product Marketing Manager Brina Kaiser, and teaches how to make your marketing as interesting as a blockbuster movie.  Pre-order his new book Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen, and send the receipt bonus@storybrand.com to get two previously unavailable lectures for free. To automate Storybrand across your marketing, sales and customer relations, try Infusionsoft for free at infusionsoft.com/storybrand.

We talk design methodology and user testing with James Archer & Stephanie Haworth.  Listen to learn how to ensure your product and marketing are working you want them to.   Mentioned in the Episode: Check out our Campaign Performance Tool to start testing your your marketing. 7 Reasons Why your A/B Split Tests Aren’t Working Split Testing Guide for Ecommerce Sites 30 Email Split Test Ideas to Boost Conversions How to Build a Culture of Experimentation James Archer on Design Thinking How to Do Graphic Design For Your Brand When You Have No Design Knowledge

Join Clate and Dusey as the talk to Brad Owens, who says traditional behavioral interviewing is out, and Attributional Interviewing is in.  Brad brings 10 years of experience hiring for some of the most profitable companies out there, and shares his expertise so small businesses can have the same advantages as Fortune 500 companies.  Brad is the host of the Small Business Hiring podcast, where he was recently joined by our very own hiring partner Lauren Borgeson. Lauren also wrote the Hiring Kit we mentioned in the episode. More resources to help you hire and interview: How to Save Yourself from Bad Hiring Decisions Strategies for Improving Your Hiring Success Setting KPIs for Your Employees Hire for Potential Not Just Experience How to Pick the RIght Pre-Hire Assessment The Three Most Revealing Interview Questions Previous Episodes on Hiring: How to Interview Candidates with Specialized Skillsets Where to Find Job Candidates

Please take our Listener Survey to let us know what you want to hear. Carla Miner is joined by Greg Jenkins from Monkeypod Marketing helps us answer a listener questions—how to segment your list, and how to keep promotions fresh?  You’ll need to listen to hear to hear the full answers, but you can also find a bunch of ideas on our blog post 26 Best Examples of Sales Promotions to Inspire Your Next Offer.  You can also check out our Cash In a Flash ebook, which walks you through the nitty gritty of managing a flash sale promotion. Want to put the ideas in this episode into practice?  Try Infusionsoft for free. 

How do you know when to hire employees and leaders?  And how do you ensure they are invested in your business when you do?  Clate and Scott give the answer on today’s episode. How do you know when it’s time to hire another employee?  Read “7 Ways You Know It’s Time to Hire Someone” to find out.   Join Infusionsoft executives at Elite Forum, which helps growing businesses lead their teams to success.

A listener asks if competence or character is more important when running (or hiring new employees for) your business.  Clate answers, and Scott refuses to.  Listen to find out why. Join Infusionsoft executives at Elite Forum, which helps growing businesses lead their teams to success.

Clate and Scott answer a listener question—when should you consider adding outbound sales, especially when you already have a healthy inbound flow of leads and sales?   Get the most out of prospects by refining sales pipeline with “The 7 Sales Pipeline Stages Every Small Business Should Use”

Today we answer a listener question and bring in our content and email marketing experts to talk about getting and closing leads using educational and promotional webinars. Check out our interactive email copy tool to help you quickly write effective emails, for your webinars or anything else, at infusionsoft.com/drip-now.

Holly DeVito is the CEO and founder of Sum of All Numbers, a bookkeeping company that specializes in helping entrepreneurs increase their profits.  Her burning question is how to change from a word-of-mouth business to a faster growing, marketing savvy company, all while no longer being the person doing face-to-face sales.  Clate and Scott walk her through lead magnet ideas—and some equations befitting the name of her business—while discussing how much money is the right amount to spend to acquire new customers. Mentioned in this Episode: Profit First by Mike Michalowicz To learn how to capture leads in your business, check out The Small Business Guide to Capturing Leads.

Chris Prefontaine of Smart Real Estate Coach has a great problem - he’s getting a lot of revenue out of his small list, but he wants to grow his list even more. How can he do that? Clate and Scott to the rescue! They advise Chris to step back and take a look at the fundamentals: Is he crystal clear on his target audience? Do you have goals and reliable ways to track them? Psychographics play a big role. Check out our video on psychographic segmentation to learn more and this post about why psychographic segmentation is more important that customer demographics. Once you know what you want to do with your psychographics, check out our guide to taking your CRM list to the next level with segmentation.

Gosia Baran started Helping Hands Cleaning Services when she was laid off from her law firm post-9/11. Since she’d been perpetually dissatisfied with the cleaning services she’d employed, and she had a six month old son to support, she decided to start her own cleaning service. She started out as the cleaner, then was forced to hire someone when she became pregnant again. Now 15 years later, she has a staff of 32 and is expanding from residential into commercial cleaning as well. Gosia chats with Clate and Scott about the tough early years of starting a business, finding a balance with work and family, and how she’s worked through discouragement in tough times. Gosia is a member of Elite Forum and a Stage 5 business owner. Want to know what stage of small business success you’re in? Listen to episode 38 where Clate and Scott take you through the stages and what they mean. Gosia grew her business heavily on referrals. Check out our ebook, “Referential Treatment” for how to ask for referrals to grow your business.

Lee Egstrom of Passinglane has this question for Clate and Scott: How do I know when to introduce a particular product or technology? It’s about making small bets, making them often, and looking for a 10x return. Listen to this hot seat as Clate and Scott help Lee figure out how to do it and use automation without seeming like Big Brother. Learn more about automating the right way with our ebook “25 Things Every Small Business Should Automate.” Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Lee Egstrom of Passinglane has been helping small businesses grow for 20 years. He chats with Clate and Scott about why he only takes clients who have been in business for five years; how he uses modeling to achieve his goals; and the entrepreneurs he looks to for inspiration. Grow your business with purpose with our 2017 Strategic Planning Kit. Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Get your business in the Hot Seat by going to smallbusinesssucess.com/quesitons. Shuan Buck from Newsletter Pro steps into the Hot Seat with Clate and Scott, and asks what to do when it’s taking too long to make an necessary change with a loyal employee as they struggle to keep up with the growth of the company.   Clate and Scott answer with the three key concepts: preventing surprise with frequent courageous conversations; establishing objective, measurable goals; and highlighting previously success to add context to role changes. Grow your business with purpose with our 2017 Strategic Planning Kit. Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Firefighter Peter Thorpe had seen a lot of devastating fires started by stoves, so he developed FireAvert, which automatically shuts off stoves. Wes Clark, Peter’s  business partner and our guest in this episode, shares with Clate and Scott what it was like to prepare for—and recover from—being on ABC’s Shark Tank, overcoming rejection, and figuring out the simplest way to solve business problems. Oh—and that time he exploded a can of beans all over the fire chief. Mentioned in this episode: “How the Mighty Fall” by Jim Collins. Want to get a leg up on your small business strategy? Check out our e-book “Your Game Plan”! Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Pam Dierks of Dierks Farms has moved past putting their grassfed beef in the grocery store - instead it’s shipped direct to customers. This idea was a major innovation for Dierks Farms, and this year they won our Small Business ICON award. Pam chats with Clate and Scott about moving to a subscription model, marketing directly to a consumer instead of through the commodities market, and how automation has enabled her to help pass down the farm to her sons. We visited Dierks Farms - watch their video here! Learn how Pam’s Infusionsoft indoctrination sequence works here. Want to learn more about automation? Check out our ebook “25 Things Every Small Business Should Automate”  

Ronan Galvin is the co-founder of Kickstagram, one of this year’s Small Business ICON finalists. Ronan chats with Clate and Scott automation and how it simplifies things, and how he was able to use it to grow his client base without over-scaling his sales team. Want to learn more about automation? Check out our ebook “25 Things Every Small Business Should Automate” We visited Kickstagram to get their story - check it out here Learn more about ICON  

Nate Shaw and Peira Moinester are business partners at Brooklyn Music Factory and they want to know, what do they do if they’re not confident that their people are the right people to get them to $3 million in annual revenue? Clate and Scott tackle this question in our very first hot seat. Clate and Scott point out that, if you want your people to be the people to get you to a goal, you need to first be the owner that gets your company to its goal. Listen as they coach Nate and Peira on getting clear on how to move to the next stage of their business. Want to learn more about Brooklyn Music Factory? Check out the story we wrote when we visited them, The Kids Are Coming Up From Behind. Mentioned in this episode: “Multipliers” by Liz Wiseman Grow your business with purpose with our 2017 Strategic Planning Kit. Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com    

Author, business coach, and Entreleadership speaker Christy Wright returns to follow up on smartly managing your time. And a big part of using your time successfully in your business? Delegation. This means letting go and letting someone else do some of the work for you. Christy also suggests scheduling your time, and specifying what each block of time is for. Check out Christy’s new book, Business Boutique. Grow your business with purpose with our 2017 Strategic Planning Kit. Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com  

Christy Wright is the author of the new book “Business Boutique” and teaches entrepreneurs around the world how to start, run, and grow their business. A Dave Ramsey and Entreleadership speaker, Christy shares her advice about how to create more time in your life by prioritizing the things that really matter, and how to be nice, honest, and say “no” all the same time. Grow your business with purpose with our 2017 Strategic Planning Kit. Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com

Being married takes work - but what if you work with your spouse, too? Ronnie and Lamar Tyler have been doing that for 10 years now. They started BlackAndMarriedWithKids.com a decade ago and they joined us at ICON to talk about how they do that. If you’re thinking, “But how do they do that?” Well, you’re not alone. So what does it take to run a business with your spouse? According to Ronnie and Lamar, it comes down to support, having appreciation for your spouse, mutual respect, and trust. Basically, the things you need for a great marriage are things you need to succeed in business together, too. Tune in to hear how Ronnie and Lamar actually make it work. Dream big and grow your business with our ebook “Harness Your Inner Genius” Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

It’s the bane of nearly every small business - sales. When you’re not selling enough, do you need a new product, or is there a way to better refine what you already have? We bring in JImmy Talbert, Infusionsoft’s conversion marketing manager, to discuss this listener-submitted question about how to get more sales. More often than not, the problem isn’t a tool, skill, or product. The problem is that the the process isn’t focused enough. Jimmy talks about what you sell specifically and who to sell it to, finding the perfect customer, creating a logical progression, and making sure you have the offering that your perfect customer needs. Past episodes on re-engaging your leads: Re-engage Your Leads Part I Re-engage Your Leads Part II Re-engage Your Leads Part III Take your sales and marketing to the next level with “7 Steps to a Complete Small Business Sales and Marketing Plan” Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Don’t want to run your business in debt? You don’t have to. Our special guest Chris Hogan, author and Dave Ramsey personality for Entreleadership, explains how and why you should run your business debt free. Hogan talks about why debt is a thief, how to deal with emergencies and big expenses, and creating a cushion for peace of mind. We also bring in Infusionsoft VP of comptroller Scott Stagg to give his perspective on debt and small business finance. For Entreleadership’s Guide to running your small business debt free, text debtfreeguide to 44222, or click here! Grow your business with purpose with our 2017 Strategic Planning Guide For more resources, check out entreleadership.com

What do you do when you just can’t get past something - and that something is all in your head? Self-worth and confidence issues are real problems that entrepreneurs face all the time. Clate and Scott take on this listener-submitted question Dan Ralphs, Infusionsoft’s dream manager (aka fairy godmother). Dan talks about getting out of mental ruts by getting out of physical ruts first; getting the brutal facts out there so you can deal with them, and getting paralyzed by the fear of perfection. Want to learn more about dreaming big for your business? Download our ebook “Harness Your Inner Genius.”   Mentioned in this episode: “Conquer the Chaos” by Clate Mask and Scott Martineau “Loving What Is” by Byron Katie “Startup Communities” by Brad Feld “Power of Positive Thinking” by Norman Vincent Peale

Lamar Tyler is one half of Tyler New Media, which started ten years ago as a blog, blackandmarriedwithkids.com. He ran it with his wife, Ronnie, to promote positive images of marriage and parenting in the African American community. Though it started as a passion, today Tyler New Media has blossomed into a brand that encompasses live events, products, and even films. Lamar talks with Clate and Scott about being life and business partners with your spouse; how automation helped him grow Tyler New Media; and building a team and a culture. Want to learn more about automation? Check out “25 Things Every Small Business Should Automate.”

Laura Roeder is the owner of Meet Edgar, a social media content scheduler that saves time and makes sure you’re getting the most out of your posts.  Laura walks us through why content matters, the how to get outside of yourself and hire your first employees, and why recurring revenue should be every small business owner’s dream.   Learn how to market your business with “A Small Business Guide to Content Marketing”

Enjoy this rebroadcast of Episode 5 - Disciplined Optimism.  We'll back next with new content! What do Clate and Scott think is the silent killer for small businesses? The inability to cultivate disciplined optimism. Disciplined optimism is a balance between having a positive attitude while being willing to face the brutal facts of your current reality. Clate and Scott talk about why that optimism is so critical to the survival of your small business and how to harness it to help your business and your team succeed. Want to get a leg up on your small business strategy? Check out our e-book “Your Game Plan”! Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Marcus Lemonis, star of The Profit, joins us to talk about how small businesses can use data to attract new customers, and maintain the ones you have. He expands on the importance of focusing on the data that creates the highest return on investment, and finding the balance between betting the farm on data, and doing nothing.  

Our resident SEO expert Andrew Taylor answers your questions, including why regular content improves SEO, why it’s important to avoid “unnatural” activities, how to rank well for local search results, the cost of free content, and finding a good cadence. Check out our interview with Moz’s Cyrus Shepard about how to improve your website with SEO Also, download our own SEO Guide for Small Businesses.   Mentioned in this episode: Google Analytics Google’s SEO Starter Guide Moz SearchEngineLand.com          

Marcus Lemonis, star of The Profit, joins us to talk about how he helps struggling small businesses.  In this episode we cover how to move past your broken thought processes, become the conductor of your business, and how focusing on the fundamentals of people, process and product keeps you on track to be successful.

Μost small business owners have two problems when it comes with writing copy: They don’t know what to say, or the do know what to say but don’t know how to say it. Infusionsoft’s head of copy Clare Kirlin chats with Clate and Scott about how to break it down to get people to do what you want to do, how to write to the right people, and how to overcome the blinking cursor of death. Want more tips to more effective writing? Check out The Small Business Guide to Writing Copy That Converts Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Marcus Lemonis, star of The Profit, joins Clate and Scott to talk about his background, how he helps struggling small businesses, and how to define success. He also discusses what ICON attendees can expect from his keynote at Infusionsoft's annual conference.

It took an FBI agent appearing at John Jantsch’s office for him to rethink his target market (the agent wasn’t interested in him, but in a client). But Duct Tape Marketing has thrived, and its founder John Jantsch talks to Clate and Scott about managing a business where all employees are remote, tools to help foster communication between people who aren’t together, why duct tape is like Chuck Norris, and how to be intentional about growth. Grow your business with purpose with our 2017 Strategic Planning Kit.   Mentioned in this episode: “The Wealth of Nations” by Adam Smith “Built to Last” by Jim Collins “Good to Great” by Jim Collins Asana Basecamp Slack

How do you interview, say, a software developer for your business when you don’t know the first thing about, well, anything that has to do with that job? The stakes are high, especially for your first few hires. Back by popular demand, Infusionsoft hiring partner Lauren Borgeson talks with Clate and Scott about exactly how to evaluate candidates who have skillsets completely different from your own. Here are her suggestions: Online assessments like a Myers Briggs assessment or https://tests4geeks.com Leaning on your network and asking them to be part of the interview process Giving candidates projects or tests that align with what they’d be doing for you Learn more about Infusionsoft’s culture: https://www.infusionsoft.com/about/culture Plus, check out these articles that Lauren wrote for the Infusionsoft Knowledge Center: 3 Hiring Tips for Your Small Business Three Tips to Make a Sales Hire That Aligns to Your Culture Want more hiring tips? Check out our Sales Team Hiring Guide and our Hiring Kit!

David Finkel started Maui Mastermind not because he had to - he had already grown and sold a coaching business - but because he wanted to help small business founders grow their business to operate independently of them. He talks to Clate and Scott about losing staff and clients, narrowing your focus and handing off ownership of key functions and responsibilities. Grow your business with purpose with our 2017 Strategic Planning Kit. Mentioned in this episode: “Build a Business Not a Job!” by David Finkel and Stephanie Harkness Elite Mastermind Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

One of the biggest, most persistent challenges small business owners face is finding - and hiring - good talent. So Clate and Scott talked to Lauren Borgeson, a hiring partner at Infusionsoft, to talk about the tools and resources that you can use to help you find and hire the best people. Here are the resources that Lauren shared: Online resources: Facebook groups, Craigslist, Twitter, Monster, StartUp Hire, Indeed, LinkedIn groups Networking groups, meetup.com, and referrals Plus, check out these articles that Lauren wrote for the Infusionsoft Knowledge Center: 3 Hiring Tips for Your Small Business Three Tips to Make a Sales Hire That Aligns to Your Culture Want more hiring tips? Check out our Sales Team Hiring Guide and our Hiring Kit!

Good lead magnets are all about building a relationship, but how do you get people to see them? Director of content Carey Ballard and demand gen specialist Jared Kimball talk with DigitalMarketer’s VP of marketing Molly Pittman to talk about driving leads and eyeballs. The biggest piece of the puzzle? Retargeting. It helps you pick up a conversation where it left off. Also, don’t be afraid to create content that covers a topic more than once. Remember: your audience is a revolving door, and they haven’t read everything you’ve written. Want to read more about building your funnel around a lead magnet? Check out our ebook, “The Small Business Guide to Capturing Leads.” Mentioned in this episode: DigitalMarketer’s Facebook Ad Template lead magnet Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Today we are announcing 3 new episode formats for the Small Business Success Podcast.   The number one change is that we are now looking to answer your questions or even have you on the show!  Go to smallbusinesssuccess.com/questions to read about the new formats and submit your questions, or listen to the show!

A lead magnet is a crucial centerpiece in your lead capture strategy, but determining what people want to read in exchange for their information can be harder than it sounds. For insight into all things lead magnet, our director of content Carey Ballard and demand gen specialist Jared Kimball speak with Molly Pittman, VP of marketing at DigitalMarketer. Carey, Molly, and Jared talk about creating content that is  relevant to the day-to-day pains your target audience experiences; how to determine what format your content should be in; and how to use that content and build your funnel around it. Tune in next week to learn about driving people to your lead magnet and getting it to convert into customers. Want to read more about building your funnel around a lead magnet? Check out our ebook, “The Small Business Guide to Capturing Leads.” Mentioned in this episode: Rev.com Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Clate and Scott are frequently asked about their experiences with venture capital. Last week’s guest, Drew Doolan, asked Clate and Scott after the recording about their experiience with venture capital. Would they do it again? Short answer? Yes, but Clate and Scott delve into the why, the how, and the outcome of making the decision to seek venture capital. Looking to purposefully grow your business? Check out our 2017 Strategic Planning Kit Drew is a member of Elite Forum. Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.  

Drew Doolan started his business, Sites N Stores, in 2008 to help small businesses  build their websites and “be the big brother” of the small businesses they were working with. Drew has since grown is company to have 35 full-time employees, but it was a long road. He talks with Clate and Scott about the fear of hiring that first person and getting over viewing employees as “necessary evils”; the shadow of discontent that came over his business four years ago and how they overcame that; and the importance of continuing to tell your company’s story. Looking to purposefully grow your business? Check out our 2017 Strategic Planning Kit Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com. Drew is a member of Elite Forum.

Matt Leitz is a born entrepreneur—he even thought he invented social networking. Clearly he didn’t, but he brings that passion to his role as  President of Clever Investor. He shares with Clate and Scott the struggles his company faced along the way—like losing every customer’s credit card information—as well as the big wins, like helping customers get results and taking a six-week vacation. Want to learn how Matt uses Infusionsoft to automate her business? Check out his video by filling out the form in the sidebar at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Abigail Olaya and her husband went from corporate work to owning their own business during the U.S. economic downturn of 2008. They now run Venue at the Grove, a wedding venue and experience in Phoenix, Arizona. Their business journey hasn’t been easy—when Abigail was pregnant with triplets, her one remaining site coordinator resigned a mere month before Abigail’s due date. She talks with Clate and Scott about her founder’s story, how she and her husband leapt from corporate to entrepreneurs, building a team that aligns with company culture, and balancing family and business. Want to learn how Abigail uses Infusionsoft to automate her business? Check out her video by filling out the form in the sidebar. Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.  

All small businesses have the same stages of growth to go through. Which are you in? Click here to download a chart of these different stages so you can follow along as Scott Martineau interviews Clate Mask about the stages of small business success. Why are these stages important? Because there’s no one-size-fits-all sales or marketing solution for small businesses. The stages of small business success depend on a business’ income and number of employees, and where you are determines what hurdles your business is facing. What stage are you in? Find out by taking our quiz! In this episode: The 7 Deadly Sins of Solopreneurs The 7 Deadly Sins of New Employers The 7 Deadly Sins of Steady Operations The 7 Deadly Sins of 7-figure Businesses The 7 Deadly Sins of Growth Companies Check out our e-book "Defining and Achieving Small Business Success” which walks you through the reasoning behind the Stages of Small Business Success.

Pamela Slim started out as a director at Barclays Global Investors and quit her job to become a consultant and found she was made to be an entrepreneur. Two books and a brand new startup space later, she’s working with small businesses across the nation to help them find their community and develop a local presence. She talks with Clate Mask and Scott Martineau about how entrepreneurs—especially solo-preneurs—can find all the resources available to them, and finding their watering holes for community and customers. Check out “Your Game Plan” for insights into how to strategically grow your small business. Mentioned in this episode: “Escape From Cubicle Nation” by Pamela Slim “Body of Work” by Pamela Slim “If I Ran the Circus” by Dr. Seuss “Conquer the Chaos” by Clate Mask and Scott Martineau “Quiet” by Susan Cain “The Quit Alternative” by Ben Fanning Watch the Facebook Live version of this podcast. Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Paul Tobey, CEO of Training Business Pros, wasn’t always an entrepreneur–in fact, he “fell out of the music industry” after years as a professional jazz musician. He and his family lost 22 years of hard work and had to rebuild, starting out with him and his family living in his parents’ house. Paul talks with Clate Mask and David Bonney about making it after years of hard work and trying to find employees who weren’t just punching a clock. As Clate says, if you have employee problems pulling you back, it’s not the employee, it’s you. What to do? Your purpose, values, and mission will really help you attract the right people who match your values and fit their role. Plus, David shares his 5 C’s for hiring right. Ready to get started on hiring better? Check out our “Sales Team Hiring Guide.” “The Alchemist” by Paolo Coelho “The Pilgrimage” by Paolo Coelho “Secrets of the Millionaire Mind” by T. Harv Ecker   “Property Prosperity” by Dolf De Roose The books of Jim Collins The books of Gary Zukav   Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Stephanie Holmes faced condescension when she floated the idea of deviating from just selling financial services. She wanted to help people change their spending habits, structure their debt, and have the life they want, and she had to start her own practice to do it. She later sold it when she started The Money Finder, of which she is currently the CEO. She chats with Clate and Scott about naysayers who tell her she’s a “stupid little girl,” seeing challenges as adventures, business inspiration, and how to grow a team and make sales happen without her direct involvement. Mentioned in this podcast: “Banker to the Poor” by Muhammad Yunus. Want to hire better like Stephanie? Check out our “Sales Team Hiring Guide.” Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

It’s time to get into the nitty gritty of re-engaging unconverted leads. David Bonney, Carey Ballard, and demand generation specialist Jared Kimball talk email subject lines, preview text, email layout, CTAs and more. It comes down to proving to your recipients that your email not only deserves to be read, but that you deserve to be engaged with. Want to write better re-engagement emails? Check out our ebook, “The Small Business Guide to Writing Copy That Converts.” Also check out our free email template pack, “10 Emails You Need to Close a Sale.” Mentioned in this episode: “Made to stick” by Chip and Dan Heath Hemingway App Project Planning Framework The Typical vs Perfect Customer Lifecycle   Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

On Friday, November 4, 2016, Arizona Sen. John McCain and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney held a forum with Infusionsoft CEO Clate Mask at Infusionsoft’s headquarters.* Organized by McCain’s office during his re-election campaign, the forum’s focus was on small business growth and policies that enable that growth. Romney talked about raising wages and strengthening the economy through helping small businesses succeed and what venture capital firms examine when considering making an investment in a company. McCain discussed the Affordable Care Act, the American spirit of entrepreneurship, and providing opportunities to veterans. Mask encouraged politicians to consider small business growth a matter of national security and shared the policies he thinks place more challenges on small businesses. And of course, McCain and Romney discussed the presidential election and their thoughts on how our next president should work with Congress and the American people. Mentioned in this episode: “Conquer the Chaos” by Clate Mask and Scott Martineau Register for ICON, Infusionsoft’s yearly conference Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com. *This event and podcast episode are not a political endorsement from Infusionsoft. We welcome any policy maker of any political persuasion to visit Infusionsoft to discuss small business growth.

Aly Saxe had already founded and grown a successful PR firm when, with two babies, she decided to start her PR software company Iris PR. Why would she leave the perfect business to start a new one? Aly talks with Clate Mask and Scott Martineau about tenacity, why it doesn’t work to chase two dreams, and creating a product that changes customers’ lives. Growing your first, second, third or more business? Save time and automate. Check out “25 Things Every Small Business Should Automate.” Connect with Aly: Email: aly@myirispr.com Twitter: @Aly_saxe   Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Ready to re-engage your leads? Let’s talk strategy. There are three steps: Collect leads, re-engage and drive them to an offer, and make it easier to purchase. David Bonney, Carey Ballard, and demand gen specialist Jared Kimball talk about ways to do those three things through low-entry point offers. Got a bunch of small offerings? You can create campaigns to warm your cold leads and close a sale. Have a service-based business with high price tags and find it hard to get people to commit? We have a fix for that. And watch for episode 34 in two weeks, when we drill down even further into the specific tactics for re-engaging your leads. Mentioned in this episode: “Yes” by Robert Cialdini Project Planning Framework The Typical vs Perfect Customer Lifecycle Need some lost leads to re-engage? Try our “Top 10 Places to Find Lost Leads.” Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Way back in the early days of Infusionsoft, Clate and Scott had a truck that didn’t work so reliably. Nicknamed “Squeaker,” the truck is at the center of a certain nearly-infamous and humbling incident, in which the execs Clate and Scott just had a sales meeting with saw them unsuccessfully trying to start Squeaker—a few times. Clate and Scott share what that incident taught them, namely that it’s relationships, not appearances, that make a deal, and that everything is a season—with a bit of perspective and humor, you’ll get through the tough times in your business and your life. It’s never too late—or too early—to plan for your business. Check out our ebook, “Your Game Plan.” Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Need more sales? Think that to get more sales you need to get more new leads? You could actually raise sales by re-engaging the leads you already have. All those leads who weren’t ready to buy, or went off the grid? What it takes is reigniting a relationship with those leads, providing them value, and solving their pain points. Jared Kimball, a demand gen specialist, joins David Bonney and Carey Ballard to talk about the concept of how to re-engage leads. Make sure to tune in in two weeks as they dive deeper into what you need to re-engage leads and the strategy behind doing so. Want to get down the basics of lead capture? Check out our ebook, “The Small Business Guide to Capturing Leads.” Mentioned in this episode:  Typical vs Perfect Customer Lifecycle Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

We’re introducing a new kind of episode to the mix! We’ve got director of content Carey Ballard teaming up with small business success expert David Bonney to talk through the strategies, how-tos, and tactics you need to grow your small business. Carey and David talk with Scott Martineau about the concepts behind Infusionsoft’s Small Business Success Method, which helps business owners go from where they are to where they want to be through incremental, repeatable improvements. And no, you don’t have to be an Infusionsoft customer. They also chat about David’s experiences with entrepreneurship, the biggest mistakes he sees small businesses make, and making the incremental improvements that will be game changers for your business. Get ready to grow your business! Get into strategic planning mode with “Your Game Plan.” Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

One of Alison Werder’s toughest business moments was letting go an employee who just wasn’t the right fit. Upon departing, the former employee told Alison, “You think you’re big time, but you’re not.” But the mission of Alison’s business, Ali J Boutique, is big time. Alison chats with Clate about how she went from selling scarves to creating an online apparel company; balancing business with parenting; and all of the teaching involved in drawing in customers. The biggest takeaway for both these business owners? THat if you feel your business is commoditized, you’re probably low on passion, not teaching right, and not selecting the people who value what you offer.   Want to automate your online business like Ali J Boutique? Check out tips from our e-book, “The Small Business Office Automation Guide.” Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Dobbin Buck and Melissa Allen didn’t start GetUWired, but they’re the brains and co-owners behind it now. They both came in when there were a handful of people on the staff, and in the ensuing eight years have built it to a robust team of 37. Melissa, who started as an intern, is now CEO, and Dobbin is the VP of business development. They both talk with Infusionsoft CEO Clate Mask about working with and hiring Millennials, mentoring interns, and the cash crunch of high sales and small creating teams.   Want to read about what more entrepreneurs like Melissa and Dobbin think about success? Check out our research  report “Defining and Achieving Small Business Success.” Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Mark Breyer once declared that he would never work with his wife, Alexis, but they’ve been running their personal injury law firm together for 20 years. In retrospect, they found that they set themselves up to have problems scaling their business and fall behind the times. Clate and Scott follow Mark and Alexis’ business journey and talk about going from generalist to specialist, letting half their staff go on one day, and keeping moving goal posts for your business. Mentioned in this episode: “The E-Myth” by Michael Gerber Learn to manage your business like Mark and Alexis did with our Small Business Office Automation Guide. Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

At 25, Netherlands-based Budi Voogt is one of the entrepreneurial wunderkinder starting university businesses that take off into adulthood. At 20 years old, he started Heroic, a record label, incubator, and accelerator for artists. With 12 people between the label and his personal business, Budi Voogt, Budi talks with Clate about becoming a young leader, capitalizing on early-stage platforms, and how dropping the option of a plan B led to over performance and success.   What does it mean to be successful? Read our report “Defining and Achieving Small Business Success” to see what other entrepreneurs think.   Mentioned in this episode:   “Financial Intelligence for Entrepreneurs” by Ken Berman and Joe Knight “High Output Management” by Andrew S. Grove “Multipliers” by Liz Wiseman Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Brian Young has owned Home Painters Toronto for 28 years, but it took him almost 20 years to come to terms with getting off of cold calling and into online marketing. In fact, it took a literal punch to the face to get him to question the way he was running his business. Brian chats with Scott and director of content Carey Ballard about hitting bottom, making it through the Great Recession, and winning the Small Business ICON award in 2015.Curious about ICON? Check out what’s in the works for 2017.   Want to get a leg up on your small business strategy? Check out our e-book “Your Game Plan”! Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

You heard Clate’s side of the Infusionsoft story. Now hear it from co-founder and CCO Scott Martineau. Scott talks with director of content Carey Ballard about getting started in his dad’s business, suffering from “entrepreneurial seizures,” and holding on to business when you probably shouldn’t, only to reap the rewards later. Mentioned in this episode: “The E-Myth” by Michael Gerber   Want to get a leg up on your small business strategy? Check out our e-book “Your Game Plan”! Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

After 20 years in business, The Abs Company has seen a lot: The years leading up to the overnight success of infomercial legend The Ab Roller; negotiating patents and legal disputes; testing their products in gyms; and sending fitness care packages to troops overseas. Sean Gagnon, president of The Abs Company, chats with Clate and Scott about what success looks like, getting Fortune 500 levels of revenue per employee, and learning how to become a leader. Got big plans like The Abs Company? Make those plans a reality with “Harness Your Inner Genius.”  What is ICON? Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Ryan Deiss, founder and CEO of DigitalMarketer.com, got his start in what some might say was a strange business for a teenage boy. But it taught him tons of marketing lessons, and he steps into the studio with Clate and Scott to share some of those business marketing tips. He talks about the importance of keeping your business market-centric and remembering that your business is NOT about your product; it’s about the problems that exist for your target customer. Deiss also recalls the pains of trying to make payroll, the fine line between delegating and just being unwilling to do the work, and getting over the fear of hiring other people.   Want to learn more marketing tactics? Check out our webinar with Ryan Deiss, How to Convert Leads into Paying Customers with Email Marketing Mentioned in this episode:   “How the Mighty Fall” by Jim Collins “Rocky III” Learn.infusionsoft.com Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Cara Hale Alter had built up a fully-booked business in leadership and communication skills—until the recession-induce crickets brought Speech Skills to a crashing halt, and only 5 percent of their previous business volume. She and her business partner/husband used that time to really build up the business so that once the economy recovered, they came out stronger than ever. Cara talks with Clate and Scott about the tremendous burden of being an entrepreneur and the sole breadwinner in her family; saying “no” to clients who monopolize your resources; and how much more fun it is to run a business when you’re not your product. Stages of small business success “The Credibility Code” by Cara Hale Alter “Conquer the Chaos” by Clate Mask and Scott Martineau Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

In 2006, Bill Harney’s father, a real estate broker for 25 years, realized something was rotten in the state of real estate, and that something bad was coming. So he started Keeping Current Matters, a real estate education business. Bill joined the business as employee number four, when his dad was doing 200 speaking events a year, which Bill saw was unsustainable economically and practically. Within a few years, Bill had taken over the business, and has grown it into an online education platform with 16 employees. He chats with Clate and Scott about knowing when it’s the right time to make a major change in business model; getting more than ten times the anticipated audience for their very first webinar; and making powerful and confident decisions.   Have an online business? Learn how to save time and stay organized with “25 Things Every Small Business Should Automate.”   Mentioned in this episode: “Lean Startup” by Eric Ries “The One Thing” by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan “Essentialism” by Greg McKewan Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Cate Stillman did what many entrepreneurs dream of: starting and growing a business within her passion. Her background in international environmental politics and policy brought her to the teachings of Ayurveda, a system of natural healing and medicine that originated in India thousands of years ago. While learning both yoga and Ayurveda, she realized that those two communities, which are traditionally inseparable in India, were completely separate in the United States. So in 2001 she started YogaHealer.com and built a community of teachers and students. She chats with Clate and Infusionsoft director of content Carey Ballard about building that tribe and speaking to them; marrying desire with action in both life and business; and grappling with the realities of content marketing.   Build your community through content with our “Small Business Guide to Content Marketing.”   Mentioned in this episode: “Tribes” by Seth Godin “Primal Branding” by Patrick Hanlon Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Jake Fackrell is a born entrepreneur—as a kid, he started a lawn mowing business, and by the time he was 17, he partnered with his cousin to start a collections company in Las Vegas. Mackrell thought that what he really wanted to be was a doctor, so he worked part time as an athletic trainer in college while starting a coupon card business. Tired of “rubbing down 350-pound linemen,” Fackrell made a change and jumped all into being an entrepreneur. After a series of starts and sells, he’s run Domega, a subsidiary of his business Land Voice, for 10 years. Now he has 62 employees, and while he’s still focused on business growth, he talks with Clate and Infusionsoft’s director of content Carey Ballard about how committed he is to seeing his six children grow up instead of being a workaholic.   Have a lot of employees, or want to? Use our “Small Business Automation Guide” to help you save time and manage your business. Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

What did it take to get CEO and co-founder Clate Mask on board with Infusionsoft? Clate always wanted to be an entrepreneur, but first he went to law school and got an MBA. $100,000 in debt, it took almost a year for his brothers-in-law Eric and Scott Martineau to convince him to join the company. Clate talks with Director of Content Carey Ballard about how the business has grown since 2001 and the times that have brought him absolute joy. Want to get a leg up on your small business strategy? Check out our e-book “Your Game Plan”! Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

2008 was a dark time for Kim Duncan and her husband, Kirk. They struggled to buy their family groceries, and their neighbors donated Christmas. Things started to turn in early 2009, when they intentionally changed their mindset and threw their weight into their business, 3 Key Elements. Now, thousands of people flock to Salt Lake City every year to attend their workshops on personal development and self-mastery, and they even receive thank you drawings from the children of adults they’ve helped. They’ve even made the INC 5000 list four times. Kim talks with Clate and Scott about business inspiration, the importance of morning routines, and maintaining a positive mindset. Check out the Duncans’ video especially for podcast listeners at 3keyelements.com/infusionsoft Mentioned in this episode: “Conquer the Chaos” by Clate Mask and Scott Martineau Want to get out of a funk like the Duncans did? Use our workbook “Harness Your Inner Genius” to push through to the next level. Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

A key factor to business growth is making sales, which is why Clate and Scott say that small businesses must grow a culture of selling. That means you have to get over rejection and become a master closer—like Scott! The key is having a great product. If you do that, then selling really becomes serving, because you’ll know you’re selling something that will improve the quality of someone’s life. You don’t have to put on on your plaid used car salesman jacket, but you do have to get persuasive, so Clate and Scott give their recommendations for fostering that sales instinct. Mentioned in this episode: “The Master Closer” by Mike Kaplan  Want to hire someone to sell for you instead? Check out our “Sales Team Hiring Guide.” Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Three days before your baby is due is best time to start a business, right? It was for Bonnie Bowles, an estate planning lawyer and founder of Wills and Wellness in Denver, Colorado. Bonnie decided to take a family-focused approach to practicing law—she doesn’t even bill by the hour. When she shares how hard it was to relinquish some responsibility in the business, Clate shares that he thinks a vital step in the business journey is to “fall in love with delegation.” Bonnie also tells Clate and Scott about her work-life balance as an attorney, the consequences of hiring impulsively, and why “sales cures all.”   Mentioned in this episode: “Sprint” by Jake Knapp “The Agony and the Ecstasy” by Irving Stone “The Go Getter” by Peter B. Kyne   Want to dream (and act) big like Bonnie? Check out “Harness Your Inner Genius.”   Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Jeff Corn took a “super nasty” fall on his mountain bike and broke his pelvis, shoulder, and tore his rotator cuff. A long recovery time gave him time to think about what he really wanted to do with his life. That turned into Virtuance, a real-estate marketing company that developed the HDReal image processing system. Virtuance now has 10,000 customers, but back in the day the company had one server and it was kept in an employee’s house—and the employee quit in the middle of the day. He chats with Clate and Scott about establishing company values, small business tips, and being named one of the 10 best places to work in Denver. Mentioned in this podcast: “Leading at the Speed of Growth” by Katherine Catlin Automation helped Jeff grow his business, how could it help yours? Check out our e-book “25 Things Every Small Business Should Automate.” Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Clate and Scott have watched thousands of small business owners do all kinds of things to make their businesses more successful. Most of those things fall into two separate ends of planning: the behemoth master plan and the overly idealistic immediate attack. Neither of these work; what works is an iterative approach where you can experience quick wins and build quickly based on what you learn. Listen to hear why this works and how it can keep you from giving up. Want to get a leg up on your small business strategy? Check out our e-book “Your Game Plan”! Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Mark Breyer once declared that he would never work with his wife, Alexis, but they’ve been running their personal injury law firm together for 20 years. In retrospect, they found that they set themselves up to have problems scaling their business and fall behind the times. Clate and Scott follow Mark and Alexis’ business journey and talk about going from generalist to specialist, letting half their staff go on one day, and keeping moving goal posts for your business. Mentioned in this episode: “The E-Myth” by Michael Gerber Learn to manage your business like Mark and Alexis did with our Small Business Office Automation Guide. Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Ever heard you shouldn’t go into business with a family member? Clate and Scott (who are brothers-in-law!) think that’s terrible advice, even though they don’t always see eye-to-eye. They find the care and love they have for each other as family members allows them to do things they can’t always achieve with others. Why? Because they had existing love and care before the business side of it started. Clate and Scott also talk about hiring family and how you usually end up holding them even more accountable than those who aren’t related to you.   Want some tools to hiring, whether they’re family or not? Check out our Hiring Kit! Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

In 2008, Kay Walten’s Mexico-based business Loco Gringo faced the perfect storm: The Great Recession, a hurricane, Swine Flu, and drug cartel activity, all of which tend to discourage tourism. Loco Gringo started in 1996 when Kay was in Mexico exploring underwater caves with a client who introduced her to a thing called the internet. After writing a business plan on a cocktail napkin, she started hosting Mexican vacation rentals online. She shares with Clate and Scott the mistakes she made during the perfect storm, working as an international entrepreneur in a place where phone lines weren’t accessible, and scaling and creating a company culture. Want to rock content marketing like Kay? Download our Small Business Guide to Content Marketing. Check out Kay’s podcast, LocoGringo Mexico Podcast. Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Kathy Fettke’s husband Rich was given with six months to live—and she had to figure out how to take over their finances. Luckily, Rich’s doctor was wrong, but that scare was the impetus to start The Real Wealth Network. She leveraged her existing radio show to learn about investing, and now she and her husband teach people how to grow wealth through real estate. Clate and Scott talk with her about going through the Great Recession and real estate bubble burst, not giving up, small business tips, and hitting new highs. Check out Kathy’s podcast, The Real Wealth Show. Learn how to maximize your leads like Kathy with our Ultimate Guide to Maximizing the Value of Your Leads. Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Firefighter Peter Thorpe had seen a lot of devastating fires started by stoves, so he developed FireAvert, which automatically shuts off stoves. Wes Clark, Peter’s  business partner and our guest in this episode, shares with Clate and Scott what it was like to prepare for—and recover from—being on ABC’s Shark Tank, overcoming rejection, and figuring out the simplest way to solve business problems. Oh—and that time he exploded a can of beans all over the fire chief. Mentioned in this episode: “How the Mighty Fall” by Jim Collins. Want to get a leg up on your small business strategy? Check out our e-book “Your Game Plan”! Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

What do Clate and Scott think is the silent killer for small businesses? The inability to cultivate disciplined optimism. Disciplined optimism is a balance between having a positive attitude while being willing to face the brutal facts of your current reality. Clate and Scott talk about why that optimism is so critical to the survival of your small business and how to harness it to help your business and your team succeed. Want to get a leg up on your small business strategy? Check out our e-book “Your Game Plan”! Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Matt Leitz is a born entrepreneur—he even thought he invented social networking. Clearly he didn’t, but he brings that passion to his role as  President of Clever Investor. He shares with Clate and Scott the struggles his company faced along the way—like losing every customer’s credit card information—as well as the big wins, like helping customers get results and taking a six-week vacation.   Automation helped Matt grow his business, how could it help yours? Check out our e-book “25 Things Every Small Business Should Automate.” Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Abigail Olaya and her husband went from corporate work to owning their own business during the U.S. economic downturn of 2008. They now run Venue at the Grove, a wedding venue and experience in Phoenix, Arizona. Their business journey hasn’t been easy—when Abigail was pregnant with triplets, her one remaining site coordinator resigned a mere month before Abigail’s due date. She talks with Clate and Scott about her founder’s story, how she and her husband leapt from corporate to entrepreneurs, building a team that aligns with company culture, and balancing family and business. Want to get a leg up on your small business strategy? Check out our e-book “Your Game Plan”! Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Stephanie Holmes faced condescension when she floated the idea of deviating from just selling financial services. She wanted to help people change their spending habits, structure their debt, and have the life they want, and she had to start her own practice to do it. She later sold it when she started The Money Finder, of which she is currently the CEO. She chats with Clate and Scott about naysayers who tell her she’s a “stupid little girl,” seeing challenges as adventures, business inspiration, and how to grow a team and make sales happen without her direct involvement. Mentioned in this podcast: “Banker to the Poor” by Muhammad Yunus. Want to hire better like Stephanie? Check out our “Sales Team Hiring Guide.” Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

Damien Sanchez started his business, DC Mosquito Squad, in 2007. Now it’s booming with 47 employees, but there was a time when he lost 30 pounds in two months trying to handle office admin tasks by himself all while he was still working as a firefighter and being a new dad. “If I had known how much work and time was involved when I started, I would have been discouraged,” he says. But he turned it around, and grew his business over the years to the point that he was able to take his family on a 30-day vacation. Clate and Scott talk about how he did it, his business journey, and how other small businesses can emulate what Damien did  faster, smoother growth. Mentioned during this podcast: “5 Dysfunctions of a Team” by Patrick Lencioni. Want to learn more about how an automation can improve your business like it did for Damien? Check out our e-book, “The Small Business Office Automation Guide.” Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.

When Infusionsoft CEO Clate Mask and co-founder Scott Martineau started the company, they had no idea what they were getting into. It took years of hard work, financial struggle, and hustle until they experienced real business growth. Clate and Scott don’t want it to be that hard for other small business owners. That’s why the Small Business Success Podcast is about the entrepreneur’s business journey. Clate and Scott will take you from entrepreneurship’s dark side to its mountain tops as they talk to one another and interview small business owners from around the globe. It’s a movement to organize the world to increase the likelihood of success for small businesses. Join the movement!    Want to get a leg up on your small business strategy? Check out our e-book “Your Game Plan”! Check out this and other episodes at smallbusinesssuccess.com.