Kyle Gray is a mentor within The Foundation who helps businesses turn their stories into growth tools. He is also the author of the bestselling book The Story Engine, which has helped thousands of entrepreneurs tell their stories and grow their businesses with content marketing.   Kyle developed many of the strategies and systems he uses while working for WP Curve, a startup that grew to 7 figures using content marketing and was recently sold to GoDaddy.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Learn more at TheStoryEngine.co Connect with Kyle on Twitter: @KyleTheGray “How To Create Content For Every Stage Of The Buyer’s Journey” Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters

Craig Filek is on a mission to map the purpose genome of humanity... for humanity. He is the Executive Director of the Purpose Genome Institute and the creator of a psychological technology for unlocking your potential called Purpose Mapping®.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Learn more at PurposeMapping.com To begin Purpose Mapping for free, visit www.PurposeMapping.com/andy-drish   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters

Ryan Moran returns to discuss his plans for building a $100M business. If you’re not familiar with Ryan already, he’s the Founder of both Capitalism.com and Freedom Fast Lane – and, although he’s barely 30-years-old, he recently exited a company for eight figures.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Learn more at Capitalism.com Listen to Freedom Fast Lane Listen to SFN179: Ryan Moran on Entering the Freedom Fast Lane

Torben Anderson was in the corporate rat race for 20 years. Now he’s Founder of Rewired and, after just a few months, he’s generating $20k in monthly recurring revenue (MRR) – with just three customers.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/blog.   Resources Connect with Torben: Rewired.co | LinkedIn

Just six months ago, Rufus Casey had one customer for his software product, GrowFlow – fast forward to today and he’s generating $26k in monthly recurring revenue. We dig in and share a case study of every step along the way.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Learn more at GetGrowFlow.com

Phil MacNevin has over 16 years of experience in design, digital marketing, entrepreneurship training, and leadership, and his unique background has allowed him to work with some of the top people and brands in the industry: His digital marketing agency, LiftMedia, has built and automated marketing funnels for industry experts like Eben Pagan, Jordan Belfort, Christian Mickelsen, Chandler Bolt, and The Foundation.   Phil also launched a new podcast, Automate and Convert, where he helps entrepreneurs increase traffic, optimize conversions, and maximize their productivity – all while automating their business and marketing.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Learn more: LifeMedia.co | YouTube Connect with Phil: Facebook | Twitter | LinkedIn Listen to Phil’s podcast: Automate and Convert Launch by Jeff Walker

Sergey Zuev is a Starting From Nothing listener in the Ukraine who started his own software company a little over a year ago, and it is steadily growing and generating more money each month. We’re going to learn exactly what he did, where the idea came from, how he got the first version built, how he’s been marketing and selling it, and what he’s planning to do next.   Sergey’s software, GA Connector, connects your sales software with Google Analytics so you can track your website visitors all the way to a physical sale.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Sergey: sergey@gaconnector.com Sign up for Sergey’s weekly news & tips at performancemarketing.io GA Connector

Have you struggled to get heard in the entrepreneurial space?   There’s a lot of noise in the space, but Jeremy is the Founder of the Create Your Own Life Podcast and he specializes in helping entrepreneurs share their story and get heard. After the initial success of the podcast, Jeremy partnered with Daniel Gefen to launch Get Featured to help other entrepreneurs get their message out by appearing as guests on the right podcasts.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Jeremy: JeremyRyanSlate.com | Facebook | Twitter Listen to the Create Your Own Life Podcast Learn more about Get Featured Want to be an epic podcast guest? Learn how by downloading the FREE checklist: GetFeatured.com/checklist

Jules Schroeder is the founder of Unconventional Life, a media and experiences company that operates a podcast on the Forbes Under 30 channel, while hosting five-day business accelerators in exotic locations worldwide.   Her mission to inspire and empower millennials to live a life by their own design, where their greatest source of happiness is also their source of income.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Jules: JulesSchroeder.com | Facebook | LinkedIn | YouTube Learn more about the upcoming event: unconventionallifeshow.com/Nicaragua

Since joining The Foundation in January 2017, Eathan Janney has launched a business (Invisible String Software), pre-sold his first webinar, and started generating revenue. We share what he’s done along this journey so that you can skip some of the mistakes he made and leverage the lessons he learned.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Eathan: eathankeyboards@gmail.com Read Eathan’s writing at the Floating Piano Blog Learn more about Invisible String Software

Matt Bodnar is a partner at early stage investment firm Fresh Hospitality, who are on a mission to help entrepreneurs grow by providing financial and intellectual capital to growing businesses in the food service value chain. He’s also the creator and host of The Science of Success podcast, which is focused on improving decision-making and understanding psychology. Matt’s work earned him a spot on the Forbes “30 Under 30”, called a “Rising Restaurateur Star” by the National Restaurant Association, and labeled a “Strategy Pro” by Restaurant Hospitality Magazine.   In This Interview I Ask: 1:50 - How did Matt get started in the restaurant industry, and doing what he does now? 5:10 - Why restaurants? 9:20 - When it comes to sifting through decisions, how many deals does Matt look at before investing in one? What is he looking for, and how does he know when one is going to be a winner? 17:00 - How does Matt leverage his time? 25:50 - What are the highest impact things that Matt does? Where does his time go on a day-to-day basis?   Value Added Investors There are two fundamental investment strategies: The discovery of value The creation of value Fresh Hospitality doesn’t invest in companies hoping to discover a gem that increases in value – they go in every single day to add as much value to that investment as possible. They do still want to invest in companies with a lot of potential, so they heavily consider the Founder and how the brand is positioned in the marketplace.   Investing in Systems, Processes, and Technology Restaurants are a fairly complex and low-margin business, so you have to have really good systems and processes in place. Fresh Hospitality specializes in implementing effective systems and process to add value to their investments, and that’s one of the keys to their success in the industry. A private technology company does all of their in-house IT and developed a proprietary SaaS platform to run all of their businesses, with custom analytics. The invest in an accounting company specializing in restaurants. The result is complete visibility in operations and minute control over costs.   How High Achievers Learn to Leverage Time At some point, there’s a hard limit on the amount of time you can work. Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and other high achievers are more high leverage in how they use their time than most other people. They can produce exponentially larger results than most people, in the same amount of time… but how? They focus on improving their decision-making ability. This is one of the best possible investments you can make with your time because the knowledge never becomes less valuable. They continue to focus on learning information that doesn’t change over time (or changes very slowly), and the compounding benefits create exponential shifts in how they view the world.   If you want to start leveraging your time more effectively, head over to successpodcast.com/better to pick up Matt’s “4 Steps to Making Better Decisions” guide. Resources Learn more about Matt at MattBodnar.com Listen to The Science of Success at SuccessPodcast.com “4 Steps to Making Better Decisions”

If you are a non-technical person, you can still start (and grow) a successful software company. Dan Schwartz is the Founder & CEO of InvestorFuse, a bootstrapped SaaS company that just hit $1M in annual revenue. However, Dan isn’t a developer and he hasn’t written any code. Dan also wrote one of The Foundation’s most successful guest blog posts, “The SaaS Cheat Code," and today he’s going to share the cheat code with you. In This Interview I Ask: 1:40 - How did Dan get started, and how did he wind up building a software company? 5:30 - What was the community you shared your solution with, and how did you reach them? 11:20 - It’s expensive to build the software from scratch so, instead of doing that, Dan built it on top of Podio. How much did that save you? 12:30 - Did the customer base care at all that it was built on Podio? 16:50 - What were Dan’s biggest lessons from all of this? 19:40 - Where is Dan going next? People Don’t Care How Their Problems are Solved “We could have built InvestorFuse on Microsoft Word, as long as it did what we said it would do.” When starting InvestorFuse, Dan saved a lot of money by building the product on top of Podio. They were able to go from idea to beta launch in just three months! Dan wrote in his guest post, “Here’s the big realization: Cloud based software services, APIs, and integrations that connect all these tools together have made it easier than ever for non-techy people to quickly prototype the building blocks of a SaaS … A ton of investors were using Podio at the time because of its flexibility, but with flexibility came some challenges.” Dan solved those problems by systematizing and automating parts of Podio. By productizing the automation service, he was able to sell customers a solution. The customers didn’t care that it was built on Podio because they were still able to stay on top of their leads and close more deals. Resources Learn more about InvestorFuse Connect with Dan: Dan@InvestorFuse.com

Do you really understand how to address large-scale problems? James Schmachtenberger has a unique education emphasizing the interconnected nature of large-scale problems, and this drives James to approach societal and health challenges with solutions that account for the entirety of a problem, rather than solving for one issue while creating another. This mission recently led James to Founding the Neurohacker Collective, an applied neuroscience company that has assembled some of the world’s most accomplished doctors, scientists, and intellectuals to address the optimization of the human consciousness itself. Their first product to market, Qualia, is a revolutionary cognitive enhancement product and the most advanced nootropic on the market. We discuss the importance of our world’s interconnectedness and how entrepreneurs can use universal principles of interconnectedness to make a greater impact. In This Interview I Ask: 1:15 - How did James become somebody who has that kind of bio and thinks about problems in that type of way? 4:00 - When James talks about universal principles and why they matter, and the connectedness of all things, why is that something an entrepreneur should be taking into account? And what does he mean by universal principles? 8:20 - What were James’ parents like? 9:50 - Does James think about philosophy a lot, on a day-to-day basis? What philosophies shapes his lens and the way he sees things? 11:20 - How is having the experience of a more connected perspective going to help someone make a greater impact? How can people go about doing that? 14:30 - How does someone shift from thinking about self to thinking about the bigger picture, and how do they make it habitual? 24:10 - Empathy is possibly one of the greatest skills you can have as a human. Nobody really talks about it, but it is the driving force behind so many different things. Universal Principles & Entrepreneurs In Western society, we have a tendency to think about things very separately. We compartmentalize our health, business, relationships, politics, the environment, and just about everything else. We don’t tend to look at how all of the different facets of life interconnect and guide each other If you only take into account the one thing you’re looking at or interested in, and don’t take into account how that plays into everything else, you’re going to be looking at too narrow of a picture – and, as a result, you will have a much lower likelihood of succeeding at whatever you care about or creating a real impact. The Value of a Macro Perspective “Whatever it is that we put a substantial portion of our time and attention into is going to take up our awareness and shape the kinds of thoughts we’re having and the actions we’re taking.“ If your thoughts are primarily focused around meeting your own needs, that will be the extent of where your mind allows you to go, and that’s not a meaningful or motivating place to focus a huge amount of your attention. When you expand our awareness into a bigger picture, particularly how you can contribute to the bigger picture in a beneficial way, daily life becomes easier and you can affect more. How to Become More Connected “Pay attention to something bigger than yourself that motivates you, take some action, and more starts to illuminate along the path.” The ability to hold a bigger picture is a skillset that has to be developed: Start by picking something bigger than yourself that you already care about, and start investing more time and attention into that. You generally can’t start with the whole. From there, you will inherently start to learn all of the other things that apply to that space and this will allow for expanded awareness. Enhance your capacity for empathy: Empathy isn’t just caring or understanding – it’s allowing yourself to fully step into the experience of another living creature and allowing yourself to experience life as they do. That is the most profound way to expand one’s capacity for awareness, and for real maturity. Resources Get 10% off Qualia using the coupon code FOUNDATION at Neurohacker.com Learn more about Neurohacker Collective: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

Do you know how to captivate people? Today, you’ll find out how science can help make every social interaction more successful. Vanessa Van Edwards is a national best selling author and the lead investigator at her human behavior research lab, ScienceofPeople.com. She is a professional people watcher and her goal is to crack the code of interesting human behavior. She shares her research with audiences around the world, and in her book Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People. Vanessa also preaches the idea of being the most memorable person in the room, and what she preaches is exactly why we met. In this episode, we discuss why being memorable is valuable in networking, and how you can use her research to improve your social interactions both in person and online.   You will learn… The key to good social interactions The two types of game-changing relationships Where people screw up the most in social interactions (and how to avoid it)   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Learn more about Science of People: Website | Facebook | YouTube Connect with Vanessa: Twitter | LinkedIn | Instagram | YouTube Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People by Vanessa Van Edwards

Don’t listen to self-doubt – anyone can live an abundant life. Caitlin Pyle is an entrepreneur who started out as a freelance proofreader and, just three years ago, had zero knowledge about marketing and product creation. Now Caitlin and her husband Ben (also a Foundation alumni) manage BCP Media, a multi-million dollar media company with multiple blogs and digital products, including the site that started it all, Proofread Anywhere. Caitlin’s life mission is to help hardworking people worldwide develop the success-oriented mindset and skills they need to generate income, from anywhere, online. In This Interview I Ask: 2:20 - How is Caitlin’s mindset different than it was three years ago? 9:20 - Cultivating skills matters. Are there any skills that Caitlin is working on right now? 10:40 - What is it like working with a spouse? 13:45 - Tell me about the webinar “unlaunch.” 16:40 - Where is Caitlin generating leads? 21:00 - If someone is starting from scratch but wants the same kind of lifestyle that Caitlin has, where should they start? 23:15 - What were the most significant mindset shifts that Caitlin has had over the past three years? Mindset: What a Difference Three Years Make “I look at skills as the real job security. If you can create your own income, you’re way better off than someone who depends on a job for income.” Three years ago, Caitlin looked at earning money as something for other people. Seeing other people get money made her feel bad because it felt like there was less for her – it was a scarcity mindset that limited her. This mindset still comes back from time to time, when she is on the precipice of something she never thought would be possible – but, every time, she has smashed through that barrier and life continues to get more abundant. Real, Limitless Job Security “We can create our own job security by learning new skills. The more skills you have, the more income you can generate – there really is no limit to it.” Now Caitlin realizes that there is an almost endless well of opportunity in the world, especially online, if we learn to leverage our skills and make our own income. Start by reflecting on where you are right now: what gets you excited? Chase the thing that excites you, find people who are doing that, and learn from them. Don’t try to chase the big picture. Keep your focus on the step that is immediately in front of you, accomplish those smaller tasks, and then the big picture won’t look so impossible or overwhelming. Resources TheWorkAnywhereLife.com ProofreadAnywhere.com

If you are trying to start a business, you’ve probably been through some trials and tribulations along the way… and today we’re talking to someone who triumphed over their year of hell and came out stronger on the other side. Kyle Racki is the CEO of Proposify, a seven-figure software business with $250k MRR after only three years. We discuss the start of his entrepreneurial journey, some of the challenges he had to overcome, and how he is growing Proposify.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Kyle: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Medium Learn more about Proposify: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube “How This Startup Founder Triumphed Over His Year of Hell” via Time   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters

We all know starting a business is hard – and it’s even harder when you have a full-time job and a family to feed. Balancing all of these priorities is extremely difficult… but it’s not impossible. Today’s guests, Dean Collura and Eliot Dill, were facing that exact challenge when they started TitleTap. However, they still managed to grow the company from nothing to hundreds of customers and hundreds of thousands dollars of revenue in just a few years. In this episode, they will share how they got there, the challenges they faced along the way, and how you can bootstrap something when you have so many other responsibilities.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com   Resources Learn more about Dean & Eliot (and get free tips) at DiligentMe.com Learn more about TitleTap: TitleTap.com | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters

Entrepreneurs and high achievers often struggle with the simple parts of living a good life, like relationships. Today’s guest, Mark Manson, is the New York Times bestselling author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life, a blogger, and an internet entrepreneur – plus he’s hilarious, insightful, and wise. We explore how he grows his business as an independent writer, why romance is an overrated aspect of relationships, and his plans for the future.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Mark: Website | Facebook | Twitter The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck: A Counterintuitive Approach to Living a Good Life by Mark Manson   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters

Raj Jana scaled JavaPresse Coffee Co. to six figures of monthly revenue in just one year, and it’s only picking up steam.   Raj is the Founder and Chief Brewing Officer of JavaPresse Coffee Co., a company that creates innovative products that make coffee fun. He JUST left his day job (after working out an incredible deal to receive severance) and is gearing up to invest in the business full-time.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com   Resources Connect with Raj: ChiefBrewer@javapress.com Learn more about JavaPresse Coffee: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

Do you struggle with generating attention when you start a new project? Maneesh Sethi is one of the most eclectic, interesting, and written-about guests we’ve had on the show. He authored an international bestselling book when he was 14, trekked across the world for a Travel Channel show, and created Pavlok – the world’s first wearable that actually changes behavior. Whether he’s becoming a famous DJ in 90 days or hiring a woman from Craigslist to slap him when he uses Facebook, Maneesh has a knack for generating attention and press.   Click here to order Pavlok 2 at a discount. Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Order Pavlok 2 at a discount Learn more on Maneesh’s blog: Hack The System The Art of SpeedReading People: How to Size People Up and Speak Their Language by Paul D. Tieger & Barbara Barron-Tieger

Dave Rogenmoser is the Co-Founder of Proof, a software product designed to double the conversion rate on your landing page or website by displaying recent customer activity. Proof is achieving a milestone of growth that we’ve seen very few software companies reach before.   After just three months, Proof is generating $20,000 MRR. Wow.   Dave also Co-Founded the Entrepreneur Alliance, a fast-growing global club of digital entrepreneurs coming together to create recurring revenue businesses. We’re going to dig into how Dave grew Proof so quickly, how he builds recurring revenue, and the lessons he’s learned after leaving corporate America to be an entrepreneur.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com   Resources Connect with Dave: Twitter | LinkedIn Learn more about Proof Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill Built to Sell: Creating a Business That Can Thrive Without You by John Warrillow & Bo Burlingham The Automatic Customer: Creating a Subscription Business in Any Industry by John Warrilow

Are you overwhelmed by the world of content marketing? There’s so many voices that it can sometimes be hard to know where yours fits into it all, but there is a niche for everyone. Sonia Simone is a Founding Partner and the Chief Content Officer at Copyblogger Media (now Rainmaker Digital). She’s been online since 1989, and she has some incredible insight into the evolving world of content marketing.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Sonia: Copy Blogger | LinkedIn | Twitter Check out Sonia’s 20-part tutorial for online marketers: Internet Marketing for Smart People Listen to Sonia’s podcasts: Confessions of a Pink-Haired Marketer Copyblogger.FM   -- Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters

Today’s guest, Jordan Harbinger, is an entrepreneur, talk show host, and world-renowned social dynamics expert. He is committed to helping others thrive in every area of their life through the study of simple (but subtle) social dynamics. As co-founder of The Art of Charm, Jordan helped develop one of the leading self-development programs in the world, with a special expertise in social capital, relationship-building, and authentic rapport. As host of The Art of Charm podcast, he teaches people how to be a super-connector, become more charismatic, and revamp their relationships almost every single day.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Jordan: TheArtofCharm.com | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube Listen to The Art of Charm podcast Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harar Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters

Do you ever wonder if you’ll find fulfillment? Today’s guest, Geoff Woods, has been there… but mentorship helped him break through the achievement ceiling and make a bigger impact. Geoff went on a wild journey after joining The Foundation. In one year, he went from employee to building a six-figure business to partnering with Gary Keller and Jay Papasan, authors of The ONE Thing. Geoff is now VP of The ONE Thing, the company behind the best-selling book. He shares how connecting with people helped him get there, and the incredible transformation he’s undergone as Jay and Gary’s mentee.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Learn more at the1thing.com Listen to The ONE Thing podcast Pick up your own copy of The ONE Thing by Gary Keller & Jay Papasan   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Billy Murphy is a former professional poker player turned entrepreneur, built a seven-figure poker training business, has run at least 20 e-commerce stores, and now he’s helping more entrepreneurs get started at ForeverJobless.com.   Billy has a uniquely mathematical, logical, and linear perspective on business that we haven’t seen anywhere else, and we’re really excited to share it with you.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Learn more at Forever Jobless Apply to the Forever Jobless Incubator (deadline: April 29th) Read Billy’s awesome blogs: “How to Buy a Ferrari for $20k” “Expected Values: Millionaire’s Math” “How To Change Your Life This Year By Accomplishing Any Goal You Want”   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Today’s interview will completely change the way you think about starting businesses and selling products. Nathan Latka pre-sold about $80,000 of product, built up the Facebook marketing business Heyo, and sold it by the time he was 26-years-old. He is also one of the most entertaining (and somewhat controversial) people in the entrepreneurial world. Now Nathan is pioneering a new way for entrepreneurs to enter the software space more quickly, more easily, and for relatively cheap. We’ll be learning about the methodologies and processes that helped him purchase an existing product, with 20,000 users, for only $1,000.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Check out Nathan’s podcast: The Top Download & Use Send Later (which includes Nathan’s email templates) Learn more on NathanLatka.com   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Today’s guest, Ash Maurya, has experience with every level of startups and he is an expert in the lean startup process. He is author of the international bestseller Running Lean: How to Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works, CEO of LeanStack, and creator of the 1-Page Lean Canvas business model. He’s on the show to discuss the old world of product development versus the new world of product development, and to help you launch and scale a lean business.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Ash: Website | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube | Instagram Create your own 1-page Lean Canvas business plan Head over to ilovecompass.com/friends to see how Andy got his first 10 paying customers Read Ash’s Books: Running Lean: How to Iterate from Plan A to a Plan That Works   Scaling Lean: Mastering the Key Metrics for Startup Growth     Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Does creating a software product feel unrealistic because you don’t know how to develop software? Today’s guest, David Cristello, is here to explain why you don’t need to know anything about developing software to build a good software business… if you use The Foundation process. David went through The Foundation in 2013, built Jetpack Workflow, and later pre-sold $600,000 worth of robots. This episode is packed full of great stories and simple tips for new bootstrappers!   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with David: david (at) jetpackworkflow (dot) com Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters

Are you lost and looking for revenue? Today’s guest, Dan Martell, maps out how you can develop an idea, iterate upon it, and start generating revenue over the next few months. Dan is a passionate entrepreneur who founded and exited three software companies over the past decade and he is an investor in over 30 others (like Udemy, Intercom, and Unbounce). The first time Dan was on the podcast he shared how entrepreneurship saved his life. Today he’s bringing a crazy amount of value. Get ready to take some notes!   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Dan: Website | Youtube | Email   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Do you feel in control? Bootstrapping a business allows you to create a life that you control – even if you have to start the process after work and on weekends.  Today we have an incredible bootstrap success story: how Paras Chopra launched and scaled Wingify to over $1M in monthly recurring revenue – that’s right, monthly.   In this episode you’ll learn… why bootstrapping gives you control. the difference between a good launch and a bad launch. how to leverage your core value.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Paras: ParasChopra.com | Twitter Learn more about Wingify: Website | Facebook | Twitter Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Are you an entrepreneur in your heart but still living the life of an employee? Before joining The Foundation’s first Software Roundtable, Troy Lavinia was slogging his way through his job at a hedge fund. After the Software Roundtable, he Founded Mosaic Research Management and he’s killing it in the hedge fund management space.   You will learn... how he stopped procrastinating and started a business. how he developed a SaaS counterpart to his service business. how focus improved his business.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Troy at troy (at) mosaicrm.com Learn more about Mosaic Research Management The War of Art by Steven Pressfield   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters

Are you waiting too long to launch your business?   Chris Brisson Co-Founded Call Loop, the leading text messaging software for businesses, and now he’s in the process of launching a new software business called Salesmsg. In this episode, Chris shares the strategies that worked (and didn’t work) to grow Call Loop and how he’s applying those lessons to optimize a new product launch.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Chris: Twitter | LinkedIn Learn more about Salesmsg Call Loop Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Do you feel guilty about making money? Many entrepreneurs suffer from limiting beliefs about money, but we don’t have to. We can destroy those limiting beliefs when we realize that money begets impact – and you can do so many positive things in the world if you can make an impact. Stu McLaren, Co-Founder of WishList Products and Owner of Always Thinking Creatively, used to feel guilty about the amount of money he earned. Guilt stunted his entrepreneurial growth. He’s here to teach you why making money can be honorable, and the strategies he uses to help entrepreneurs like you launch, scale, and grow 7- and 8-figure membership sites.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Stu is starting a new podcast! Check it out: MarketingYourBusiness.com Connect with Stu: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram Strengthsfinder Test   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Are you willing to invest in yourself? Laura Roeder is an incredibly talented bootstrapper who constantly re-invests in herself. She was 22 when she quit her job and founded her first startup. She broke six figures in the first year. Laura then bootstrapped Meet Edgar from $0 to $4M in revenue in just 2½ years. It’s an awesome story and I’m really excited to share it with you.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Laura: Website | Twitter Learn more about Meet Edgar: Website | Twitter | Facebook   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Are you frustrated because you can’t sell your awesome product? For years, Jeremy Chatelaine was frustrated. He kept building products but he wasn’t able to sell them – until he joined The Foundation. We’re going to look at how The Foundation played a role in getting QuickMail.io off the ground and the strategies that Jeremy has implemented to scale and grow over the past two years.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Learn more about Jeremy: QuickMail.io | Twitter   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters

Are you able to recreate success? Brian Moran is the Founder of Get 10,000 Fans – an information business that he grew from $0 to $3M in just two years. Now he’s applying those same strategies to his first software startup, SamCart, which made over $3M in revenue in 2016. He shares some awesome marketing strategies for new bootstrappers and we go deep into how he has been able to grow two companies so rapidly.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Brian: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Brian (at) samcart.com   SamCart: Website | Sam Cart Conversion Club | SamCart Customer Mastermind Get 10,000 Fans   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

If you’re listening to this right now, you are ambitious. And ambitious people want awesome sh*t. But if you want to make that happen, you need to Master Your Inner Game first. Jacob Sokol is a life and business coach who has been described as a mix between Jay-Z and Deepak Chopra. For the past seven years, he has been on a mission to help people live with less anxiety and greater fulfillment by mastering their Inner Game. Jacob is known for creating The Inner Game Immersion, a 10-week immersion process that helps people level up their mental clarity, emotional mastery, physical optimization, and spiritual purpose.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Jacob: Sensophy.com | Facebook | Twitter | Jacob (at) sensophy.com Master your Inner Game at PlayTheInnerGame.com   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Do you want to grow forever or grow quickly? Jason Fried is one of the original SaaS bootstrappers. He co-Founded Basecamp in 1999. He shares his valuable perspective on how to grow a business that is sustainable forever.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Jason: Twitter | LinkedIn Basecamp: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Podcast TEDTalk: “Why work doesn’t happen at work” Read Jason’s books: Rework, Remote and Getting Real   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Have you ever had a bad business idea and then doubled down on it? Have you ever solved a problem in your own life and then kept the solution to yourself? Pat Flynn teaches proven strategies for running an online business and optimizing it for passive income. In this episode, Pat shares why his first software business failed, and why Smart Podcast Player is succeeding.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Listen to Pat’s Podcasts: Ask Pat | The Smart Passive Income Podcast Learn more about Smart Podcast Player   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Stop trying to hack early-stage startup growth.   Get ready for real world, practical advice on bootstrapping a software business. David Hauser has been there and done it and he isn’t brainwashed by some of the Silicon Valley methods for hacking growth. David bootstrapped Grasshopper from $0 to $30M in revenue before selling it & founded Chargify, made it profitable then raised money through Mark Cuban.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with David: Website | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Today’s guest made $2M in profit last year without tracking any metrics.   Giacomo Peldi Guilizzoni is Founder and CEO of Balsamiq Studios, LLC. Their goal is to help people create software and websites that are easier to use by providing software tools, teaching people about UX and building a long-lasting company. Balsamiq is unique because it has been bootstrapped for the past 8 years, and it was an almost instant success. Within 27 months, Balsamiq made $2M in revenue and every year, for the past five years, Balsamiq has made $2M in profit. Even with that success, Giacomo still isn’t finished implementing his original vision. He understands that software product development is a long, gradual process. It’s a wild story about risk management, organic growth and saying no. I’m really excited to share it with all of you.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Balsamiq: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Forums Learn more about Balsamiq: Product Blog | UX Blog | Balsamiq Champions | Life @ Balsamiq Read “The Four Pillars of Organic Growth” by Joel Spolsky   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Will you be able to take massive action to improve your life when your back is against the wall?   If you have a strong Foundation, you can.   At the end of last year, Scott Southwick had his back against the wall. Now he’s taking action and implementing The Foundation process to overcome limiting beliefs and bootstrap a startup. Discover how Scott is focusing on the result to develop a business and make sales as a student of The Foundation, and learn how he leverages his role as a consultant to pay for the course.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Scott: LinkedIn   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

How do you bootstrap a company for 18 years without taking on any partners or investments?   Get ready to find out.   Tom Kulzer founded AWeber Communications, Inc. in 1998. He is still CEO and still owns 100% of the company. It’s an incredibly unique story that will teach you how to bootstrap a self-sufficient software company – and avoid the mistakes that Tom made along the way.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Tom: TomK (at) AWeber.com Learn more about AWeber   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Do you want to escape corporate servitude to live a life of value and make a greater impact?   Four years ago, Carl Mattiola left Tesla Motors and graduated from The Foundation as one of the most successful people in the class. He was generating $3-4k in monthly recurring revenue for a software product. Now he is making well over six figures every month as the Founder or Co-Founder of three companies: ClinicRise, ClinicMetrics and Breakthrough PT Marketing. You can make the leap too. Listen to Carl’s story to discover how The Foundation helped him achieve his goals.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Carl: Website | Carl (at) CarlMattiola.com ClinicRise ClinicMetrics Breakthrough PT Marketing   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Going through The Foundation program pays for itself – and then some.   Phil MacNevin is the Founder and President of Lift Media, a web design & marketing agency dedicated to delivering beautiful and impactful marketing tools for increasing growth to digital marketers around the world. Three weeks after joining The Foundation, Phil made his first software sales. Six weeks after joining The Foundation, Phil paid off The Foundation’s course and was generating revenue with his own course. 2½ years after joining The Foundation, Lift Media is expected to make $1 million annual recurring revenue.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Phil: Facebook | Twitter Lift Media Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make It...and Why the Rest Don't (Rockefeller Habits 2.0) by Verne Harnish   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Are you having trouble getting your first few customers? Is it hard to scale from $5k a month to more? Nathan Barry has run into the same obstacles – and he developed strategies for overcoming them. Nathan is Founder and CEO of ConvertKit, one of the fastest-growing bootstrapped startups online. In just 18 months, he grew from less than 5k monthly recurring revenue to more than 400k monthly recurring revenue.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Nathan: Website | Twitter | Email Learn more about ConvertKit Watch “The Long, Slow, SaaS Ramp of Death” on YouTube   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Today’s episode is a really unique opportunity for anyone looking to get into the world of business to learn from one of the world’s top marketers. Ryan Levesque is leading the way in in the marketing world with the Ask method. He’s already helped companies sell over $100M in products using this method. Ryan is author of the best-selling book Ask and an investor in Bucket.io, the segmentation software entrepreneurs are using to implement the Ask method in their business. You’re going to learn why the ask method works and why it’s been so successful, then Ryan will take you through the process of how he got started in business, where the idea for Bucket came from and his strategy for launch.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Learn more about Bucket.io Order a FREE copy of Ask by Ryan Levesque (just pay $4.95 for S&H) Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Chandler Bolt joined the Foundation in 2013 and dropped out of college – now he’s building a company worth about $2.25M. At The Foundation, we teach people how to build software businesses because they’re a good long-term financial bet, but the model applies to any business with a product. Chandler pursued the self-published book industry. Chandler is the author of five best-selling books, the most recent of which is Book Launch, and he’s the Founder & CEO of Self-Publishing School, the #1 resource for writing your own book. He’s helped thousands of people on their journey to writing their first book. Now he’s going to teach you how he used The Foundation process to drop out of college and grow a multi-million dollar business.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Pick up a FREE copy of Chandler’s most recent book Published: The Proven Path From Blank Page to Published Author Read more of Chandler’s Books: Amazon Learn more about Self-Publishing School: Website Influence by Robert Cialdini Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Do you want a blueprint for creating and selling high-ticket offers? I don’t know anyone in the world better at creating and selling high-ticket offers than John Logar. He set The Foundation’s record for the most sales generated while going through the program – over $120k in six months. He helped one speaker at the The Foundation Bootstrap Software Summit close $1M in sales from the stage. He’s the best at understanding what people want. John can’t write a single line of code but he has sold millions of dollars worth of software, and he’s going to tell you how you can too.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Learn more about John: ConsultingUnleashed.com | CallJohnLogar.com How to Master the Art of Selling by Tom Hopkins   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

If you want to hear why The Foundation process works, then you need to listen to this episode. Dan was one of the original 88 people that participated in The Foundation’s Software Roundtable – now he’s CEO of Follow Up Boss and generating millions of dollars in revenue. Dan and his partner developed Follow Up Boss for six months before joining The Software Roundtable. They had an idea, but they weren’t gaining traction with it. They realized they needed to niche down and The Foundation was able to teach them everything they didn’t know they needed to know to bootstrap a software business, while offering an extra layer of support and guidance along the way.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Dan: Dan (at) FollowUpBoss.com Learn more about Follow Up Boss: Website | Facebook | Twitter | YouTube Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

“I wish I had heard this interview two years ago. It probably would have saved a lot of hard times.” –Wyatt Jozwowski   Bootstrapping is great because it forces you to focus on what matters: maximum profit in the least amount of time, while maintaining the ability to reorient and make the best decisions. There’s also a fine line between making decisions that matter and making short-term decisions that hurt you in the long-term. To help you walk that fine line and make the best decisions for bootstrapping your startup, Wyatt Jozwowski & David Abrams share how they turned Demio’s rocky start into a successful launch and the lessons they learned along the way.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Try out Demio: Website | Facebook | Twitter Connect with Wyatt: Twitter Connect with David: Twitter   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Daniel Himel graduated from The Foundation, left his day job at 35 to run a startup, and then sold his company.   Now he’s getting ready to do it all again.   If you want to build a business like a graduate of The Foundation, then you need to check out this story.   Click to learn more and read the blog post: TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Daniel: DanielHimel.com | Twitter Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters

Don’t learn to become an entrepreneur as quickly as possible – learn how to become an entrepreneur the best way possible.   Zach Johnson, Founder of FunnelDash, went from employee to the trenches to Founder in just four years – and he learned to be a self-reliant marketing expert along the way.   His strategies will help you make a plan, teach yourself and be more self-reliant.   Click here to learn more and read the blog post: TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Connect with Zach: Facebook | LinkedIn   FunnelDash: Website | Facebook | Twitter Leadpages ONTRAPORT Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters

Every startup founder needs to learn how to optimize their business like a product. Rob Walling is a serial SaaS entrepreneur who has been bootstrapping for 16 years. He has the best strategies to scale a bootstrapped startup and he’s here to share them with you.   Resources Learn more about Rob: Software By Rob | Twitter Listen to Rob’s podcasts: Startups For The Rest Of Us | ZenFounder Improve your email marketing campaign with Drip Attend MicroConf 2017 – April 9th-11th or April 11th-13th Apply to FounderCafe, an online community of entrepreneurs helping each other succeed Start Small, Stay Small: A Developer’s Guide to Launching a Startup by Rob Walling Eric Sink on The Business of Software: The Book | The Blog Joel Spolsky’s Blog: Joel On Software   You can learn more by reading expanded show notes at TheFoundation.com/podcast. Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

How do you know if you have a good idea or not? Today you will learn how to find good ideas and reach product-market fit in a bootstrapped, early-stage startup. Eben Pagan is a veteran entrepreneur in the information technology space who now devotes his life to training new entrepreneurs in his best strategies and techniques for business, marketing and wealth creation.   Learn more with the expanded show notes at TheFoundation.com/Podcast.   Lay The Foundation: Reaching Product-Market Fit Invest your attention, energy, time and effort into things you will enjoy being a part of. Your product needs to resonate with people. It’s hard to grow a business if you have to talk people into it. It’s important to go into any entrepreneurial venture with a realistic model of how often things work and how often things don’t work. The product is the marketing. Balance your vision and your customer’s vision. Consider both philosophical marketing decision and tactical marketing decisions together, even in the early stages of a startup. Your target customers likely communicate and think similarly. Ask them questions and pay attention to the words they use. After the creative phase, you have to build an organization. Learn from the innovations and mistakes of the people who came before you.   Resources Learn more about Eben: Website | Facebook | LinkedIn | Twitter Want to send Eben a business idea or proposal? Send him an email with a short video describing it to intro@ebenpagan.com.   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

We all know what it feels like to be economically vulnerable.   Everyone struggles with their relationship to money and we’ve all laid awake at night worrying. Clay Collins, CEO and CoFounder of Leadpages, knows what that feels like – so he empowers people with some of the best marketing tools online.   Leadpages helps entrepreneurs reduce friction by creating done-for-you models for economic value creation, business growth and income. You know the templates work because Clay uses many of them to grow Leadpages.   Clay also generated revenue in their first year as a bootstrapped startup by developing a one-to-many direct sales marketing system that cuts down on costs without cutting down on value.   Learn more by reading expanded show notes at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Learn more about Clay: Leadpages | Twitter Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters.

Cat Lavery & Allen Brouwer, founders of Best Self Co., achieved their Kickstarter goal in just two days - and then destroyed it. Two years later, they won the Shopify Build-a-Business competition, culminating in a few days of socializing with inspirations such as Tim Ferriss, Tony Robbins, Marie Forleo, Daymond John, and Russell Simmons. All this thanks to what they learned as students in The Foundation.   For more info on how Cat & Allen 20x’d their goal and rose to success, see the full show notes at TheFoundation.com/podcast.   Resources Learn more about BestSelfCo: Website | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram Watch Cat and Allen ring the opening bell of the NYSE Join The BestSelf Inner Circle

Are you an entrepreneur, or are you creating a job that you don’t even like? Do you know what an entrepreneur actually is?   Today’s guest, Michael Gerber, is a legend in the world of entrepreneurship – and he’s here to help.   For full resources and more info on Michael, see the show notes at TheFoundation.com.   In This Interview I Ask: 4:20 - Let's talk about distinguishing between entrepreneurs and people who are just getting in business because they have an idea. 14:20 - If you go into a small business and they're breaking even running their little shop, where do you start with them? 14:45 - What is the difference between a personal dream and an impersonal dream? 15:20 - Have you read Atlas Shrugged? Her philosophy seems to be that we are intrinsically motivated by selfish desire. What are your thoughts on that and how does that apply to this system for entrepreneurs? 18:50 - What about Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs? If somebody is at breakeven or they're at the point where cash flow is an issue for them, then it seems challenging for them to go into a dream room to think about what they want to create for the world when they need to be taking care of themselves. 29:25 - Any last thoughts?

I have Ryan Moran on the podcast today because he has one of the coolest minds I have ever met in the entrepreneurial space. He is the Founder of Freedom Fast Lane, a business that inspires, educates, and empowers people to live extraordinary lives through the understanding that money and freedom are the result of who you become, rather than the other way around. Ryan is also the Founder of Capitalism.com, which exists to dispel the theory that the government is the best solution to problems, and it instead strives to empower individuals to take personal responsibility for their actions. “The more experienced I get in business the more I realize that the things that are hard to me are easy to someone else, and the things that are big to me are small to someone else. So we might as well just create whatever the heck we want in life, right?”   In This Interview I Ask: 4:45 - How did you get into business? What has your path and trajectory been like? 7:15  – What’s the difference [between an entrepreneur and knowing how to make money]? 9:20 - Why did you stop going to school to be a pastor? 12:40 - What happened on your first mushroom trip? 15:40 - Tell me about the mentality you had behind hosting such an ambitious first Freedom Fast Lane live event? 25:50 - What goals does Ryan have right now? 28:55 - Talk to me about beginning phases. If you’re starting from scratch, where do you go? 31:00 - Can you give me an example of a product you launched on Amazon? 33:20 - How did you find customers?   Business and Money “I really didn’t know how to be an entrepreneur. I just knew how to make money.” There is a difference between being an entrepreneur and making money. Entrepreneurs build something bigger than themselves and solve real problems with real customers. You can work your way into a high-paying job and be successful, but you aren’t building anything that’s yours. Are you building a brand, or are you selling things? For example, Ryan started selling yoga products on Amazon. He started with a yoga mat then he added blocks, towels and other yoga products. He made this decision because there was an audience that already existed, and he identified that audience as likely to be environmentally conscious. He carved a niche for the company as an environmentally-friendly yoga brand and created Facebook groups to target his audience.   Starting a Business From Scratch “Who is the audience that you’re serving and how are you giving them a solution? If you can answer those two questions, everything else is super easy.” If you have never started a business and you have a goal to make more money, Ryan believes that there are two parts of the equation that you need to figure out. Before you figure these two things out, everything else is a distraction. The audience that you serve and the pain points that they have The solution that you give your audience   Losing His Religion Ryan was originally going to school to be a pastor. He was questioning his faith and running a business, so he ultimately graduated with a degree in business. Losing his faith made him angry for a while, but he found a place for faith and spirituality during his journey. Ryan is currently working on a documentary called Losing My Religion to tell the story of Ryan finding his truth. Spoiler: the opening scene features Ryan on his first mushroom trip.   The Freedom Fast Lane “I believe the fastest path to financial freedom is to build a business and invest the profits.” At the Freedom Fast Lane, Ryan teaches entrepreneurial individuals how to build businesses and re-invest the profits – and he practices what he preaches. Ryan doesn’t take a salary from Freedom Fast Lane, he makes his money from physical product businesses and consulting. You can do the 10 Day Challenge to start on a path towards making more money, enjoying more time off, and living a life you love. Freedom Fast Lane Live 2016 will be in Austin, TX December 9th - 11th. They have an amazing lineup of speakers – Tom Bilyeu, Peter Diamandis, John Mackey, Cameron Herold and Alicia Silverstone – that were chosen because they are doing things the fastest and the biggest in the entrepreneurial space. If you go to Freedom Fast Lane Live 2016 because you listened to this podcast, email me at andy@thefoundation.com and I’ll send you my cell phone number. We will have a little get-together for The Foundation community.   Resources Learn more about Ryan: Freedom Fast Lane | Facebook Listen to the Freedom Fast Lane podcast Learn about Ryan’s documentary: Losing My Religion Capitalism.com   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters

Jennifer Hudye is a relationship marketing expert and the founder of Conscious Copy. She helps coaches, authors, experts and influencers in the online space develop an authentic relationship with their prospects, so that they're not trying to sleep with their prospects on the first date.   “It's becoming an authentic influencer, building your tribe, while still making sales through email marketing.”   In This Interview I Ask: 3:05  – From the time that you were born right through Conscious Copy, what was your story? How did you arrive at that? 5:20 – You quadruple your investment in Princess Venture, Inc. (before turning 18). What then? 6:15 – So how old are you right now? 7:25 – Did you go the college route? 7:35 – As somebody who was groomed, essentially, and influenced to be an entrepreneur from a very young age, why did you decide to go to college? Let's just say it in Tony Robbins terms, what was your outcome goal for going to college, even though you already had in your mind, and in reality, ways to generate money without doing that? 8:10 –  With the knowledge that you have of being an actual entrepreneur, does college and a major in entrepreneurship prepare you for what you've been doing? 10:15 – Give us a short description of what you do at Conscious Copy. What does that mean? 11:10 – Tell me a little bit more about the target market that you're serving, beyond coaches, experts and influencers. 13:10 – What I see that you've done here is you first went out and owned the top 1% of your market, and only after you owned the top 1% of your market did you create an offer for everyone else, and what I generally see is people go about that in the reverse way, where they try and create something very general that appeals to the masses and only after they've accumulated experience and testimonials do they then try and go after the top 1% of their market. Why did you go this way? 16:10 – How did you become a master of copy? 18:50 – Why did your business need to exist amidst all the other options that people have out there? Why was there a burning desire for this company, Conscious Copy, to exist that wasn't already being met in the market? 21:45 – Can we dive a little bit into your system? 24:50 – What’s step two? 26:20 – In the ideal client snapshot, is this based purely on market research, or am I actually going out there speaking directly to clients, past clients, future clients and putting out quizzes, surveys? What does it actually look like? How involved is that? 27:40 – Could you give us one or two more specific questions that people who are listening might go and ask when they're interviewing the target demographic?   29:45 – What’s step 3? 31:50 – Once you go through this process with an influencer, is it a regular thing for you to discover that the compelling offer is wrong or to discover or uncover an entirely new compelling offer that that influencer could put out based on the ideal client snaps shots? 36:10 – I'm curious if you can remember offhand another example of a ridiculously compelling offer that doesn't have a financial component to it? 38:00  – What is something that people usually exclude or do not put into their compelling offer that makes it a not compelling offer? Like what what some of the missing ingredients? 43:20 – What’s step four? 47:10 – I want to understand know-like-trust. It’s something that I hear people say all the time, but what does it actually mean? 54:20 – What’s step number five? 55:50 – How do you diagnose the problem? How do you know what’s going wrong [with your marketing emails]? 58:40 – Jennifer and I have cooked up something special. So how many people are we going to offer this to? 1:00:45 – What's going to happen on the on this interaction, on the analysis? 1:00:15 – Where should they go if they feel like they’re a perfect fit? To talk with you, to learn more about what we need them to do?   How To Get an Education In Entrepreneurship (Without Paying Tuition) Experience – Just go out there, test stuff and figure out what works and doesn’t work. Mentors – Get bad ass mentors and advisors who have gone where you want to go and can coach you along Conferences and Seminars – “Instead of going on Spring Break like everyone else, I would go to marketing conferences, and that's where I learned everything that I know now.”   Jennifer’s Five-Step Process for Authentic Copy The Influencer Profile – Identify who you are as a person and bring your whole self to the table using Aristotle’s three parts of persuasion, which Jennifer prefers to call the three parts of motivation. This will help you identify your positioning in the space. Ethos is your gut Pathos is your heart Logos is the logical side of things The demographics The psychographics Get in their mind, and go right to the source: “Really getting an entire snapshot of who it is that you want to serve, that you want to be a hero to, when building your loyal tribe” The Ideal Client Snapshot – Sometimes we get caught up in thinking that our ideal client is everyone, but “in any communication, any messaging, any emails that you write, you need to be talking to a specific person.” Jennifer helped one of her clients, a real-estate coach, set up a more effective offer to help sell a high-ticket coaching item. They rebranded his sales call as a Close Every Listing call. It’s not a sales call, it’s a destination call. Then, on top of that, if you know you will deliver value on that call, make it a no-brainer with an even greater incentive, such as refunding their time. The Compelling Offer – Make it a no-brainer for your ideal client. Consider your communication with your clients like a relationship. If you just exchanged numbers with someone (a cold lead), your relationship process will be different than if you meet and then spend a whole day with someone (a qualified lead). Always be leading your prospect through a story. Your goal is to get your client to know, like and trust you. Open interesting loops that lead the reader through a story, and makes them want to keep reading. “I hate when marketers try sneaky, bait-and-switch stuff. People love authenticity and transparency.” Copy Creation – Note that copy creation is the fourth step of the process for developing authentic copy. There is work and thought and research and interviewing that goes into everything that it's going to take for that copy to actually convert. “With marketing you need to make sure that you're always testing stuff out – so measuring open rates, click rates, engagement, sales, that stuff.” The Measurement Maximizer – If you aren’t measuring your metrics then you don’t know what is or isn’t working, and all of your work will be a waste.   A Special Offer From Jennifer & Starting From Nothing Jennifer has a really awesome offer for the SFN audience. If you head over to ConsciousCopy.co/sfn you will be able to pick up The Perfect Welcome Email. “So exactly how to create a badass welcome email and just like deliver a load of awesome content.” In addition, Jennifer has an incredible offer for the first 20 people who take advantage of it. If you are an expert in the online transformation space – such as coaching in business, health or relationships, basically anything where you’re transforming someone through your products / services – and you have an offer that has proven to convert, but you see that you’re missing something important, then Jennifer is offering a full analysis of your system. She is going to take you through and analyze that thing and make it better. If that's all you want then take it, run with it, go crush it. If you love it and you want to work with her, there is going to be the opportunity to do that.   Resources Learn more about Jennifer: Website Special Offer: Pick up The Perfect Welcome Email Conscious Copy Conscious Hustler Andrew Chaperone   Production & Development for The Foundation: Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters

Mike Paton has spent a lifetime learning from entrepreneurs. Eight years ago he met Gino Wickman and was immediately drawn to the simplicity and usefulness of his Entrepreneurial Operating System® (EOS). He is now the Visionary at EOS Worldwide, LLC – a role we explore in this interview – and an author, speaker and EOS implementer at Achieve Traction, where he uses his lifetime of entrepreneurial wisdom to helps entrepreneurs and their leadership teams clarify, simplify and achieve their vision.   “We believe that what leaders do is solve problems and resolve issues.”   In This Interview I Ask: 2:30 - Give me the high-level about how you got involved with Traction and EOS. Give us like the 10,000 foot view of what it is and why it actually matters for entrepreneurs. 4:15 - What makes EOS unique? Why is this different than other stuff that's out there? Tell me a little bit about what makes this specifically unique for entrepreneurs. 6:35 - When you come into organizations, what do you think it is that entrepreneurs are most struggling with or that's keeping them in that stuck cycle of not getting what they want out of their business? 9:10 - I'm curious how you set goals, because sometimes – especially in fast-growing things – I don't even know where to begin. I don't want to set it too low, but I don't want to set it too high. Can you talk a little bit about that? 18:00 - Talk to me a little bit about managing people. There's something that doesn't feel natural about it and challenging for me. Tell me a little bit about that. 20:45 - Can you talk a little bit about the relationship between Visionary and Integrators? 25:00 – Are there any key metrics that you're tracking or that that entrepreneurs should be tracking that they are often missing? 29:10 – Do you advocate for open book management? 30:40 – How do you recommend doing incentives for employees, like do you do gainsharing, profit-sharing, bonuses? Your thoughts on that? 31:50 – Tell us about the weekly meeting. How the weekly meeting is ran, how people do it well. 38:05 – What's the rough agenda for level 10 meetings? 42:10 – Is there is there anything you either wish I would have asked or you’re surprised that I didn't ask? Or questions that typically come up that you feel like you would really like to speak to?   What Makes EOS Worldwide Unique? EOS gives homage to the great work done by many of the great business thought leaders that came before it, such as Jim Collins, Michael Gerber, Verne Harnish, Patrick Lencioni, and Dan Sullivan. The tools and the concepts aren’t completely unique, but the way EOS Worldwide implements EOS with entrepreneurial leadership teams helps them get better at three things fast and permanently. Vision – Getting the leadership team a hundred percent on the same page with where they're going and how they plan to get there. Traction – Instilling focus, discipline, and accountability everywhere in the organization. Health – Helping the leadership team become a more cohesive, functional team rather than the set of strong, independent, headstrong individual leaders that they are. Often those kinds of people have the greatest challenge burgeoning as a healthy team, and so the way EOS Worldwide teaches and the way they work with clients seems to help those three concepts take hold quickly.   “It's early success that gives an entrepreneur and his or her leadership team that confidence to continue with, quite frankly, what is fundamental change in the way the business operates.”   EOS Implementers & The Six Key Components That Exist in Every Business Generally any EOS implementer starts interacting with an entrepreneur when he or she has hit the ceiling. Things are humming along and all of a sudden you come to a screeching halt. It has a tendency to happen multiple times, and the root cause of those problems, challenges, obstacles and frustrations tend to be one of six things. When you're implementing EOS in your business what you're doing is working to assess how weak or strong you are in each of these six things and strengthen each component. Vision – Getting everybody on the same page with where you're going and how you plan to get there. People – Making sure you have great people perfectly suited to help you achieve your great vision. Data - Learning to run the business on facts and figures, objective information, at a high level that gives you an absolute pulse on the business rather than letting feelings, egos, and emotions carry the day. Issues – Learning how to solve your issues as they arise, in the right place in your organization. Process – Not having a clear, simple, high-level set of core processes that everybody in the organization can follow so that the most important things in your business are done the right, best way every time, without you having to coach and mentor and audit and nudge people out of the way. Attraction – The ability to instill focus, discipline, and accountability everywhere in the organization so that you and all your people are executing on the vision every day rather than getting distracted.   “My advice would be to work on strengthening all six of these components. Use all of the tools. We put them out there for the world to use. They are very simple and practical. You don't need to have an Ivy League MBA to figure this stuff out. We just really hope it helps your listeners get what they want from their business.”   Visionaries and Integrators The relationship between visionaries and integrators is the heart of Rocket Fuel by Gino Hackman and Mark C. Winters. Most entrepreneurial companies are started and grown to a point by a visionary who then has to, in order to be successful, transition more into an integrator role. It's really hard to make that transition. Very few have what it takes to do it, and one of the things Mike does with entrepreneurial leadership teams is help visionaries understand that they don't need to be the integrator to grow their business. “They should be sitting in the visionary seat loving their lives everyday and relying on an integrator to run the day-to-day and help the leadership team work to achieve the visionary's vision.”   Visionaries – “The classic entrepreneur. They’re idea people. They have 20 ideas a week and believe that every one of them is going to take the organization to the moon. They’re creative problem solvers. They're the people asking what if, why can't we do that, how about we mix this up and try this. They’re risk takers. They like to fly at 30,000 feet and when they need to bring the plane down to refuel they lose energy.” Integrators – “People who are put on the planet to harmoniously integrate the way a handful of strong-willed, independent humans work together to achieve a common goal. They like getting in the muck and looking at data, figuring things out at the core. They don't mind refueling the plane or putting it in the shop and fixing it from time to time to make the company execute better”   Five Rules to a Great Meeting Pulse Every level-10 leadership meeting should be: On the same day At the same time Using the same agenda Always start on time Always end on time   We appreciate Mike taking the time to talk with us today. Head over to www.EOSworldwide.com for information on all of the books, to download free tools, watch a lot of instructional videos, and you can even find Mike in the implementer directory to reach out directly.   Resources EOS Worldwide Achieve Traction Traction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman Get a Grip: An Entrepreneurial Fable by Gino Wickman & Mike Paton Rocket Fuel by Gino Wickman & Mark C. Winters   Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Vinnie Fisher is a Founder and CEO of The Total CEO and Founder and Chairman of Fully Accountable. Today we really dove into The Total CEO, unpacked the six core areas of business, and really what we find bleeding through everything is strategy and intention.   In This Interview I Ask: 1:45 – Tell us a little bit about your entrepreneurial journey. How you got started, how you progress, and how you ended up where you're at today. 4:20 – You're a lawyer by trade and then in 2006 you launch your direct response career. How did that happen? What launched you from a lawyer into building $300 million worth of sales for these different brands? How do you get there? 6:00 – Give us the founding story: how did it come about and when did it actually start? 7:00 – What was the driving factor for the creation of Total CEO? What problem is it solving for people? 9:40 – How did you arrive at the place where you knew that being a great strategist was your one thing, your core competency? 15:10 – With this noise or chatter that we hear out there, about just get going, how do you marry that back up into taking the appropriate time to create the strategy and the vision so that things don't fall apart a year down the line? 17:30 – What's that tipping point? How do you know when it's time to start operating with a strategy and get beyond the strategy of just take some steps and get it done? 19:05 – The Total CEO breaks down business into six core areas. Can we start talking through some of those? 21:30 – Let's just start with owner's mindset. How are people messing this up? 24:40 – Why did they have to be okay with a 70% version of themselves? 28:40 –  Let's move on to piece two, which is the team, and then let's talk specifically around this character not competence. Would you hire somebody who had absolutely no experience copywriting? 30:15 – How do you look at the speed of bringing people on in the early stages of a business? 34:25 – How do you interview for something like commitment? Do you give them a little task to do and then see if they do it? 35:45 – If I'm interviewing someone and one of my top values in hiring is commitment, what would it look like for me to actually evaluate and understand, is this potential hire somebody who meets my core value? 41:40 – You mentioned that you learned the importance of numbers the hard way. How did you learn that lesson? 43:40 – Let’s talk about sales and marketing. You imagine that most people think they're good at this. What are they missing? 45:15 – So channel envy means you're looking at other people's channels and thinking, “wouldn't it be great,” but ultimately what matters is do your channels matchup with your avatar? 47:10 – Would it be safe to say that people are ultimately buying your outcome? Your result that you're going to get for them, not your product exactly? 47:30 – When do I go from one to more than one product? How do I go beyond my first product, and when do I know that it's time for me to start exploring that? 52:40 – You said something systems and processes, and I had never heard it put like that before. You said something about pave it behind you. Just remind me what you said about systems and processes. 55:15 – Do I start recording this stuff after I already know the process works, or I just do it the first time? That way in case it works I've got it down?   Finding Your Core Competency Vinnie shared the story of the baseball player Ted Williams. He got voted in the hall of fame by hitting just over 300 for his career. That means he strikes out a lot, but he was still great. The nature of business is trial-and-error. Through failure and perseverance, by identifying your strengths and weaknesses, anyone can discover their core competency in business. “Winners are the ones who fail and don't give up. Losing is failing and believing that you're done.”   Take a Step “Take a step – it might be the wrong one, but it's the one that's ultimately going to lead to your success.” Sometimes the strategy is to get going. Just go out and do it. Don’t mature and double down and spend marketing dollars when you’re in makeup mode. Sometimes you're in developing a strategy mode and then when things start to click is when you have to slow down, and not slow down sales but slow down. You have to find the tension between being able to break away a little bit and look at it, instead of just being fully immersed in it The tipping point is when you get to a critical mass – and Vinnie describes the critical mass as when you start being unable to grow beyond your shadow or you already have grown beyond your shadow and you've lost the passion piece of your business – and you need to start addressing this big issue.   The Six Core Areas of Business The Owner’s Mindset – “If your foundation’s not secure, then anything you build on top of it is not secure. So everything starts with your right alignment.” Entrepreneurs need an execution mindset. Entrepreneurs need to be comfortable with duplicating their processes, and not having everything completed 100% their way It’s important to have different strategies at the certain seasons of your business Vinnie favors character over competence, because he believes that any employee with the right effort, ability and attitude can be trained. Your Team – “There is not an organization out there that can grow beyond your shadow without properly developing and growing a team.” Just because you don't know them doesn't mean you can't go figure them out, and the starting point for people on that is to go know the key metrics of your industry. The Numbers – “If you don't understand the metrics and real numbers of your business, you're never going to grow.” Simplify your marketing strategy. Get the message clear and the problem you're solving clear. Sales and Marketing – “Typically this is the area where most entrepreneurs think they're good. They think they're a good marketer or they think they're good at sales, and so having a simple, unique sales proposition and unique value proposition is critical to this part of it.” You have a core service or product you offer, and until you've reached a point of scalability or sustainability you should not go out and create another one. Products and Services – You either sell a product or provide a service, or a hybrid. The new business walks down new areas all the time. The new area is a dirt road. You can walk down that dirt road, but you should be able to pave behind you. Systems and Processes – You can't grow without that. “You can always walk down a dirt road as long as you have a mentality to paint behind you.”   “I'm saying to you that strategy is real, and just because you don't know how to do something doesn't mean you aren't capable of doing it, and that's the whole beauty of being an entrepreneur.”   Resources Learn more about Vinnie: Website A treasure trove of free resources are available at TheTotalCEO.com/SFN. It includes a free book, other downloads, strategy stuff and more. The CEO’s Mindset by Vinnie Fisher The Best Investment: A Better You by Vinnie Fisher Fully Accountable The Total CEO The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Craig Ballantyne is a productivity and success transformation coach and the author of The Perfect Day Formula: How to Own the Day and Control Your Life. He has contributed to Men’s Health Magazine since 2000, and in 2001 he created the popular home workout program Turbulence Training. On his journey to success Craig has had to overcome crippling anxiety attacks, and he did that with his Five Pillars of Success and Transformation. Today Craig shows men and women how to use these five pillars to lose 10-75 pounds, get a raise and make more money, find the love of their lives, and overcome any obstacle in the way of success. You can read his daily essays on success, productivity and business at Early to Rise.   In This Interview I Ask: 2:40 - Can Craig talk about the rules that he has, why he has them, and why they matter for people when it comes to building out these perfect days? 5:20 - What are some of the rules that Craig has? 10:20 - How does Craig consistently make time for his routines and avoid getting overwhelmed by the rest of the world? 15:10 - Tell me about your Five Pillars of Transformation. What are they and how do they work? 26:40 - What are Craig’s thoughts on meaningful incentives versus consequences for not doing stuff? 28:45 - I’m a big fan of the vision setting process. Craig has a story that shows how impactful the vision setting process can be. Tell us about that story. 41:20 - If you were giving someone the formula for building their perfect day, what does that entail?   (Some of) Craig’s Personal Rules for Success Get up and go to bed at the same time every day. “You can use whatever hours you want, but it’s a nice structure to really accelerate the work you get done over the day.” Have a rule about your health. Anything related to stress relief, physical training or nutrition. “It doesn’t have to be an all encompassing rule … but what’s the most important health rule that you can follow that’s going to give you energy and give you overall health and really contribute to your success?” This might be a paleo diet, meditation or consistent exercise. Work on your number one priority first thing in the morning. If you give your number one priority 15 minutes in the morning six days a week, then that 90 minutes of work every week will really compound.   The Five Pillars of Transformation and Success Better planning and preparation Professional accountability Positive social support Meaningful incentive The big deadline   The Impact of Setting a Vision “The Vision is essentially where you want to be in a couple years from now. Not only thinking about it, but actually writing it down. I call it creating a movie script for your life.” Five years, three months and 17 days after Craig first articulated his vision to his coach – owning a business like Early to Rise – Craig bought the business of his dreams. Not something like it, but the exact business of his dreams: EarlyToRise.com. Craig developed a mentor relationship with Mark Ford, the previous owner of Early to Rise. Mark told Craig to narrow his focus and set four goals: One for your health One for your wealth One for your social self and One for your personal enrichment or charity endeavors   How To Build Your Perfect Day This is incredibly important. If you learn to optimize your day, and you just focus on your daily habits, your perfect day becomes your perfect week becomes your perfect month becomes your perfect quarter becomes your perfect year. This is the highest leverage point to be focusing your time and energy on if you’re going to be making some sort of habit change. Figure out how you best operate. Do a time journal. You’ll identify when you’re wasting time, and you’ll identify your own “magic time.” Solidify your sleep schedule. Focus on your number one priority first thing in the morning. Control the rest of your morning so you don’t get sucked into any rabbit holes and get through a lot of your to-do list. In the afternoon, deal with the chaos that the world brings you. Be prepared by planning two solutions for every obstacle you expect to encounter in your daily life. Finish work by five so that you can go home and focus on what counts in your life.   Resources The Perfect Day Formula: How to Own the Day and Control Your Life by Craig Ballantyne Early to Rise Five Pillars of Success and Transformation Turbulence Training “7 Rules Everyone Should Follow” by Craig Ballantyne The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level by Hendricks Gay, PhD Turning Pro: Tap Your Inner Power and Create Your Life's Work by Steven Pressfield Double Double by Cameron Herold Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey   Downloads MP3 Transcript Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

In This Interview I Ask: 2:35 – So before we dive in any deeper, Patrick, tell us what are you up to in the world right now? 4:00 – Entrepreneurs in London: how big is that group? 4:30 – Give us a sense of what that group runs on, meaning is that a group that you started on MeetUp? 7:30 –  What was your original intention when you started that MeetUp group? Was it to actually grow it to 18,000 people and monetize it, or when you got that thing started what was going through your mind? 8:48 – What I'm always curious about from entrepreneurs is what it actually looked like for them to start that first thing that blows up. Was there a big strategy and planning going into it? Or did one day you just say, “I can make this better,” and you threw up a group and kind of said, “I'm just going to see how this evolves?” 10:17 – What was that first event? What kind of details do you remember about that very first event? 11:15 – There's going to be a large percentage of listeners who might have been to MeetUp groups, but they've never started their own MeetUp group. So what kind of event did you promote for that very first one? What was the positioning? What did people opt-in to? 13:45 – If you were advising somebody to start a MeetUp group, what are some of the key elements for an event based on what you’ve learned? 19:20 – How do you measure the success of any individual MeetUp? 21:25 – When you're talking about potentially evaluating the success of a MeetUp based on money, what do you mean? Are these events that you're charging for? Or are these events where you meet great people and get clients? 24:15 – Now, from the time of that first event, how many events should I be holding? Like, what's the path for me getting to my first event where I can actually make money off of it in some way? 27:35 – Give us some of the overarching concepts that you teach to people about the best ways to network at these types of events. 30:10 – What's the strategy around the the pre-networking? 35:17 – What kind of thing would you say to the leader of the group if you're contacting them on social media before the event? 38:05 – So let's just pretend the listeners are a total blank slate. They are introverted. They're not sure the best way to go up and start introducing themselves to new people. What does that look like? 42:40 – Tell me about the follow-up. 45:50 – What's the most influential book that you've read in 2016? 47:30 – How can people deal effectively with their fear? How do you get beyond fear mode to go out there and take action, rather than what fear mode does to most people, which is it makes them sink back into themselves?   How to Launch a Successful MeetUp Community Create compelling copy – be it about who the group is or what it’s going to be all about. Let the group grow, until it has about a 150 people, before the first event. Once you have a sizeable group, announce that you will launch in four weeks. In the title of that event, there's something to do with launch, because people are going to dig that. Optional: Keep the event free to encourage registration. If it is popular, you can add a price to the second half of tickets sold.   A Path to Monetization in MeetUp Groups After your MeetUp group has grown to about 150 people and you are ready to launch your first event, you might want to start looking for a path to monetization. Ticket Sales – After you have developed social proof for your group – with either a number of well-rated or popular early events, or with a large number of ticket sales – you can start charging a little bit for tickets. If an early event is picking up steam, you can sell the last half of the tickets for a little bit of money. For later events, start the price at only a couple dollars and raise it incrementally. The early purchasers will give your event and group the social proof it needs to sell more expensive tickets. Sponsorships – It is possible to make quite a bit of money through sponsorships, but you have to go out and find them. Speakers – It is possible to get a great speaker, even if you don’t have a very large group. If you can prove that you can get a moderately-sized group, maybe 50-100 people, and you can make the opportunity convenient for your speakers (e.g. they’re already in town), then you can attract a great speaker and create an affiliate partnership. “We've had one event with a Canadian speaker with 208 people where he closed just over 40,000 pounds”   Tips For Pre-Networking The first few minutes of a networking event can be one of the most awkward experiences ever. So, to make it easier on yourself and on the people you want to network with, do a little pre-networking. Get in touch with them on a social network or by email and make an introduction. Before you contact people, try to establish what you specifically need connections for. Laser focus on the people who are specifically related to what you need. If you don’t need anything specific, connect with the people that are the most influential. Go in with a positive, open energy and an interest in other people Simply ask, “Do you know somebody that has these qualities or what I'm looking for?” Reach out to the leader of the group, because they are likely one of the most influential people there, or they are a person everyone will want to connect with. Be very short and concise. Simply ask, “Hey, I found you. You're the leader of this group. You look awesome. Would love to connect with you, I’m going to come to the next event.” That’s it. If they follow up and show interest, then you can give a very short – just one sentence – pitch on what you are looking for. If they do not show interest don’t push them, because this will just push them farther away. “You do whatever it takes to find out who's going to be there, and you connect with them on social media. Super, super, super, super powerful and important.”   Preparing And Delivering Your Pitch Over practice your pitch. Don’t just remember it. Practice your pitch so well that you can’t forget it, like your birthday or phone number. Then, when you are talking to someone, don’t open with your pitch. Ask them questions about them. Then, when they ask what you do, they will be interested. “Be the first person to ask the questions so you are right in there and creating trust, because the more questions you ask, the more you listen to them, the more they like and trust you” “What you want to do is you want to just try to create trust. Try to create a friendship here. Just go with creating human connection. That's all you're trying to accomplish, and that's one of the big secrets to to networking success. Forget about your pitch, forget about yourself, and truly just try to establish a great connection, finding people that you seem to gel with.”   Common Mistakes in Networking Showing up late. You have to show up early, because there are group dynamics being established in the first few minutes. If you show up late, you’re kind of an outsider. Pitching too much. Being too self-oriented, instead of being them-oriented Not following up   Resources Patrick’s website The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday Send Patrick a friend request at www.facebook.com/PatrickMPowers, tell him that you heard him on the Starting From Nothing Podcast, and he will give you a really big, cool gift. If you are going to be on London and want to meet the people at Entrepreneurs in London, visit EntrepreneursInLondon.co.uk. Production & Development for The Impact Entrepreneur Show by Podcast Masters

Rob Walch, recently inducted into the Podcast Hall of Fame, is the VP of Podcaster Relations with Libsyn and hosts the podCast411 podcast.  His books, “Podcast 101” and “Tricks of the Podcasting Masters,” are available on Amazon and iBooks.   In this episode, Rob outlines his tips to entrepreneurs interested in starting a podcast, including when and why to monetize, how to use a podcast to build credibility in your niche, and the importance of providing great content in podcasting.  Rob also discusses his opinion of where the future of podcasting is going.   In This Interview I Ask: 2:50 - What were you up to before you got into the podcast world? 6:45 - When you say clients, what do you mean? What were you helping them with at the time? 8:50 - What is your opinion for entrepreneurs on poor reasons to start a podcast? 11:50 - What are some opportunities available to you if you do start a podcast? 17:30 - If someone wants to build authority in a niche, how does podcasting compare to self-publishing? 21:40 - What is the key to someone new picking a topic? 24:00 - What is the right length for an episode? 31:25 - Tell us about people using their Twitter to inflate their numbers. 35:10 - What are the real, important numbers to be tracking? 43:25 - What is the future of podcasting? 47:50 - What advice do you have for new podcasters with regard to the importance of interviewing as a skill? 52:30 - Where can people go to check your stuff out?   Starting a Podcast: Pros and Cons If your goal is to start a podcast as a means of income, you have better odds elsewhere.  With or without great content, income is not a guarantee.  On the other hand, podcasting is a great way to set yourself apart in your niche as an expert, and an equally great way to get speaking gigs at conferences in your industry.   There is about a 2000:1 ratio of bloggers to podcasters.  If you want to stand out in your niche, start a podcast.     Choosing a Topic and Format It is important to choose a topic you care about and and produce content you yourself would want to listen to.  The length of your episodes is not nearly as important as the content provided.  Great content wins over great marketing every time.   Great content trumps bad marketing, bad content trumps great marketing. When people drop off after 5 minutes, it’s not because the episode was too long, it’s because the episode was bad… people like long-form content.     The Future of Podcasting The future sits in the hands of the people… literally.  Although car-connectivity makes listening easier, we are all very attached at a personal level with our mobile devices, and they make it simple to listen while we’re doing everyday tasks.  Our devices put podcasts in the hands, at the fingertips, and in the ears of the people.  Because of this, podcasters should also look into apps to maximize the potential of their podcast.   Resources: Free Book: Podcast 101 (iTunes) Book: Tricks of the Podcasting Masters (Que Publishing) podCast411 Podcast: www.podcast411.com Today in iOS Podcast: www.tii.libsyn.com http://bit.ly/tiipodcast (apple devices) http://bit.ly/tiiandroid (android devices) Production & Development for The Foundation’s Starting From Nothing Podcast by Podcast Masters

Oren Klaff is the author of Pitch Anything, an innovative method for presenting, persuading, and winning the deal. Oren has personally worked on a billion dollar in deals. In this interview, Oren breaks down the Pitch Anything Method, including setting the frame, creating tension and overcoming objections.   In This Interview I Ask: 1:23 - What kind of deals have you been involved in total? 2:46 - With the skillset that you have, why go write a book? 8:06 - In the book, you talk about three levels of the brain. When I’m firing questions at you, which part of the brain am I appealing to? 12:29 - Before you formulated your method of moving through the pitch, what were you doing before instead? How were you thinking about making a pitch during a deal? 14:35 - Why is setting the frame important? 17:11 - How do you set the frame so that you’re negotiating or pitching as equals, even if the other person has a bigger name, a large company, or strong influence or recognition? 20:16 - How are you using this idea introduction pattern to actually get the dopamine and norepinephrine hormones firing? 24:04 - For someone new to the concept of creating tension, how do you perpetuate these small nuances that create that tension without going over the line? 33:45 - What are some examples of sales methodologies that tend to lead people down the wrong path? 41:00 - How do you handle objection?   How To Start A Presentation Start with Time Constraint If you want to raise your status, set a time constraint. Announce your time allotment and stick to it. It’s okay to go over the scheduled time, as long as the pitch is progressing. Nobody comes to a meeting to hear things they already know. That is not a good reason for a meeting. Start with what's changing. Imply that there is a reason you came to the meeting. Tell a story, give a narrative, and set yourself up as an expert. Start with Some Kind of Change in the World When you start with an idea as opposed to the features of your product, it relaxes people and appeals to their crocodile brain, and it shows that you know how to lead a meeting. Start with an Idea   How NOT To Start A Presentation Don’t Start by Talking About Yourself Don’t try to imply status without actually accomplishing it. Always focus on the customer first. This approach reduces your status and can easily confuse and frustrate the client. Don’t Start with Questions Your features and benefits should come in about seventy percent of the way through your presentation. Don’t start with features and benefits.   Setting the Frame Setting the frame is giving people a lens through which to see your product or service. During a pitch, you only have minutes to close the deal. Most likely, the people you are pitching don’t know you or your product or service well enough to know your full capabilities. You have to give them a window from which to see you through so they don’t make their own assumptions. In Hollywood, it's called the “establishing shot.” In business finance, it's called “framing” or “frame control.” In politics, it's called a “narrative.” How the buyer sees you is up to you, and that's frame control.   Create Tension Most people can look at their sales presentations and they lack tension. Tension produces chemicals in the mind - epinephrine and norepinephrine - which give us pains of excitement. We can be afraid to say something that might insult the buyer, or give them a negative view of our company, that we don’t end up triggering any tension at all, positive or negative. Without that tension, the pitch falls flat and the buyer lacks the enthusiasm. However, if you only are providing excitement, you're only doing half of the formula. You also have to trigger tension in order to provide a different kind of arousal for the buyer. To avoid becoming antagonizing in your attempt to create tension, start small and build up. You want to: Have fun Communicate that you aren’t needy Let the buyer know you’re in control of the sale through multiple successions   How To Close Your Presentation You cannot end a sales presentation with, “That’s what we have. Excited to be here. Do you have any questions?” You’re inadvertently saying to the buyer, “I’m a low-status individual. You're in charge of my livelihood. I have no control over you. You have complete control over me.” Just because a buyer is ready to sign, doesn’t mean that the deal is closed. Give them an authentic test that will assure you that they are a good fit for your company. Here’s a script:   “I'm gonna give you some time to tell me a little bit about yourself because I don't know enough about you [and/or] your business. If it continues to seem like we have a match, then we can go forward and we'll figure out some way to get it done. Even though I’ve done my research, I'm interested to know... [insert questions here].”     How To Handle Objections Objections are handled by the correct structure of the sales presentation. If you are getting big objections, then something is wrong with your presentation. In some cases, the objections you're seeing probably aren’t objections at all; they’re requests for the meeting to end. In the old model of sales, the objection came out and then you talked over. It was an indication of confusion about what you were presenting. In today's world, if you use the Pitch Anything Method correctly, and there’s still objection, it means there's something wrong with the product-to-market match, and that has to be addressed.   Downloads: MP3 Transcript   Resources: Free Class: How to Build a 6-Minute Pitch Oren’s Book, Pitch Anything

Jeremy Chatelaine is the founder of Quickmail.io, a tool to help businesses generate leads on autopilot with automated outbound emails and smart follow-ups. Quickmail.io is one of the first companies to provide a solution for sales automation. In just two years since inception, Jeremy grew Quickmail.io to over 1,000 customers and over $50,000 in monthly recurring revenue. In this interview, Jeremy breaks down each phase of growing his business, from validating his idea to his first customer acquisition to hiring his first team member. He also shares his insights on the realities of a having the freedom of choice with your lifestyle business, and why chooses to focus on customer experience over massive growth.   In This Interview I Ask: 2:30 - Why did you decide to become an entrepreneur? 3:34 - What problem did you build Quickmail.io to solve? 4:41 - What did your process look like to validate the idea? 5:42 - Can you give us a sense of where Quickmail.io is right now in terms of monthly revenues and customers? 6:35 - What was it actually like for you to get your first customers? 9:42 - When you first experienced this problem for yourself, did you initially go see if there was something out there to solve it for you? 10:57 - When did you make the shift to focus on Quickmail.io as the business [you’re] going to build? 12:05 - Where were you finding those people [to have one-on-one sales conversations with]? 14:25 - How many sales conversations would you say you had? When you were doing the one-on-one sales conversations, how long did you do that? 15:38 - Once you switched from having one-on-one conversations, what was the primary way that you were acquiring new customers? 16:25 - Roughly what dollar amount, on a monthly basis, did you grow to [during the period] you weren’t really focusing any specific marketing effort? 19:20 - What sort of things are you looking for that would cause you to advise someone it’s time to leave [their] job? 21:42 - What is your most successful channel for customer acquisition? What is the number one factor that drives growth for you over the past couple of months? 23:45 - Have you thought about, [in] three years, what Quickmail.io would look like? Do you have a vision in place for what you want Quickmail.io to be? 24:45 - What was just one thing you personally needed to work on or overcome to grow Quickmail in the way that you did in the last two years? 28:48 - Have you put together any team? 31:13 - What does it look like for you to run a $50k/month business? What do you do on a daily basis? 35:44 - Who is an entrepreneur you admire? 36:30 - Is there something that you do every day in a ritual type way, no matter what? 39:21 - Who was your hero growing up? 41:47 - You’re going to a desert island and you can only bring one book, what book would you bring?   When to Quit Your Job When you know for sure that if you spend more time on your business and it will equate to more sales, then you can quit your job. If you leave before there’s a predictable path to more customers, you’re gambling with your future and your family.   The Freedom to Choose When and When Not to Work Many people build a lifestyle business to have the freedom to choose when and when not to work. However, sometimes you may need to force yourself to work, even when you don’t want to, in order to get things done. Other entrepreneurs who only work when they “feel like it” end up not doing much for their business. A business is like a child. It needs to be fed and changed. There are a few things that you just have to do. It’s not always sexy, but just do it.   How to Choose Your Mentors Have mentors with the skillsets you wish to acquire.    Show Links: Quickmail.io, website Quickmail.io Job Opening for Customer Support, apply

Brian Scudamore is the founder of many companies under the umbrella of O2E Brands (Ordinary 2 Exceptional). He started his first business 1-800-GOT-JUNK, a junk removal company, in college, and grew it to a global brand with franchises in over 30 cities across North America. Brian’s other franchises include Wow 1 Day Painting, You Move Me, and Shack Shine. In this interview, Brian tells us how he grew 1-800-GOT-JUNK from a college side hustle to a 250 million dollar franchise. Brian credits his success to two things: having a clear vision for his business, and hiring the right people.     In This Interview I Ask: 2:30 - How much money can you make running a junk removal business? 4:07 - What were you studying when you were in college? 4:42 - If you were about to have the possibility to enter college today and you still wanted to be an entrepreneur, do you think you would go through it? 6:36 - What did [it] actually look like for you to go from nothing, to getting something created out of thin air? 10:26 - What kind of income were you actually taking home, roughly? 11:44 - During those first five years, what was your relationship like with [your friends and family] relevant to your business? Were they supportive? 14:53 - After you lay off these eleven people, do you start to create a system in a structure around exactly what it looks like to hire the perfect employee for you? 18:32 - So you've actually never taken outside funding for 1-800-Got-Junk or any of the brands, is that right? 20:21 - What kind of a process have you put in place to onboard new franchisees and keep the culture? 21:45 - Was there anything that happened with the franchising model that you guys really learned a lesson from? 24:49 - You guys have a pretty unique way of managing your vision, don't you? 26:26 - How close to that five-year goal did you hit your 30th city? 27:46 - So when does O2E [Brands] come about in relation to 1-800-Got-Junk? 29:46 - What goes into taking a two-to-three week job and making it into a one-day job? 32:01 - What other businesses are now under the O2E Brands’ umbrella? 33:20 - Was [You Move Me] something that you actually engineered from the ground up with you and your team about what an ideal moving experience would look like? 34:49 - What's the kind of core idea behind the whole concept of the entrepreneur? Why is this so important? 36:53 - Why is [entrepreneurship] potentially a better option than a pure entrepreneurship model? 39:26 - What skill sets or lessons did you need to learn to go from one million, and then to fifty million, and then to 250 million? What are the distinctions and that sort of growth? 41:43 - What does it look like for you to be the vision and the culture side of the company in terms of what you do in a day? 43:34 - What does your “painted picture” look like for the next three to five years?   Learn in the Way That Works Best for You In the world of business, there're so many ways to learn. Brian’s style of learning had always been getting out and talking to mentors, finding real-life people who had been where he wanted to go and learn from them. It all depends on what you're doing. If you're learning to code, you don't necessarily need to go to college. If you're learning to be a doctor, you probably should. Lots of successful people have gone the route of the classroom and studying to get an MBA. Find the method that works best for you.     Overnight Success Stories Take a Long Time As entrepreneurs, it's worth reminding ourselves that “overnight success stories” take a long time. It took Brian ten years to generate his first million dollars in revenue. There's so much talk of people getting into tech and building the next billion-dollar app, but those are truly unicorns. They do not happen very often. Real businesses are the ones that take time, take that passion that never wanes, and you're just constantly giving to try and really grow your company.   Systematize Your Business Write down all your business processes into a documentation of how your brand does everything. Systematizing became the foundation for 1-800-Got-Junk’s scaling. Brian took everything in his business, how he answered the phone, how he price jobs, how he resolved customer complaints, how he marketed the business when things were slow or busy; and compiled it on a one-page checklist of “how you do this the 1-800-Got-Junk way”.   “Inspect What They're Expecting” When it comes to customer service, always ask, “What we expect, is that getting delivered?” A CEO shouldn’t ever get so far away from the front lines. You have to connect. You have to check in and you have to “inspect what you expect”, even as you continue to grow a business.   The Keys to Growing a Business Successfully   Have a Vision of Where You're Going “If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there”. It knows exactly where you're going. You don't have to figure out exactly how to get there until time starts progressing and you start figuring out the how. The vision is all about where you going. What's the destination? Imagine pure possibility. What could the future look like if only you could imagine it? Write down on a sheet of paper that your business would look like, feel like, and how you’d act at a point in the future. Example: The “painted picture” for 1-800-Got-Junk was a five-year vision that they would complete by December 31, 2003. It said they'd be in the top thirty metros in North America. It said they would be on The Oprah Winfrey Show. It said they would build the “FedEx of junk removal”, but with clean shiny trucks, friendly uniformed drivers. That painted picture compelled Brian to start seeing the future, and he shared it with friends, family, co-workers, and new hires so that everybody would see this vision and make a decision if they believed, or if they should be doing something different.   Find the Right People It's all about people. It's people that make businesses grow and succeed and thrive. Find the right people. Ask yourself, who’s the team? What does the team look like? What are the right seats? Bring those people in who have the same shared passion for your vision and towards building something bigger together. Hire and train them. Give them love and support and everything they need to be successful. Treat them right. Never compromise on the quality of people that you bring into your organization. However, keep in mind that no one will ever be as passionate about your business as you are.   What is an Entrepreneur? Entrepreneur stands for two things: opening doors to a new opportunity and then working together, building something much bigger together than anyone would have ever chosen to build alone. An entrepreneur is someone who isn't going solo. They're not flying solo. They're building something together and what's awesome about our entrepreneurs is once they've had their own runway and started becoming successful, they recognize that the fastest way for themselves to grow, is taking other employees they have and saying, “Hey, have you ever thought of running your own business, of living the American Dream? I think I can help”. O2E Brands is a cheerleading organization. They set a vision and help everybody work together towards that common vision. They also provide opportunities. They open doors and say “Come on in. Take the risk”. They invest with entrepreneurs and help introduce them to people could partner with one another to build a successful moving business or shine-our-window and gutter cleaning business in a new market.    Show Links: 1-800-GOT-JUNK, website O2E (Ordinary to Exceptional), website You Move Me, website Wow 1 Day Painting, website Shack Shine, website    

Andrei Mincov is the “trademark guy” and founder of Trademark Factory. He earned his PhD in law and worked for the biggest international law firm in Russia doing intellectual property work for the likes of Microsoft, Google, Apple, Facebook, J. K. Rowling, DreamWorks and more. When Andrei moved to Canada, he went from being a hotshot lawyer to a nobody. It wasn’t until he read Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad that he decided to start his own firm. In this interview, Andrei teaches us about what a trademark does, and why it’s better to trademark before you launch your company rather than later. He also shares the story of how he became “the trademark guy” and how he challenged himself to become an entrepreneur.     In This Interview I Ask: 1:05 - How [did] you come to be the “trademark guy” in the Trademark Factory. What’s your story? 6:15 - How long ago did you join the biggest law firm in Russia? 15:00 - Why are trademarks important, and why are we wrong for not thinking about this stuff? 21:23 - You actually did some research on whether or not the top brands and the world were following [the saying “ideas are nothing”]. What did you find? 22:56 - Let’s say I’ve got a vision of building a lifestyle business, and it’s going to be $100k a year, roughly, is there any value in me going out and trademarking it if I have no intention of going bigger? 24:33 - Does [having a trademark] raise my value if I’m eventually going to sell a company? Is that going to allow me to get a bigger price for my business when I sell it? 27:42 - Are you educating people through your marketing on why they need trademarks or are you just doing traditional marketing in the traditional sense where you are making yourself known to people who are looking for a trademark? 32:46 - What is the cost [of trademarking] dependent on, or is there a flat cost for me to go out and get a trademark? 36:39 - Where can we go if we want to see some educational [trademark] cartoons?     What is a Trademark? A trademark is anything that allows the market to tell your stuff apart from identical or similar products or services of your competitors. The trademark has nothing to do with protecting the product or service itself but has everything to do with the way people identify it. The more competitive the environment, the more important the branding becomes because everyone is doing the same thing. It’s so easy to copy those ideas so the only thing that will allow you to have the competitive advantage is to protect the brand. “If you don’t protect your competitive advantage, you don’t have a competitive advantage.”     3 Reasons Why Protecting Your Trademark is Vital for Any Business It’s the cheapest and easiest way to minimize the risk of receiving a lawsuit Without trademark protection, a company may decide to register your brand as their trademark. They can then demand that you stop using your brand and rebrand yourself or pay them money It makes it easier and cheaper to go after competitors who come up with similar trademarks. It allows you to build a brand and asset for your business. “If you’re running a business [and] you don’t think the value of the business is more than a few hundred thousand dollars, basically it’s a hobby. It’s not a business.”   Trademark Your Brand Before You Launch All the big, hot startups (like Uber, Firefox, Facebook, Google, etc) filed their first trademark applications within the same month, if not many months, prior to launching. One thing that distinguishes these founders from other entrepreneurs is that they believed they could be the next big thing; so they did what potential big things do and protected their assets. “Trademarks are all about timing. You need to be the first. Just because your trademark was available yesterday, doesn’t mean it’ll be available today.”   Trademarking is Not a Huge Investment The cost of trademarking is marginal is compared to the cost of filing a patent. A patent typically requires tens of thousands of dollars and years of your life. When determining if you should trademark or not, ask yourself the following questions: Would you be okay with having to rebrand your business? Would you be okay with a competitor using the same brand to do the same business? Is there any value in the brand when you’re not doing the work? If the answer is yes to all, then you don’t have a business.   How Trademarks Affect the Sale of Your Company Whenever someone buys a company, they do their due diligence. They check competitors to see if your business may be infringing on someone else’s. They check to make sure all your logos and branding assets are protected. If everything is protected, it makes it easier for the buyer. They’re not just buying your systems, but also your customers and the time that you invested building your brand. If they can’t take advantage of that, that’s a problem. The brand affects the value of the company.   Show Links: Trademark Factory, website Request Your Free Trademark Search, fill out the form Trademark Educational Cartoons, website

Aaron Vidas is the founder and CEO of Strategy Box, a company that helps others companies find their most profitable customers and creates radically simple plans to help them grow. In this interview, Aaron talks to us about the software he built to help B2B companies determine the ROI of their marketing. Aaron shares his journey from validating his idea to hiring someone else to execute on his minimum viable product. We learn the importance of evaluating the ROI of our marketing and how you can use Strategy Box's dashboard to see what’s working for you in your business.   In This Interview I Ask: 2:55 - Recap for us, what did you find out your business was great at that you decided to focus on? 10:23 - When you look at an opportunity, but [realize] I’m not the guy to go execute it, how did you start moving towards this process? 13:42 - How do you view market/idea validation? 17:07 - What did the build look like for the MVP (minimum viable product)? 21:11 - What does the [StrategyBox] dashboard look like in terms of what data you’re showing? 24:00 - How many different roles do you have in the software? 26:30 - How does [AI and the algorithm] play a role in the Dashboard? 29:14 - How is the proliferation of smart technology going to play into the evolution of the C-Suite in big companies? 31:29 - Does [the StrategyBox] dashboard reduce the amount of overall tools [CMOs] need to use or just make better use of them because the data becomes easier to interpret? 32:34 - Who is the ideal customer for [StrategyBox]]? 35:22 - What are the most exciting things on the product roadmap that are coming down the line?   Minimum Viable Product You need a condensed set of specifications of what your MVP needs to do. The functionalities don’t have to be your full vision. You just need to make sure it works solves a problem today. Also, make sure you can sell that version.   What is the ROI of Your Marketing? You need to know the ROI of your marketing. You need to know what’s working and what’s not. You need to have a clear picture of every dollar and how much revenue you get back. The average CMO is using nine to twelve tools to figure out what’s going on in their marketing.   There is One Reason Someone is Buying In any given B2B sale, there is literally one reason somebody is buying. It might they can get it faster. It might be the service is better, but there’s an itch that you’re scratching. That’s the 80% of the reason they’re buying. The other reasons are the 20%.   About StrategyBox StrategyBox shows you what your company does this week in regards to what is driving revenue for you, and what is suck on revenue for you. That way you can evaluate what about your marketing and sales activities is working or not, and who is responsible for what within that. StrategyBox’s intention is that if you are going to spend a dollar with them, they can provide you an insight or information that you can then go make an action and make eight to ten more dollars on. StrategyBox’s ideal customers are B2B SaaS (software as a solution) and B2B professional services (ie: agency work, consulting) who spend a lot of money spend a lot of money on marketing and sales, but don’t necessarily know the performance of it. They can help you find leakage in your sales and marketing, even if you are getting leads. Customers who are not ideal are companies generating less than one million dollars in revenue.   Show Links: Aaron Vidas.com, website Strategy Box, website Contact Aaron, email CrazyEgg: Website Heatmaps, website Zapier: App Automation, website

Siamak Farah is the founder of Info Street (now SkyDesktop), an in-browser cloud app platform that allows small business owners to access, manage, and use all their business apps in one place. Siamak has had an amazing career working his way up at multiple software companies, including Steve Job’s Next Computers. With the knowledge and experience he acquired, it’s no wonder that he now runs his very own successful software company. In this interview, Sia shares his journey of how he learned every facet of running a software company, from his time at Next Computers to starting his own web-based operating system. Sia gives us his insights on automation, being ahead of “the cloud” curve, and implementing the lattice management structure to empower his team’s passion.    In This Interview I Ask: 2:54 - When did Info Street originally start? 3:47 - Tell us a little bit about what you were doing before you started Info Street in 1994. 4:46 - What was your role at Next [Computers]? 10:03 - What did a Next computer cost at that time and who are you selling them to? 12:43 - So when you started Info Street 1994, where was your head at, in terms of what problem are you going out there and looking to solve or what sort of a solution we're looking to provide to people? 16:12 - Give me some examples of the study the type of stuff that you guys were automating. 17:48 - So take us through a little bit about like the-the progress of Info Street as it evolved. 22:15 - What was it like when you started telling people in `95 that the best operating system was going to be no operating system at all? 24:39 - How do you sustain that passion when things are getting tough? 28:34 - there's a certain percentage of your employees that are human and then for the rest of it, you employ technology. Let’s talk a little bit about that. 31:34 - what have we got going on in July for Info Street? 33:40 - what are some of the must-haves in there that every small business needs?   Know How to Speak the Language of Your Staff Prior to starting his own software company, Siamak worked for other software companies to learn the multiple facets of running a software company effectively. Having that base understanding of different roles in the company gave Sia the experience to manage his own employees. “I have a policy of hiring people smarter than me and always listening to them, but nowadays everything's gotten so detailed that when you hire people smarter than you and you want to listen to them, if you don't have a base understanding, you can't listen to them. You don't know.”   Railroad Track Your Processes Info Street was growing too fast for its small team, but not fast enough to raise funding. Siamak then decided to implement automation, or as he likes to call it “railroad tracking”, 90% of his company to better serve his clients and increase revenue. “Whatever we're doing twice we are going to automate, and whatever process that other people [would] have to use to do, we are going to go ahead and automate that and basically write it down.” Pro Tip: Write down the processes of ALL repetitive, tedious tasks that you do for your clients, and AUTOMATE IT.    Have Passion and Stick with It Many people think they can go work for themselves, but they forget the benefits of an established organization (things included such as HR, legal, and sales). Eight out of ten small businesses go belly-up in the first year because of passion missing. You have to have the passion to see it through. “You have to go through the passion and not get slowed down with things that seemed more important than the bigger goal.”. It’s easier said than done. If you have a passion you will succeed, but if you don't have the passion, within a few months, you’re going to miss that paycheck.    Empower Employees with Lattice Structure Management The typical pyramid structure management has a top, middle and bottom. Lattice structure management is characterized by self-management and has no hierarchy or defined leadership. Every point is in support of every other point. The person closest to the problem is the one that's going to make a decision. “So I may be the CEO of the company, but for instance, if the janitor comes in and says our vacuum cleaner is broken, it shouldn’t be my decision to decide which vacuum cleaner to buy.” When you empower people, you actually give them passion. If you delegate properly everybody has their own area, and then we all work in unison together, you get very nice results with very little tension.    Build Your Business on “The Cloud” “The internet is a great democratizer.” - Siamak Farah Thanks to “the cloud”, some things that were only available to the large businesses ten, fifteen years ago are now available to everybody. Nowadays you could work from home or work from some of these shared office spaces or whatnot. You don't really need a secretary. You could answer your own phone, voicemail, whatever. Plus Info Street / SkyDesktop provides various packages of the common tools every small business needs to foster start and grow their business.    Show Links: SkyDesktop, website Get 10% Off Info Street, link

Kallen Diggs is an international bestselling author, career strategist, and contributor to major publications like Entrepreneur Magazine and The Huffington Post. He is the founder of Reaching the Finish Line, and has both a book & internationally syndicated radio show by the same name. Kallen has helped over 2,000 people reach the finish line in their careers. In this interview, Kallen shares the mission behind Reaching the Finish Line, how he got started in entrepreneurship, and the habits he practices as well as the tools he uses in his business. Kallen also gives his insight on what it was like to publish his first book through traditional publishing, and why writing for smaller publications actually produced more sales for him than his exposure from larger publications.     In This Interview I Ask: 1:54 - What is the purpose of Reaching the Finish Line? How do you help folks? 2:38 - Who is the avatar for Reaching the Finish Line book/radio show? Who do you see as your target audience? 4:25 - How long have you been doing this? Give us a timeline [between] the book, the website and the radio show? 9:10 - So what happened right after college? Did you dive right into the path of becoming an entrepreneur? What did that look like for you? 9:29 - What was the job that you got out of college? What did you do initially that kind of gave you the taste of what normal employment might look like? 11:02 - When somebody comes to you, what are the types of things that you put them through to help them essentially get more fulfillment out of what they’re doing? What process do you put them through? 13:13 - Give us an example of some of the questions that you ask [clients] when they come to work with you? 17:23 - What are some of the things that people believe are stopping them from getting what they want, but doesn’t actually matter in the grand scheme of things? 21:07 - How was your book published? 23:09 - When you first thought about writing a book, did you consider all options from self-publishing to traditional publishing? Tell us about the process about how you went about publishing a book. 24:02 - What was it like for you to actually start reaching out to other publishers? How did you actually start connecting with [publishers]? 30:16 - From that interview you did, what is one of the biggest takeaways you got from talking to [Robert Kiyosaki]? 32:27 - How do you plan, set goals, and execute [all the work that you do]? 36:11 - Do you write every day? 41:51 - How do you define success? What does success mean to you?   How to Reach the Finish Line in Your Career You need to be willing to be open, humble and receptive to considering things that you may not have considered previously. You need to determine if you are happy by defining what happiness means to you. The most common mental block that people have is the belief “I don’t have time”. You have two options: you can continue to believe you don’t have enough time OR you can look at things that are not getting you to your finish line and cut those things out of your life in order to create the time you need to get you to your finish line. If you want to create more time, what are things you’re willing to sacrifice?   Getting Your Book Published the Traditional Way Books are a great way to earn passive income. Although self-publishing has become popular amongst online writers and entrepreneurs, you may prefer to publish your book through traditional publishing companies. It is important to have a book proposal for your nonfiction book (publishers will ignore your manuscript alone). You will need to answer the following questions for publishers: Why is your book project a good idea? What is your following (what type of people and how many)? What are your marketing plants to help the book become a bestseller?   Tips for Writing for Publications When you write content, try to repurpose the content so you’re not reinventing the wheel over and over. It may seem counterintuitive to write for a smaller publications versus a larger, more popular one; however smaller publications have more targeted audiences. (ie: The Huffington Post publishes content for all types of people and interests, while The Good Men Project publishes topics that interest men specifically) The amount of shares your content receives is the primary metric you should focus on. Shares indicate the amount of people who actually enjoyed your content and those people become part of your Also keep in mind that the audience size of the publication you’re writing for doesn’t always produce greater results or shares. Sometimes a smaller more target publication may produce better results and shares.   Show Links: Reaching the Finish Line, website Reaching the Finish Line, book Kallen’s Robert Kiyosaki Interview, podcast Zoho: business management tool, website Trello: project/task management tool, website Calendly: appointment scheduling tool, website

Jenn Scalia runs a coaching business and membership site for women who want to put themselves out there and run their own online business. Formerly, she enjoyed doing social media full-time for the largest casino in Atlantic City until she was laid off. Jenn felt like she hit rock bottom after her second layoff in two years. It was then that she decided that she wanted control over whether or not she worked and how much she earned. Jenn then moved back in with her parents’, and leveraged their support to get out of debt and slowly grow her business to the six-figure company it is today. In this interview, Jenn tells us all about Little Black Business Book, and what it takes to run a membership site. We also talk shop about creativity and why she’s addicted to investing in one-on-one coaching.     In This Interview I Ask: 2:35 - Did you go and get another job after [getting laid off]? 4:21 - What were the first 60-90 days like from the time you [decided to start a business]? What did it look like in the first three months of you figuring all this stuff out? 5:40 - Did you have habits or rituals that you did everyday? Did you do things to condition your mindset that way you could keep moving forward even though it was kind of tough? 6:50 - What are you saying in your marketing materials in order to attract clients that sets you apart from the other options that people have? 7:40 - How would you describe your ideal customer? 8:20 - How does your membership fee work? 9:20 - What are some of the specific mini courses that people could go through as a part of the membership site? 10:11 - When you launched the membership site originally, how many mini courses were a part of that? 14:04 - What’s a typical time frame from you’ve got the idea to it’s on the membership site? 14:40 - What’s your magic when and where for creation? 15:57 - Do you have a specific place you like to create? 16:42 - What are the strategies that you use you to acquire your ideal customers? 18:12 - How do you capture testimonials? 20:47 - What’s your most popular mini course? 21:48 - What’s your favorite social challenge that you run? Give us a taste of what that looks like. 23:12 - What’s content prompt? 23:36 - What kind of team is behind this? 24:22 - What do you think is the biggest chokehold in your business? What are you working on the most? 25:28 - What do you see for your business in the next three years? What’s that look like? 26:25 - Of the education and training you’ve experienced yourself, what are some of the game changers for you? 27:35 - What’s the latest book that you’ve read in the last six months that has shown you something new that excited you or that grew your business or your personal life? 28:26 - Did you systematize [drinking water] in any way? 28:52 - Let’s say you woke up and you don’t feel like you want to work. Do you have something that you do to push through or step back from the business? How do you look at a “down day”? 30:29 - Do you ever abstain from technology? 31:36 - What does success mean to you?   How to Position Yourself in the Marketplace Position yourself as a thought leader and as someone who is the go-to person in your niche. Create a viral visibility so that people know who you are and know about your business.   How to Capture Testimonials In order to get the right answers, you need to ask the right questions. Get your customers to express the journey from when they decided to hire you to their end result. Some questions you might include are: Where were you before you purchased [product/service]? What happened during your experience with [product/service]? Where are you now after experiencing/using [product/service]? Pro Tip: Ask for video testimonials that included specific numbers and actual results such as an amount of money saved or earned or percentage increase of goal(s).   Jenn’s Business Game Changer “Every time I’ve worked with someone one-on-one, at a higher level, it definitely moved the the needle for me. I’ve also taken lots of courses, but I don't think, looking back, any course or program itself was a game changer. It was really having that first hand one-on-one support and accountability that really changed it for me. I'm addicted to it.” “If I don’t continue to invest in myself, and I don't continue to have that support I'm not going to be able to continue to run a business that’s seven figures.”   Show Links: JennScalia.com, website Your Body’s Many Cries for Water, book

Jason Carter is a software engineer with a PhD in computer science. While going through The Foundation Process, Jason dabbled with a few different niches. Once he started seeing results, he focused on the path of least resistance. Through consistent action and reflection, he learned what he what he was doing wrong in his process, then made adjustments to set his system right. In just eight months he was able to generate $115k all from using cold email.   In this interview, Jason tells us what he’s learned from mistakes he’s made when he first started cold emailing people, and what he changed in his subsequent emails. He also shares why he deviated from developing a software for multiple customers in one niche (like most Foundation students have done), to developing software on a per-project, one-off basis.     In This Interview I Ask: 4:41 - What was going on in your life before the Foundation, and what was the impetus for you to decide to go through [the program]? 6:01 - Have you ever been out there selling to the customer? 7:42 - How did you kick off your first project? 10:24 - How passionate are you about dentistry? 13:50 - What was the call to action in the [initial] emails [you sent] that made it seem like you were asking for too much for a cold email? 14:39 - What did you change when you [started] cold contacting the list of dentists you had an affiliation with? 12:52 - Take us through the story of the first person you started working with. What was that like? 15:27 - Why did you decide to build a software for one dentist as opposed to many dentists with the same problem (what students typically do in The Foundation)? 16:50 - So what did you make on this first project? What did you quote it? 18:20 - What was the time frame from the time you sent the first email to the time you started getting paid by your first client? 19:50 - If I were to go out there and pick a list of 100 people, what are some of the mistakes that I would make as a novice? 25:00 - What have been the outcomes of cold email in your life? 22:47 – Have you ever really done anything [related to] a sales career? 23:12 - How uncomfortable was it for you to do this? 23:29 - When you get that voice in the back of your head, how did you get through that? 24:33 - From the time that you did your first project, how many other consulting projects have you brought on as a result of this cold email outreach? 24:49 - You want to tell the Vegas story? 27:50 - Where are you going to take all of this? 28:38 - If I were just the middleman entrepreneur who went in and discovered the problem and then hired a developer to complete that deliverable , out of the $115k, what would I actually keep in my pocket? 31:40 - What is the biggest takeaway for you over the last eight months?   The Foundation Process Find a problem to solve. Pre-sell your solution to that problem.     How to Pick a Market You can pick a market that you’re passionate about, but it would be better to pick a market that actively spends money and invests in their growth. “What you need to fall in love with is the process of starting businesses rather than the specific niche or passion.” - Frank Mocerino   Tips for Cold Emailing Find the top influencers in your target market. Those are the type of people who will do extra work (and spend the money), are passionate, and want to grow. Mention your common affiliation (ie: college or networking group) in the subject line of your email. If you don’t have a common affiliation, take the time to read their blog or listen to their podcast. Then share what you found valuable from your experience with their content. They will appreciate you for taking the time. Keep in mind that one lead can connect you to another. Top influences will know and put you in contact with other people in their field. After confirming their problem, ask them if they know of others like them who also suffer from that same problem.   Mistakes to Avoid When Cold Emailing Don’t send emails to general addresses like info@website.com. Instead, go for the direct email name@website.com. Don’t try to sell them something in the first email. Instead, explain your interest in learning about their pain and wanting to help create a solution for them.             Example: Jason was too focused on himself and what he wanted from the email recipient rather than what he could do to help them. “I was focused on ‘This is who I am and this is what I want’ instead of ‘This is who I am, how can I help You?’” Don’t worry about the quantity of your email list. It’s not about how many people you email. It’s about the quality of the people you email.    Show Links: The Science of Cold Emailing, sign up form

Jennifer Barcelos and Sandy Connery are both alums of The Foundation Class of 2013, who met and instantly became friends at our Foundation live event. Jenny was a lawyer and new mom wanting to explore new ways to fund the nonprofit organization she worked with, while Sandy was a certified pedorthist, who after selling her previous business was looking for a new entrepreneurial challenge. After uncovering a common pain point shared by yoga studio owners, Jenny founded Namastream, a virtual wellness studio service for yoga instructors. Sandy, being a fellow yogi and Namastream enthusiast, joined the team a year and a half later. In this interview, Jenny tells us the story of how Namastream came to be, and what her experience of building a SaaS solution from inception to growth is like. Sandy shares what prompted her to join the Namastream team and how roles are divided between them.   In This Interview I Ask: 4:59 - How many studios did you end up speaking with before you saw the pain you were going to solve for them? 5:35 - How do you actually take that pain and start taking action toward building a solution to it? 7:20 - How were you thinking about the long-term vision of what you wanted to get out of building something? 10:01 - People always say that you should build a business in an area that you’re passionate about; is yoga a passion of yours? 12:50 - Jenny, how long did you run [Namastream] without Sandy, and what was the impetus to bring somebody on? 14:54 - How did you decide to bring someone on as a partner versus hiring a rockstar team member that you pay as an employee? 16:50 - Sandy, what drove you to get involved? 19:35 - How did you go from a bootstrap company to going through the 9Mile Labs Accelerator program? 27:28 - What are some of the core takeaways from the Accelerator program? 29:30 - How do you two divide your roles in the company? 33:30 - Who’s the ideal customer for Namastream? 37:41 - What’s the vision for Namastream over the next three years? 40:13 - Do you feel like you went in and dominated yoga and now you’re spreading, or does it feel it doesn’t do you any good to sit around and dominate yoga for years before you spread? 42:12 - [What is] the biggest mistake that you believe you’ve made that has led to breakthroughs or growth?   How to Validate a Pain Point Interview multiple target customers and find a common pain point. Have an additional conversation with each of those same customers you interview, and get them to confirm the pain point you’ve discovered. Research bigger brands and companies who have already figured out how to solve the pain point you’ve discovered, and evaluate their solutions.   How to Qualify a Potential Partner This person should know your business. This person should be someone you trust 100%. This person should be as excited and interested in your company as you are. Example: Jenny and Sandy were already accountability partners within The Foundation program so Sandy knew all about Namastream from their conversations. Sandy was always interested in Namastream so when Jenny proposed a partnership, Sandy intuitively said yes.   Show Links: Namastream, website Soulful MBA: Start Your Own Health and Wellness Business, website 9Mile Labs: Accelerator Program, website

Geoff Woods is the host of The Mentee Podcast and an alumni of The Foundation, who went from having a 6-figure sales job to becoming a full-time entrepreneur. Geoff was going through The Foundation’s “Idea Extraction” process when he realized that SaaS was not a good fit for him. Instead he made a pivot to focus on something he was much more passionate about building, which ended up being his podcast, The Mentee. Because of the guidance from his mentors, Geoff was able to monetize within three months of launch. In Part 2 of this interview, Geoff breaks down the steps to meet the top influencers in your industry. Plus he fulfills his promise to share the strategies he used to become a contributor on Entrepreneur.com within a mere three weeks, and how you can do it too!     In This Interview I Ask: 2:26 - Take us through the process of what it looked like for you to find your own billionaire mentor. 5:46 - How can you, wherever you are right now, start tapping into people who are lightyears beyond you? 6:57 - How can other people go out and replicate what you’ve done? 8:10 - How did you acquire the energy, conviction and desire to be committed to your actions? 29:25 - Where can I go to receive this type training to replicate what you’ve done?     3 Steps to Strategically Add Value to People Who Can Help You Accomplish Your Goals Get Clarity on Where You Need Help Ask yourself the following questions, and describe each answer in one sentence: Out of everything you’re working on right now, what is the ONE thing that you need the most help with? How would you describe the ideal person who could help guide you with your ONE thing?   Tell People Where You Need Help and They Will Rise Up and Support You. “80% of everything you need is already within your circle of influence.” When you share what you’re working on and where you need help, people can’t resist the desire to want to help you. Either that person you talk to will be the person you need, or you plant the seed in their mind so when they come across a person who fits the mold, they’ll consider making that connection. Example: When you touch based with someone and they ask “What’s up?” you can say, “You know, I realized that I need to surround myself with some really great people who just eat, sleep, breath [topic of expertise].” When you share these needs with the people who care about you, they naturally feel compelled to help you .   Strategically show up every day and focus on adding value to one person at a time consistently. Ask each person, What are you working on? How can I help you? Know that they will share a piece of information, and even if you are not their answer directly, you may know the person who is able to help. Either way, you plant the seed and that connection will eventually happen. Never ask a successful person out to coffee to “pick their brain.” This is basically asking them to give you their free time. The answer is obviously no. The moment Geoff learned to become the person who just look to see how can I add value to them to every relationship, he started to find that people bent over backwards to help him.     How to become a contributor on any publication in three weeks A common rookie mistake in an attempt to become a contributor on any publication would be to try to connect directly with its editor and pitch them your article. Instead, Geoff followed his 3-step process: He became clear on his goal: Geoff wanted to become a contributing writer on Entrepreneur.com. He started targeting contributing writers. This was the script he used: “Hey, I’m seeking guidance. I see that you’ve written for Entrepreneur. I’m really curious about your journey, and the impact it’s had on you. I’m going through these crossroads in my life, and frankly I wanted to ask for your help. Would you be willing to spend 10-15 minutes with me sharing your journey? I promise I will find a way to add value to you. PS: I already shared your most recent post.” Finally he was recommended to the editor (which shows incredible valuable). He then asked the editor “Hey, how can I make you look good? What does it take to write a great post?” Then Geoff took the editor’s feedback and went to work.     Playing the “Long Game” When you meet somebody, you may have a long term hope of how they can help you, but if you just go for the ask, it won’t help you. It’s more rewarding to have a long term relationship. “[When] you fast forward to the end of your life, it’s going to be the experiences you shared and the people you shared them with.” Every time you approach somebody, they’re a puzzle piece. You have no idea what role they will play in your life, but you figure out where they need help and you file it away. Over time you start finding pieces that fit together, and when you connect those people, tremendous value is created and ultimately the vision of your life is unfolded.    Show Links: Listen to The Mentee, podcast Download 7 Easy Steps to Meet the Top 7 People in Your Industry, FindthebestMentors.com Get Geoff’s FREE Training, MenteePodcast.com/theFoundation

Geoff Woods is the host of The Mentee Podcast and an alumni of The Foundation who went from having a 6-figure job to becoming a full-time entrepreneur. Geoff was going through The Foundation’s “Idea Extraction” process when he realized that SaaS was not a good fit for him. Instead he made a pivot to focus on something he was much more passionate about building and that was his podcast, The Mentee - which Geoff was able to monetize within three months of launching. In Part 1 of this interview, Geoff recalls the moment when he realized it was time to take the leap into entrepreneurship. He shares how he was quickly able to connect with successful people, get mentored by them, and then later interview them on his podcast. Geoff also talks about the importance of adding value, focusing on ONE thing, and taking continuous action in order to move closer to your goals. Also joining us in this special interview is tactical marketing extraordinaire, Ryan Twedt.   In This Interview I Ask: 5:58 - Back when you were a medical device rep, what would you say was your skillset in life? 7:34 - When you were considering the jump to entrepreneurship, what types of skills did you feel you were you lacking that you went to build out? 8:56 - When you were going through The Foundation, how did you that software as a service (SaaS) wasn’t for you? 13:34 - What’s the founding story of [The Mentee Podcast]? 16:39 - Tell us a story about the wackiest way you actually went about getting in contact with one of [your guests]?   Surround Yourself with Mentors There’s a Jim Rohn quote that say, “You’re the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with”. Take account of the five people you currently go to for advice. Are they qualified to help you accomplish your goals? If not, you need to find new mentors to surround yourself with; mentors who’ve already accomplished what you desire to accomplish.   Pro tip: If you want to surround yourself with millionaires and get them to mentor you, you have to find ways to add value to them. Example: IdeGeoff knew he didn’t need to know everything about podcasting to build his podcast; he just needed to know the people who did so he set out to become friends with Pat Flynn (Smart Passive Income) and Jordan Harbinger (Art of Charm).     Focus on One Thing “You have to win a gold medal at something.” - Jeff Hoffman (Priceline) There’s so many different options of paths to take as an entrepreneur, so many different types of business models. You need to figure out that one thing to focus on, and go win that gold medal. You need to eat, sleep, and breath that one thing before you scale out. Example: Amazon started off with books and won a gold medal buying and selling books. Today they could care less about books because they’ve been able to scale into something different.   Learn About What You Really Want by Taking Action You have no idea what detours you’re going to have to overcome. All you can focus on are the six feet in front of you at a time, but you keep moving. Slowly, but surely you end up getting to where you’re supposed to be going. Example: Geoff joined the Foundation and began working on his SaaS idea extraction for The Foundation until he realized that Saas was not for him. He was more passionate about his podcast so he he pivoted his focus towards that path.    Show Links: Listen to The Mentee, podcast Download 7 Easy Steps to Meet the Top 7 People in Your Industry, FindthebestMentors.com

Aaron Vidas is the founder and CEO of Strategy Box, a company that helps others companies find their most profitable customers and creates radically simple plans to help them grow.   In this interview, Aaron talks to us about how he transitioned from moving back into his childhood home and working with low leverage clients to working with companies ten times as big and quadrupling his rates.     In This Interview I ask: 5:09 - What did you study in university? 6:04 - Knowing what you know now, [would] you go back and do that university program? 8:23 - What are some of your ongoing takeaways from backpacking through China? 17:31 - How did you go about firing your own clients? 24:50 - What shift did it take to go from calling companies making under a million in revenue to companies that were 10x-ing that? 29:08 - What does simplification actually mean? 33:28 - What are people doing wrong when they’re tracking the lifetime value of a customer, and how does that affect what they’re able to do with that information? 38:23 - What do you define as great leadership?     How to Calculate Lifetime Value of a Customer Lifetime value is an estimate of how much a customer would bring in over the lifetime they are with the company as a customer.   Lifetime Value of a Customer = [How much money do you earn per month for a customer, over a period of time (usually 36 months for younger companies)] MINUS [the customer acquisition costs]   Discounted Cash Flow is understanding that a dollar spent today is not a dollar three years from now.   When calculating customer acquisition cost: INCLUDE any expense related to marketing, including half of what you pay yourself (if you perform marketing tasks) INCLUDE Development costs and other variable costs such as hiring customer service or an account executive DO NOT include employee salaries     How to Cold Email Clients 10x As Big As the Ones You’re Currently Serving When reaching out to prospects, make it abundantly clear that you’re not going to sell them anything and you just want to learn about their problems. It just so happens you might actually solve those problems and if they feel inclined to they may want to hire you later on.   You can use this script: “This isn’t a sales call. [This] is what I do. [These] are some of the clients that I work with. [So and so] suggested I get in touch with you. I solve [these types of problems] for [these companies]. Can I have a ten minutes of your time? I really just want to know what your situation is, and if this is a fit for you or if it isn’t, and just why.”   In The Foundation, we call this process “Idea Traction.” Alternatively, you can say this: “Hey, I’ve got nothing to sell you right now. I want to understand some aspects of your business to see what types of services you’re lacking, and to see if I could potentially develop a solution in the future. Can I have ten minutes of your time?”     Pre-Qualify Your Clients Before You Contact Them Ask yourself, over two or three years, how much could this client spend with me? If the answer isn’t a big number you need to ask, should I be going after them in the first place?     How to Simplify Your Business Ask yourself, a year from now, what do you want to be doing? Then work backwards from that. Some other questions you can ask is how much would it cost to acquire a customer or how long would that customer stay around for?     How to Fire Clients There comes a time when you might have to fire your least profitable clients to grow your company. Firing your client doesn’t mean you’re leaving the relationship in a negative way. Take the extra time to help your client continue their business without you. Step One: Have an open and honest conversation about the relationship. Explain why you are unable to serve them to the best of your abilities. An example might be that the client is self-sabotaging themselves by not doing their part in the collaboration to accomplish agreed upon goals. Step Two: Refer your clients to alternative service providers so there’s no interruption in their services.    Show Links: AaronVidas.com, website Strategy Box, website Customer Acquisition Cost, slides

Lisa Bodell is the founder and CEO of futurethink, which enables organizations to embrace change and become world-class innovators. She’s also the author of two books: Kill the Company, which is about how to get rid of thing to make space for innovation, and Why Simple Wins which is about how can we get to the work that matters by making simplicity a habit or rather how to make simplicity an operating principle to make innovation happen. In this interview, Lisa shares how to overcome the complexity trap, and figure out what is holding us back from making change in our organizations. Ultimately, it comes down to defining simplicity, “killing stupid rules”, and asking killer questions.   In This Interview I ask: 3:20 - How do we start down the path of innovation? 5:25 - How do you measure the productivity of “thinking time”? 8:00 - What are we not doing, in terms of cultivating our employees, that is preventing their ability to think, and not do what they’ve always done. 9:55 - How do we create the culture of [Killing a Stupid Rule] in our organizations? 11:45 - How often should you meet with your team and how do you run meetings [effectively]? 17:15 - How can the audience take action in doing deep work? 20:29 - What are some killer questions that people can be asking themselves and their organizations [to] help them get to better answers? 23:42 - How did innovation, change and simplification become your purpose? 25:43 - How did you take your interest & passion and start down the path of making it into a business? 28:01 - What kind of exciting change should [upcoming] entrepreneurs be paying attention to and start preparing for in the next couple of years? 29:12 - What are the skillsets that people need to have to not be replaced by technology?   Kill a Stupid Rule We need to give people permission for them to get rid of stuff that’s outlived its time (culture norms, business approaches, weekly meetings) - stuff that we do that we never stop to think why do we do it this way? We stop and look at our own behavior and the things we do every day and ask is it necessary?  It’s everyone’s job to think; however as leaders, we have to empower our teams to get rid of things that aren’t working. Leaders have to mandate simplification and show it by behavior so that team members will focus on work that matters. The reason a lot of people don’t get rid of stuff is because a leader put it in place. You need to have a strong leader who realizes that some things have outlived their time and get rid of them.   More is Not Better We spend all this time organizing and that’s not simplifying. We also think that doing is more important than thinking. This kind of mindset is what’s keeping us from being innovative. It’s not always about less, it’s about better.   Simplification Starts with Leaders You have to have someone who is willing to have a subtractive mindset, and not just an additive mindset, who doesn’t have a fear of getting rid of things. We have this fear of holding onto things because once we have something, we feel like it has value. We’re reluctant to give it up because, from a psychological standpoint, we don’t like to give up value and we don’t like to admit we made a stupid decision. We have to be comfortable to admit that something isn’t working anymore and get rid of it.   Time Versus Value Take an audit of what we spend our time on, and if it has value or not. If it’s not valuable, why are you doing it? If it is valuable, could it be minimized or improve? How can we move it up the value chain to make it take less time and have more value. If it takes a lot of time and has no value, get rid of it. If it takes little time and has high value, you try to model everything after that. If it takes little time and has little value, look at the key levels of simplicity and ask how can I improve the value or decrease the time?   Define What Simplicity Means to Your Company, then Ask Killer Questions You don’t know how to simplify if you can’t define it. An example definition of simplicity is: “To be simple, it has to be as minimal as possible. It has to be as understandable and clear as possible. It can be as repeatable as possible. It has to be accessible.”   If we had to get rid of several parts of this product or service and still make money on it, what’s the first that would go? What’s the one audience we don’t want to give away stuff to that scares us, but we should really rethink? If we had to cut this contract/meeting/process in half, how would we go about doing it in the next 24 hours?    Show Links: Future Think, futurethink.com Lisa’s Tedx Talk, How Simplification is the Key to Change Kill the Company, book Why Simple Wins, book

Jeff Wenberg is the founder of Smart Video Metrics and an alumni of The Foundation. Jeff started a voiceover and video business right after being let go from his job. He grew tired of the inconsistent income of that business so in 2015, he joined The Foundation. In this interview, Jeff tells us how he came up with the idea for Smart Video Metrics, how much time and money he invested in his solution, and his takeaways from his experience so far.    In This Interview I asked: 4:28 - How did you know that there was an opportunity to solve a problem? 6:35 - What problem were you experiencing that you wanted to go out there and solve? 7:57 - Why is it important to be able to track this [video conversion data]? 9:43 - Why did you feel confident in breaking the rules of the pre-selling model? 13:04 - In retrospect, what are the things you would go back and change? 14:24 - How did you build [your solution]? 17:27 - How long was the process between hiring a developer and receiving the final product? 19:34 - With no pre-sales, how did you get your first customers? 22:12 - What specific lesson learn did you learn about Smart Video Metrics? 23:45 - How long after getting the software developed did it take to get that first sale? 26:28 - What are your goals for the next 3 months, and what are the highest leverage things for you to focus on to accomplish those goals? 28:09 - What was your biggest takeaway from the mistakes that you’ve made so far? 28:36 - What do you think you’ve exceptionally well [in this whole process]?   SOLVING A PROBLEM - The #1 thing you need to start a business is a problem to solve (not experience or a track record). Jeff was originally working on a solution for freelancers, but when they became unresponsive during his outreach, he decided to scrap that idea and solve a problem he personally struggled with. Smart Video Metrics tells you if a person watching your video turns into a lead or customer. The problem that this solves is having the ability to track the life of a visitor without having to spend a ton of manpower. The alternative solution would be to use Google Analytics manually. Creating videos takes a lot of time and money investment so it’s important track the return of investment (ROI). 75% of people investing in video creation only track their video views. If you’re spending more on videos than they are making back, it’s pointless.    PRESELLING - Before you go out there and build a solution, you collect pre-sale dollars in advance to mitigate the risk of building something with your own money. Pre-selling is not just about the dollar amount that it’s going to take to develop software. You are able to get users to tell you exactly what features they need and don’t need. Jeff had never worked with developers before. Counter-intuitively, he hired the most expensive developer who also had the most background in the particular type of software Jeff wanted to build - and received the finished product a month later. When hiring a developer you want the perfect mix of enthusiasm and price. Don't hire based on who will work for the least amount of pay. Also it’s important that the developer is excited to work on the project, and it’s your job to sell them on it. If you don’t have pre-sales, focus on one-on-one conversations with potential customers in your market, and utilize free tools until you’ve fully developed your positioning. Having only two hours a day to work on Smart Video Metrics, Jeff only focused on tasks that resulted in the the most impact. He only wished he would have been more patient and tried to pre-sell his solution.     Show Notes:  Smart Video Metrics, 2-Week Trial

Adrienne Dorison is a no-nonsense success expert for online entrepreneurs helping them get better results in less time by doing the right things. She is also the host of the daily podcast The School of Mastery, a national triathlete, and passionate dog mom.   Adrienne never thought she’d become an entrepreneur; however when she was able to pay off over $40k in debt from the income she earned on the side through her blog, she finally took the leap and left her corporate job to work full time for herself.   In This Interview You’ll Learn: 5:35 - About Adrienne and her early career as a consultant for a fortune 500 company. 10:47 - How to avoid the “leaving too early syndrome”. 15:08 - How to balance the distinction between your full time job and your side hustle, as well as how to handle the fear of being “found out” by your boss. 19:38 - How to use your corporate experience to your advantage towards your entrepreneurial endeavors. 23:20 - How to use the S.I.M.P.L.E system to overcome common entrepreneur obstacles. 41:02 - How Adrienne defines success.    Show Notes: Adrienne’s website: AdrienneDorison.com

Dan Martell is an award-winning Canadian serial entrepreneur, and the founder of the recently acquired Clarity.fm, a venture-backed startup that makes it easy to connect with top business minds over the phone. In 2012, he was named Canada’s top angel investor, having completing over 33 investments with companies like Udemy, Intercom, and Unbounce.   Dan is back on the podcast giving us actionable steps on launching a startup from scratch. He shares why it’s easier to start a company today than ever before, how to determine your most important tasks as a CEO, and the common mistakes to avoid when launching your first startup.   In This Interview You’ll Learn: 2:08 - How Dan uses the seven pillars to measure his life, and orient his actions to get what he wants. 6:37 - How to focus on high-income tasks with the entrepreneur scorecard. 12:59 - Why the opportunity for anyone with a great idea to start a company is greater than ever. 18:46 - The truth about what it takes to become part of the one percent in America. 19:30 - Why you need a M.E.V.O (Minimum Economical Viable Offer), and not an M.V.P (Minimum Viable Product). 24:45 - How Dan went from 0 to 50,000 customers in 16 months by using content marketing. 32:32 - The most common mistakes new founders make.    Show Notes: Dan’s Blog - danmartell.com Dan’s Previous Episode - thefoundation.com/podcast/episode12 Dan’s Course - IdeatoExitOnline.com

  At the age of eighteen, Jules Schroeder ran her first six-figure business teaching other college students how to run their own businesses. Four years later, at age 22,  she co-founded a publishing company that made seven figures its first year in business, specializing in making books #1 Best Sellers on the Amazon Kindle platform. Today Jules runs CreateU, a one-year online education program that focuses on learning the specific skills you need to create the career & lifestyle you want.   In this episode, we talk to Jules briefly about her company CreateU, and some lessons she’s learned from her experience running three businesses. Then we go in depth to break down the three parts of becoming who you are. Jules shares her insights on relationships, creativity, and improving your skills.   In This Interview You’ll Learn: 2:08 - About CreateU. 10:21 - How to determine if you should go to college. 12:40 - Why you should get hands on experience and limit your consumption of how-to information. 15:33 - How to learn from failure, and what Jules learned from her failures. 20:00 - What success means to Jules. 22:43 - Part 1 of Becoming Who You Are: How to Maintain Close Relationships. 28:31 - Part 2 of Becoming Who You Are: How to Cultivate Your Own Creativity. 33:02 - Part 3 of Becoming Who You Are: What’s One Area of Your Life You’re Actively Improving? 37:09 - How to relax from your business without feeling guilt.   Show Notes: Jules’ Website - julesschroeder.com CreateU - createu.life Unconventional Life Show - unconventionallifeshow.com

Cliff and Jessica Larrew are partners in business and in life. Better known as The Selling Family, Cliff and Jessica teach others how to start selling on Amazon.   In This Interview You’ll Learn: 0:37 - About Cliff and Jessica 7:04 - The difference between retail arbitrage and Amazon FBA 9:00 - What you can expect when transitioning from a hobby to real business 14:21 - How to define roles in a husband/wife business partnership 16:33 - What mistakes to avoid when you first get started with Amazon 28:17 - How to keep up with Amazon’s constant changes 34:24 - The mistakes people make with retail arbitrage 39:11 - How Amazon is like modern day treasure hunting    Show Notes: Their Website – TheSellingFamily.com

Jordan Gray has built an amazing business over the past two years coaching and consulting entrepreneurs in relationships. He's been one of the most consistent people who publishes steady content over and over and over. Not many people can create content like he does. In this interview we talk to about his creative process and the incredible momentum he’s had over the past two years.   In This Interview You’ll Learn: 1:43 - About Jordan 10:33 - The difference between Jordan’s online and offline income 14:48 - How Jordan went from fighting for coaching clients to getting millions of hits on his website 18:53 - How Jordan was able to stay persistent with his goals 24:20 - The balance between discipline & structure, and whimsical play 30:00 - How to use sexual energy to fuel your purpose, your business, etc. 38:02 - What Jordan would have improved if he could go back in time    Show Notes: Jordan’s Consulting Website - JordanGrayConsulting.com    

Tom and his brother run a development company called DomAndTom, which provides mobile apps and UX experiences for iOS, Android, and Web.   In This Interview You’ll Learn: 2:11 - What expertise you need in a particular area to start a company 8:22 - What to look for in an ideal client 22:05 - How to effectively communicate with clients 25:49 - How to think about company culture 34:53 - Biggest lesson learned    Show Notes: Dom and Tom domandtom.com

Jay Scott who is a personal trainer who battled food addiction, obesity, a binge eating disorder, and overcame it all. He’s helped hundreds of people do the same with his information training. Jay is the founder of iScienceFit personal training, and host of the Full Disclosure Fitness Podcast. He has written for sites like the Good Man Project and Mind Body Green, and he’s had over 30 TV appearances on ABC, NBC and CBS.   In This Interview You’ll Learn: 1:25 - About Jay’s upbringing 12:07 - How Jay started building his personal training business 25:30 - The biggest challenge in growing a business 27:00 - The process Jay puts in place to get better at networking on a regular basis 31:30 - How Jay positioned himself for 30+ tv appearances 34:10 - What Jay would do differently if he were to start over today   “The specific outcome of something is not that big of a deal. Action comes before anything. It comes before motivation, it comes before momentum. One thing leads to another.”   Downloads: MP3 Transcript   Show Notes: iScienceFit - isciencefit.com Full Disclosure Fitness - fulldisclosurefitness.com

Danielle Tate is the founder and CEO of MissNowMrs, a multi-million dollar online name change company. As a female founder in her 20s, she noticed that few businesses offered step-by-step advice to smart, but inexperienced entrepreneurial women. This void inspired Danielle to author Elegant Entrepreneur, the female’s founder’s guide to starting and growing your first company.   In This Interview You’ll Learn: 1:35 - How Danielle went from aspiring cardiologist to launching her first company 4:09 - Factors that played a role in Danielle’s leap into entrepreneurship 7:54 - How Danielle found and hired her CTO 10:45 - How Danielle acquired her first customer 14:16 - One way Danielle felt she limited the company’s growth in its first few months of business 15:37 - Danielle’s giveaway with David’s Bridal 17:35 - What Danielle would go back and do differently 18:48 - The importance of finding a mentor 19:29 - About the Elegant Entrepreneur and the first few steps of what people should be thinking about when they’re starting a business 21:29 - Questions to ask yourself when going through the innovation gauntlet 32:30 - About owning your entrepreneur status   Show Notes: Danielle’s Name Change Company - MissNowMrs.com Danielle’s book - ElegantEntrepreneur.co     

Mike Pisciotta is an online marketing strategist, funnel fanatic, and business coach, whose no nonsense, results-driven approach has helped thousands of entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Mike is no stranger to failure and adversity. While spending 10 years in a Florida prison, Mike used his time there to transform his mind, and he emerged as a new man with a mission and purpose to empower others. In today’s show, we’re going to talk about Mike’s transformation, and the tactics he used to crush it in business.   In This Interview You’ll Learn: 2:05 - Mike’s prison story 6:45 - How Mike met his wife, and how they started getting active in their business community 8:58 - How Mike bootstrapped his business by selling trash 11:40 - The importance of focusing on and mastering one social media tool at a time 18:00 - Mike’s simple strategy he used to get leads 27:30 - How Mike and his wife validate their business ideas for less than $100 38:43 - Creating successful Facebook ads   Downloads: MP3 Transcript   Show Notes: Mike’s Private FB Group - com Mike’s Upcoming Book - com

Caitlin Pyle is student The Foundation, and the founder of Proofread Anywhere and Transcribe Anywhere. In less than a year, she grew her business from $47k to $680k. In today’s show, we’re going to talk about the evolution of both of Caitlin’s companies.   In This Interview You’ll Learn: 4:20 - How Caitlin turned Proofread Anywhere from a blog to a course 14:19 - Tips on Building Your Own Affiliate Network 21:58 - How to Scale Your Course 25:06 - On Dealing with Haters and Trolls 35:30 - Components of Caitlyn’s 7 Day Intro Course / Value-Added Sales Funnel 43:50 - How Caitlin is monetizing someone else’s genius with Transcribe Anywhere 47:25 - Building a business while traveling, AND getting a tax break  Downloads: MP3 Transcript   Show Notes: Caitlin’s previous SFN episode com/podcast/episode107 Proofread Anywhere com Transcribe Anywhere com Caitlin’s Blog com

Kim Ades is the president and co-founder of Frame of Mind Coaching, and the Journal Engine software. She’s an author, speaker, entrepreneur, coach, and mother of 5. Kim is one of America’s foremost experts on coaching with a focus on mindset and thought mastery.   In today’s show, we’re talking about the business of coaching, and how to use Kim’s teachings to immediately impact your day-to-day life.   For full show notes, head to TheFoundation.com/Podcast   Links From This Episode:   Frame of Mind Coaching website - com Take the Frame of Mind Coaching Assessment - http://journal.frameofmindcoaching.com/assessment/1018 Send journaling exercises to kim@frameofmindcoaching.com

Sean Ogle is one of the world's leaders in location independent entrepreneurs, giving him the freedom to live his life travelling and experiencing what the world has to offer. He moved to Thailand in 2009 having quit his job in Oregon after a life changing experience at Rio's carnival, and hasn’t looked back. Sean has released a number of products which relate to his online skills, and his website, Location Rebel is designed to help other budding entrepreneurs fulfil their dreams, leave their 9-5 and have the freedom to live the life that they want. In today’s show, Sean and Frank chat about how Sean made the leap of faith to quit his job and go out on his own, how he has created longevity in his business and what he has learned along the way.

Vinay Patankar is a digital nomad who has carved out his career as an entrepreneur over the last five years. Having decided that he wanted to work while travelling, Vinay set up his first e-commerce business, which allowed him to see the world whilst maintaining a good income. After selling that business, he used what he learned and moved onto affiliate marketing, then an unsuccessful business (in terms of money, but rich in business lessons) and is now working on his current business – Process St. In today’s show, Vinay chats to Frank about e-commerce, having an exit strategy and what he learned from having a failed a company.

Serial entrepreneur and ex-hedge fund manager, Todd Tresidder, officially retired at 35 years old. Having learned the tricks of ho to invest money and grow businesses, Todd has managed to 'retire' and prioritise what is important to him in life. And surprise surprise, it isn’t all about the money. Like anyone who has a passion for something, Todd still works helping people to invest and grow their businesses. In today’s show, Todd and Frank chat about how to make the most out of the money that you’re making, Todd’s 7 steps to 7 figures and knowing when it’s the right time to take action.

When it comes to starting businesses, they don’t come much more experienced than Paul Singh. Having come from a small town himself, Paul has started hundreds of companies, moved to Silicon Valley – and out again, invested thousands of dollars and sees himself as a successful entrepreneur. But what he has realised is that if he stopped investing in companies, no-one would notice – his real calling is to help small town entrepreneurs across America. Paul believes that now, more than ever, entrepreneurs can build successful businesses from anywhere in the world, and his focussing his efforts on helping people in America´s small towns start and grow their businesses without having to relocate. In today´s show, Andy chats to Paul about the advantages of living in the real world, the common traits of successful entrepreneurs and his up-coming tour of America´s small towns.

Speaker, writer and thought leader in Internal Energetic Presence (IEP), Anese Cavnaugh is an old friend on Andy’s. Her work is based upon making sure that you are in the right place, mentally and with your energy at a maximum to give yourself success and fulfilment. We all go through rough patches – Anese knows this just like the rest of us – and in today’s show, her and Andy chat about how you can turn the tough times into positive, the value of finding beauty in the burn and how to start to come out of a ditch if you are struggling with the challenges that life throws at you.

Rob Scott, friend and teacher at The Foundation, helps students prepare psychologically for business success. Having had a difficult childhood, Rob managed to turn his life round, and transform the trauma that he suffered into a gift – one which many people will never receive. This has enabled him to start to understand the big questions in life which can help us to focus on what is really important – why are we here and what is our role? In today´s show, Frank chats to Rob about his ´fundamental shift´, what being alive means, overcoming addiction and the power of meditation.

Pat Flynn is an entrepreneur, speaker, author and presenter on his ´Smart Passive Income´ webcast. He has a number of successful businesses and bases everything that he does on the premise of helping people out – be it through his businesses, his podcast, blog or new book. Pat understands what it means to run a successful business – from ensuring that you have a market, to finding your place in the marketplace, to making sure that you are going to keep motivated. In today´s show, Andy chats to Pat about how to make sure that your business aligns with your life, why you don’t need to be loved by the whole world, and taking the scientific approach to testing your business.

John Lee Dumas first met Andy three years ago, when he was three months into his 7-day a week podcast, Entrepreneurs on Fire. He has now just recorded his 1200th interview and seen the success of his business go from strength to strength. By talking to successful entrepreneurs every day, John has been able to understand more able what has made them so successful, and figured out that a lot of it is thanks to great goal setting. In his bid to help other people become successful entrepreneurs, John has just released his ´Freedom Journal´ - a guide to helping people achieve their 1 big goal in 100 days. In today´s show, Andy chats to John about how to set goals which both stretch you and are achievable, why he has been so successful, the Freedom Journal and transitioning from success to significance.

Julie Austin is an author, inventor, futurist, speaker, and internationally reknown thought leader on innovation. She is the inventor and CEO of Swiggies – a wrist worn water bottle product, of which she has sold almost a million all over the world. Julie believes that whilst it is impossible to look into the distant future, innovators and businesses need to be looking into the near future to keep on top of their game. The world will never be rid of problems and this is how she comes up with increasingly diverse and innovative ideas. In today´s show, Frank chats to Julie about what it means to be a futurist and innovator, how she has taught herself about business through her own experiences – and is passing that knowledge on, and her new book – The Money Garden: How to Plant the Seeds for a Lifetime of Income.